Georges Laraque, 2009.
Georges Laraque
| Born on December 7, 1976. He is a retired Canadian
professional ice hockey player, who was known as one of the toughest
players in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was a
forward, commonly known as an enforcer on the ice. He
played for the Edmonton Oilers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penquins
and Montreal Canadiens. You can find his website at
this link. He is also a host for the Canadian radio station CFRN and Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada. Both his parents were born in Haiti and he is active in Haitian relief work, helping to rebuild Grace Children's Hospital. He has been vegan since 2009 and has narrated the French language version of the documentary Earthlings. Joaquin Phoenix narrated the English version. He also opened two vegan restaurants Crudessence. |
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He has created the following testimonial for PETA:
Quotes by Georges Laraque:
| When asked how he became vegan, he answered: |
| "That happened immediately after watching the Earthlings documentary. I have never felt better physically and mentally, and wished I had done that 20 years ago." |
| "It was an easy transition. I became vegan the next day, threw all my food away and started from scratch. I did meet a nutritionist but mostly, I did all my research online where all your questions can be answered there. 30 years ago, there’s wasn’t much but today, you get it all, even if it’s looking for vegetarian places to eat in different part of the world. Everything is online, what to eat, menus, recipes." |
| "I didn't find it though, because for me, I did it for three big reasons: compassion for animals, health and the environment. Three big reasons to give it up. When you have conviction and compassion and you see that and it's affection you, why wouldn't you want to give that up." |
| When asked about how we can combat the belief that we need animal foods to maintain body mass and strength, he answered: |
| "Well that’s why the fact that I am being vegan now for just over two years is breaking that stereotype, and there’s many other athletes like me that were big, vegan and successful. You can go to my website for other examples of vegan athletes. I have not lost any muscle mass at all and actually got stronger, so the meat quote is just a dumb way for people not wanting that lifestyle." |
| "For athletes or people that work out a lot, to make sure they have enough protein, I would suggest Vega, which is a plant protein powder and have it every day. It’ll help to make sure your body is not missing anything." |
| When asked about people attacking him for standing up for animals, while he is violent on the ice, he answered: |
| "What you do in sports does not define you as a human being. The person you are does, and outside of hockey, I’m really not a violent person!" |
| "Animals don't stand in line to get slaughtered, to get killed. But when I fight someone on the ice, I fight a millionaire, someone that makes quite a lot of money for it. Someone that is willing. Someone that does the same job that I do. So you can't compare." |
| "People today are more open to the subject of health and veganism. You now hear it everywhere. It’s not taboo anymore – food we eat today is dangerous, and people want to be healthier." |
| "Before I was vegan I had high blood pressure and had asthma and in just a couple of months it was gone." |
| "You actually eat better when you're vegan, because you eat greens now, you eat all types of food you didn't know before." |
| "Milk, clogs up your lungs. When you play hockey, when it's cold especially, you need your lungs to breath better. And milk was doing the opposite of that. ... Just by stopping that, I became a better athlete." |
| "A lot of people will say, well tradition, tradition, they have been doing it for so many years. Well, tradition changes. Back in the days, women couldn't vote. There was a tradition. They couldn't vote. Now can they vote today? Hell, yeah. Things change. Society evolves." |
| "The meat industry is responsible for 20 percent of global warming, we cut down forests to grow grains for animals and for pasture, we use so much water also when the world is having water shortage, and I can go on and on…" |
| "The fur and the seal hunt is definitely really bad in Canada where we’re showcasing to the world how barbarous we can be, and that’s coming from one of the most advanced country in the world. The part that makes no sense is the fact that the seal industry is economically not a viable source of revenue for Canada, and that we have to inject money from our own taxes to support that terrible practice instead of using that money to help those hunters to get better jobs that will give them a better source of revenue." |
| "The stuff that I do today. I would have never thought that it would have went that way. I dreamed all my life to be in the NHL as a kid and when you are a kid, a black kid, there's less then 1 percent to make it. I made it. If someone would have told me one day that I would have been an animal activist and I would go to protests and stuff, I would have been pretty surprised." |
| "After I saw how badly animals were treated to end up in our plates, how bad it was for our health and for the environment, I decided to stop this nonsense and educate others. After all, animals can’t talk and they need people that have notoriety like me to be their voices." |
| "It's my dream that some day, you know some day, like quick. Everybody wakes up. Everybody is conscious and everybody is doing there own part." |
| "I want to be a person of impact, that makes change for the society for the better. That's what's important. That's what counts in life." |
Quotes are from a 2007 interview with PETA, his 2011 interview for The Thinking Vegan, his 2010 interview with Corporate Knights and a 2010 interview with Elisabeth Braw from Metro World News.
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