The first annual Veg Expo hits Canada Place on Sunday, June 8 for a daylong family-friendly event of everything vegan and vegetarian. The expo champions the idea of getting back to the basics of healthy eating, whole foods, plant-based diets and non-GMO (genetically modified organism) products.
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As this year’s presenting sponsor, Hippie Foods welcomes teenage non-GMO speaker and activist Rachel Parent, renowned scientist Dr. Thierry Vrain, and international best-selling author of Seeds of Deception, Jeffrey M. Smith, to the exciting line-up.
Smith will lead this year’s topic discussion, “GMO: How Does It affect Us as Canadians,” while Parent will share her message with other youth at the Expo and with a talk at Sir Charles Tupper High School, where she will speak to more than 400 students onMonday, June 9.
Seasoned industry leader Ian Walker, president of Hippie Foods – a natural food distributor and manufacturer with the first formal non-GMO policy in North America – will host 15-year-old Rachel Parent at this event to discuss the challenges surrounding GMO products.
The 9th-grader has been a leader in the non-GMO movement since the age of 12, when she learned about GMOs for a school project. Since then, this Toronto high school student has become a diligent activist, creating the not-for-profit Kids Right To Knoworganization to help inform the public – including other children – about GMO foods.
Parent is also the same teen who, at the age of 14, bravely took on Kevin O’Leary fromDragons’ Den and Shark Tank in an intense debate about the topic of GMOs on the CBC’s The Lang And O’Leary Exchange.
To further this dialogue, the expo will host a panel – emceed by Jeremy Szafron, West Coast Entertainment Reporter for CTV News – presenting three varying perspectives on the issue of GMOs featuring the views of an expert, Jeffrey Smith; a consumer, Rachel Parent; and a natural foods manufacturer/distributor, Ian Walker, president of Hippie Foods.
This one-day expo will also feature a highly-anticipated roster of health-minded speakers, including:
- Renowned scientist Dr. Thierry Vrain, former Head of Biotechnology at Agriculture Canada’s Summerland Research Station and an opponent to GMO-modified foods
- Jana Webb, Creator of Joga with Jana
- Samantha Shorkey, Vegan Fitness Competitor
- Adam Hart, Owner of Ra Energy and Author of The Power of Food
- The ladies of the Vegan Project
The Veg Expo takes place on Sunday, June 8 at Canada Place in Vancouver. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.vegexpo.ca/.
Vegetarian via shutterstock