Agriculture Committee on June 3rd, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 37 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Pursuant to the order of reference of Wednesday, March 10, 2021, and the motion adopted by the committee on April 15, 2021, the committee is resuming its study of Bill C-205, An Act to amend the Health of Animals Act.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of January 25, 2021, and therefore members are attending in person in the room and remotely by using the Zoom application. The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. So you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind all participants in this meeting that screenshots or taking photos of your screen is not permitted.

To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules.

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute your mike. For those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer.

Just a reminder that all comments by members and witnesses must be addressed through the chair.

When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

Now I would like to welcome our witnesses.

As an individual, we have Mr. J. Scott Weese, professor, University of Guelph. Welcome, Mr. Weese.

From the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, we have Dr. Henry Ceelen, veterinarian. Welcome, Mr. Ceelen.

Also from the CVMA is Dr. Brian Evans, retired veterinary deputy director, World Organisation for Animal Health, and former chief veterinary officer for Canada.

We value certainly your experience.

From the Chicken Farmers of Canada, we have Nick de Graaf, first vice-chair, and Lisa Bishop-Spencer, director of brand and communications.

We will start with the opening statements. Everyone will have a five-minute statement.

We will start with you, Mr. Weese, with your five-minute statement.

[Dr. J. Scott Weese, Professor, University of Guelph, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will be brief. I will just give my background and will be happy to answer questions, which I assume will be directed from the biosecurity and infection control standpoints.

By way of background, I'm a veterinarian internal medicine specialist who focuses solely on infectious diseases. I'm a professor at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph. I direct the University of Guelph Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses and I'm chief of infection control at the Ontario Veterinary College Health Sciences Centre, our teaching hospital.

I worked nationally and internationally with various groups on infectious diseases, infection control, and biosecurity, aiming to optimize animal health and, by way of optimizing animal health, human health. I have participated in numerous biosecurity and guideline development ventures. Overall, my work involves a range of infectious disease topics but focuses on matters that would potentially relate to this bill in terms of emerging disease, antimicrobial resistance and diseases at the human-animal interface, as well as broader topics of infection control and biosecurity.

With that, I will be brief. I will be happy to answer any questions you have on this area pertaining to this bill.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Weese.

We will go to the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association for five minutes.

Whoever wants to take the floor, it's yours now for five minutes.

[Dr. Brian Evans, Veterinarian, Deputy Director, World Organisation for Animal Health (Retired), Chief Veterinary Officer of Canada (Retired), Canadian Veterinary Medical Association]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and good day to all the members of the committee.

I am Dr. Brian Evans, as the chair has indicated. I am the current treasurer of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association. As such, I also serve as an ex officio member of the CVMA executive and the CVMA council. It was my honour and privilege to previously serve as Canada's chief veterinary officer for 15 years, as well as Canada's chief food safety officer and executive vice-president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency prior to my retirement from the public service in 2013.

I was subsequently very fortunate to serve for a number of years as the deputy director general at the World Organisation for Animal Health, known globally as the OIE, based in Paris.

I'm pleased to be accompanied today at the committee by Dr. Henry Ceelen, the chair of the CVMA's national issues committee and a highly respected food animal practitioner from eastern Ontario. It's our pleasure to lend our collective experience and perspectives to assist you in your consideration of this private member's bill, Bill C-205, an act to amend the Health of Animals Act.

Briefly, the CVMA was incorporated by an act of Parliament in 1948. Our association is the national and international voice for Canada's approximately 13,000 veterinarians and 9,000 veterinary technicians and technologists. We provide leadership and advocacy for the veterinary medical community. The strategic priorities underpinning the work of the CVMA include leadership on national and international veterinary issues, animal welfare advocacy and support for members in building successful careers and maintaining balanced lives.

Canada's veterinarians make critical contributions to support the well-being of Canadians and the Canadian economy in a wide variety of roles. This includes the health and welfare of aquatic, terrestrial farm and companion animals; food security and food safety inspection; policy development in animal and public health domains in federal, provincial and territorial governments; scientific research; laboratory diagnostics; technical support for the animal health industry; and many others.

Canadian veterinarians embody the real-world application of the principles of One Health—that is, we work to address risks that emerge at the interface of animal health, human health and ecosystem health. We are qualified to assess and advise on the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and response to animal and zoonotic diseases, which are those diseases that affect both animals and humans, including those of livestock that have the potential to spread rapidly and widely, affecting herds and flocks over vast areas, often with significant adverse welfare, social and economic impacts.

Likewise, we understand the role of the environment as a potential source of disease and exposure to contaminants of many sorts, and the ability of hazards to spread through environmental contamination from affected premises to others in the surrounding area and beyond.

Overlying our roles and responsibilities in One Health is the essential role veterinarians play in contributing to the Canadian economy through trade and market access by working with producers and in close collaboration with the CFIA and provincial governments to produce healthy animals and safe food, respecting societal values and meeting consumer expectations.

