In Canada, the number of animals dissected or vivisected for educational purposes amounts to several tens of thousands of animals per year. Whereas this harmful use of animals is the norm in most institutions, more and more students are starting to raise moral and religious concerns, stating their right to a more humane education. The request of students for a humane education can be fulfilled thanks to the recent development of educational tools, known as alternatives. Alternatives include multimedia computer simulations, videos, models, mannequins, students' self-experimentation, ethically sourced cadavers, clinical practice and in vitro studies. They are cost effective and of teaching quality equal, if not better, to their harmful traditional counterpart. The broad acceptance of alternatives among the teaching institutions is of fundamental importance: in addition to allowing students with conscientious objection to get an education in the field of their choice without compromising their beliefs, they contribute to impart students with positive values of respect for life and attitudes towards animal use, which have critical implications for their future career as researchers or health professionals, and for biomedical research, testing and society as a whole.