Brewster Kneen - author of The Tyranny of Rights

Brewster Kneen was born in Ohio and studied economics and theology in the U.S. and the U.K. before moving to Toronto in 1965. There he produced public affairs programs for CBC Radio, and worked as a consultant to the churches on issues of social and economic justice. In 1971, with his wife Cathleen and their children Jamie and Rebecca, he moved to Nova Scotia, where they farmed until 1986, starting with a cow-calf operation and then developing a large commercial sheep farm.

For many years Brewster was secretary of the Sheep Producers Association of Nova Scotia and in the early 1980s he organized the Northumberland Lamb Marketing Co-operative (Northumberlamb) and the Brookside Abattoir Co-operative, both farmer owned and operated. In 1980, the Kneens started publishing The Ram's Horn.

In 1986 the Kneens returned to Toronto and Brewster began his current career of writing and lecturing on the food system, with increasing attention to biotechnology. He received two grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council as an Independent Scholar for research into 'technological determinism' and in 1994-5 he was a Senior Fellow of the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. Brewster was also a founding member of the Toronto Food Policy Council.

The Kneens lived in British Columbia from 1995 to 2006. During this period Brewster engaged in public education and organizing, helping form the BC Biotechnology Circle and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (C-BAN). Much of his current focus is on the ‘upstream’ social and intellectual roots of public policy, with the formation of The Forum on Privatization and the Public Domain. (see: www.forumonpublicdomain.ca )