In the area of animal welfare, Canadian veterinarians work through the CVMA with the National Farm Animal Care Council to develop and maintain codes of practice for all farm animal species that fall under animal care programs managed by industry.

In the area of animal and public health, Canada's veterinarians are trusted advisers in designing and implementing strict on-farm voluntary biosecurity protocols that are focused on managing natural, incidental and deliberate threats and are specifically aimed at prevention of disease and illness in animals. Veterinarians are well aware that prevention of an animal or zoonotic disease outbreak is much more cost-effective than managing the consequences.

This proposed amendment to the Health of Animals Act would “make it an offence to enter, without lawful authority or excuse, a place in which animals are kept if doing so could result in the exposure of the animals to a disease or toxic substance that is capable of affecting or contaminating them”.

The CVMA acknowledges that authorized or unauthorized entry of individuals onto premises where animals are raised or housed is one way that diseases or other contaminants could be introduced onto the premises. It is for this very reason that many livestock operations have strict entry and exit controls, in many cases including decontamination shower-in and shower-out protocols.

Biosecurity procedures incorporate controls to mitigate risk from other potential disease entry points as well. For example, strategies are used to ensure that herds are closed to the introduction of live animals, vaccination programs are in effect, and wildlife and insect vector populations are controlled—

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you.

Mr. Evans, can you please conclude, because we have...?

[Dr. Brian Evans]

Certainly.

Today, Dr. Ceelen and I would be pleased to speak to our local, national and international expertise in animal health, especially as it pertains to the mandate and activities of the CVMA and the role of Canadian veterinarians in on-farm biosecurity. We trust the testimony can help inform your study of this proposed legislation, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you very much, Dr. Evans.

Now we'll go to the Chicken Farmers of Canada for five minutes.

Whoever wants to take the floor, go ahead.

[Nick de Graaf, First Vice-Chair, Chicken Farmers of Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My name, as previously mentioned, is Nick de Graaf. I am a third generation chicken farmer in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. I'm also first vice-chair of Chicken Farmers of Canada. I'm joined here today by CFC's director of brand and communications, Lisa Bishop-Spencer.

For several years now, farmers like me across the country have feared the possibility of activists trespassing on our properties and into our chicken barns with the intention of what they think is saving the animals and protesting our commitment to carefully raising safe chicken. Therefore, we appreciate that the aims of Bill C-205 are twofold for our sector: It aims to protect the farmers and the animals in our care from activist threats while maintaining disease prevention and biosecurity on the farm.

Ensuring the appropriate care and welfare of the birds raised by Canadian chicken farmers is a top priority for our sector. We take pride in our long-standing, progressive and innovative approach to animal care, as demonstrated by the third-party-audited and mandatory Raised by a Canadian Farmer animal care program that safeguards our flocks. The animal care program for Canadian chicken has a solid, credible and science-based foundation. CFC’s animal care program is third-party-audited and is mandatory on every farm. The program uses enforcement mechanisms in cases of non-compliance, and we are pleased to say that 100% of farmers are compliant.

Chicken Farmers of Canada also has an FPT-recognized Raised by a Canadian Farmer on-farm food safety program, the OFFSP, that guarantees that the highest standards of biosecurity and disease prevention are in place on the farm. Of our farmers coast to coast, 100% are certified and compliant. This on-farm food safety program employs strict measures on the farm to prevent flock infections from outside sources, including top-notch requirements for biosecurity, disease prevention, feed and water management and testing, and mandatory record-keeping. Simple acts like registering visitors to the farm, wearing designated or new coveralls and booties inside the barn and careful flock reports are some of the many steps guaranteeing safe chicken for Canadians.

These programs, coupled with the trust Canadians have in farmers, are some of the many reasons that chicken is Canada’s number one meat protein. The difference between the two programs is their assurance programs. The OFFSP has an FPT recognition protocol, whereas the animal care program does not.

We are calling for the development of an FPT recognition protocol for animal care programs in the next agricultural policy framework. Such a protocol would help government convey the proper message to consumers about how their food is being raised and strengthen consumer trust in farmers' messages over activist rhetoric. I am proud to follow these programs carefully in order to raise food for Canadian families.

You also have to remember that farming is my business, and I operate it no differently than any other business person does. I have procedures and protocols in place. I mitigate and manage risk and I work hard to provide a high-quality product for Canadians.

As part of my business practices, I have good security policies and procedures in place to ensure overall security against any threat or multiple risks. An invasion rattles a farmer's sense of security and privacy and creates deep concern about biosecurity and what seems like an ongoing attack on our livelihoods. It is likely that outsiders entering a farm or private property that raises animals do not know about the biosecurity requirements on Canadian chicken farms and, in the case of activists, do not respect them.

Biosecurity is critical to the prevention of disease in flocks. On my farm, I track visitors and know who is on the property to mitigate the risks of introducing a domestic, reportable or emerging disease on the farm. Should a trespasser expose the animals to an unknown substance or disease or to an element that may compromise food safety, this may impact my ability to market that entire flock.

I know this legislation might bring up questions about people’s right to protest or laws that are already in place to prosecute trespassers, but when you are considering this bill, I want you to think about me and the thousands of other poultry and livestock farmers across this country who work hard every single day to ensure that the food we are raising for Canadians is safe and raised with care.

Thank you for your time and consideration of Bill C-205. We hope you will support this important defence of farmers and the on-farm practices that protect our food system so we can keep feeding Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. de Graaf.

With that, we'll go to our first round, with six minutes of questions each. We'll start with Warren Steinley.

Go ahead, Mr. Steinley.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank all the witnesses for being here today on Bill C-205, which we believe is a very important bill.

Mr. de Graaf, you mentioned the fact that you guys have already implemented the Raised by a Canadian Farmer animal care program. We know that it's credible and science-based, but is it static or is it ever-changing and evolving as your industry evolves? Can you answer that for me?

[Nick de Graaf]

Yes, I sure could. The program is reviewed on a regular basis. We do make changes. It's quite an involved process. It is absolutely not static.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Would it then make sense that we always review and maybe make changes to the Health of Animals Act and bring in some new regulations to ensure that there are more on-farm safety procedures? Would that make sense for a review of the Health of Animals Act and maybe adding some regulations to that?

[Nick de Graaf]

It would make sense to have a review. It's the same thing that we do, so yes.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

I know your producers and people within your industry group have had some instances of activism on their farms. Have they seen an increase in—I wouldn't say “aggressiveness” of—some of the activism that has happened on farms?

Could one of the reasons that this bill could be so important be that there needs to be more regulation put into place so that people realize there are consequences to their actions when they go on farms and put animals' health in jeopardy?

[Nick de Graaf]

I'll let Lisa answer that one, if you don't mind.

[Lisa Bishop-Spencer, Director of Brand and Communications, Chicken Farmers of Canada]

It's no trouble at all.

We have seen an increase in activist activity on the farm, as you noted earlier. This is very disruptive, not only for farmer's way of doing business but also for mental health and other considerations.

I think it's important to remember that farmers have a right to be able to run their business in peace. More importantly, the animals in their care are the ones we need to ensure stay healthy and stay well. This is something that is put at risk every time there's an invasion or a takeover of a farm. We have to make sure that we're doing everything we can to prevent that as much as possible.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

A couple of witnesses and Mr. de Graaf had mentioned that maybe sometimes activists aren't aware of the harms they could be perpetrating on the animals when they're coming into barns and the stress they're bringing.

Do you think Bill C-205 would actually help educate some of the activists on some of the dangers they do bring forward with some of the activism that's taken place on farms across the country?

[Lisa Bishop-Spencer]

Nick, did you want me to answer that?

[Nick de Graaf]

Go ahead.

[Lisa Bishop-Spencer]

I think anything that helps people understand how important it is to maintain flock health, in our case, or animal health is going to be valuable. We need to ensure that people understand that farms are not the farms of old. These are well-established operations with on-farm food safety protocols that need to be adhered to.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you very much.

Maybe I'll jump over to Dr. Evans, with all his expertise.

We heard a very emotional story about a young farm that had just started. They had activists come on their farm. It actually led them to get out of farming, because not only did they have some animal concerns, but also family concerns and some biosecurity concerns.

Do you think a bill like this helps with maybe taking some of that mental stress off of the farmer so that there is something in place to ensure that not only the family but also the animals are going to be safe from activists coming onto the farm, or do you believe this is just something that is going to educate activists as well?

It's a question similar to what I asked Ms. Bishop-Spencer.

[Dr. Brian Evans]

I thank you for the question.

From my perspective, speaking from my collective experience, I think anything that allows for the application or the implementation of accepted standards in written protocols and can be auditable in terms of maintaining flock or herd health is to everyone's advantage. I'll let Henry speak to his experience at a private level, but I would say most producers in this country are, as has been mentioned by the industry, in the business of producing safe food in line with societal values and consumer expectations.

Henry deals with this on a daily basis, particularly with dairy and other herds in eastern Ontario. With the permission of the chair, perhaps Henry could add his perspective.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Yes, Henry, please do so. I grew up on a dairy farm. I'd love to have your perspective here for the last 25 seconds.

[Dr. Henry Ceelen, Veterinarian, Canadian Veterinary Medical Association]

Again, I'm primarily a dairy veterinarian. I'd like to make everybody aware that there are formal biosecurity protocols happening at all dairy farms. They're mandatory, and veterinarians are tasked with doing a biosecurity audit and also tailoring a biosecurity program and making recommendations that are very specific to individual farms. It's not a cookie-cutter protocol at all. It's a very farm-specific one. I think the veterinary profession is well situated to provide those protocols and to provide input for our clients.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you, Henry. Do you—