Agriculture Committee on May 3rd, 2023

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

I've heard that somewhere before, but thanks for that. That's reassuring.

I want to ask you this: In terms of how Canada stacks up with various other jurisdictions around the world, are we more prepared, would you say? I know it's probably hard to stack us up, but I seem to think that we're better prepared than many other jurisdictions around the world are. Would you say that's true?

[Dr. Mary Jane Ireland]

That's a very broad question.

I would say that one of the things that we spend a considerable amount of time doing, and that I do as the chief veterinary officer, is discussing, collaborating and working with our international partners.

I belong to the Animal Health Quads Alliance, which is a community of CVOs from New Zealand, Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. We discuss matters such as response to avian influenza and African swine fever. We do work with other countries, our counterparts in international affairs, to make sure that we understand what other countries are prepared to do. There's a certain degree of alignment, for example, on a response to a disease like avian influenza. We're all under the same pressure globally with regard to this disease. It's unprecedented.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you.

How much time do I have ?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

You have two minutes.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Great.

I want to ask you about zoonotic diseases.

With the increase in climate change, the changing patterns, and the loss of biodiversity.... There are many factors, I think, that are involved, including monoculture within our agricultural systems, and all of them may play a role in the increased incidence of diseases jumping from animals to humans. Are we monitoring that as well? Is that part of the CFIA's role, or does the CFIA have to collaborate with Health Canada and others? Could you speak to that a little bit?

[Dr. Mary Jane Ireland]

The vast majority of diseases that affect humans originally come from animals. Zoonotic diseases are diseases that can transmit from animals to humans and from humans to animals. It goes both ways.

The agency works, indeed, with other federal departments, such as the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada, to take what we call a “one health” approach. That means, really, that we're interconnected. The health of animals is interconnected with that of humans and of the environment. When we approach issues, we take a “one health” approach. The veterinary community does the same.

That's also certainly been a theme for the chief veterinary officers of the provinces and territories.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

It must be very difficult to stay on top of all of the latest strains and diseases as they're emerging. Is that challenging in the environment that we're in these days? Is it increasingly challenging? How do you stay on top of it?

[Dr. Mary Jane Ireland]

Well, it is challenging.

A couple of things help us with that. We have some of the best and brightest scientists at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and they work on such issues. We're also a member of the World Organisation for Animal Health. At the agency, I am Canada's delegate. When reports from countries come in, they are reported through an electronic system.

We have an international awareness. We have a situational awareness. We have, within the government, very strong connections with our health partners and our environmental health partners so that we can share information, and that's become increasingly important with regard to things such as avian influenza.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. Turnbull and Ms. Ireland.

I will now give the floor to Mr. Perron for six minutes.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the witnesses for being with us today.

I will start with Ms. Ireland.

Ms. Ireland, according to an article in the Canadian Veterinary Journal, Canada does not have a collaborative national surveillance system for animal diseases. Yet, I listen to you speak and I get the impression that there really is a surveillance system, and that you are part of it.

Can you tell me why the author wrote that and explain to me how the system works? Do you really have all the data? Do you have to look for information from other departments or agencies, which could cause delays?

Do you think it would be better to have an umbrella organization?

[Dr. Mary Jane Ireland]

Mr. Chair, I would appreciate some clarification. Do you mean an overarching system, a data system to share between public health and environmental health colleagues? My apologies.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Ms. Ireland, I am quoting from a 2017 article in the Canadian Veterinary Journal. It explains that Canada does not have a national, collaborative animal disease surveillance system.

I have been listening to your testimony from the beginning, and it sounds to me like there is such a system. I just want to see if there is a need for an organization, perhaps “supraministerial”, responsible for monitoring diseases and centralizing information, or if the work is already being done now.

[Tom Rosser]

Mr. Chair, I do not think I have seen that article, but I know a lot has changed since 2017.

Animal Health Canada was created and other collaborative structures were put in place with the provinces and the industry to be better prepared to deal with African swine fever and other animal diseases.

I do not know if this directly addresses the issue raised in the article, but there have been many changes.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

If I understand your answer correctly, the loophole referred to in the article would have been corrected.

[Tom Rosser]

It is hard to confirm this 100%, but there has been progress in this area.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

All right.

On another note, do you believe you have the resources to prevent infections in animals? Earlier, Mr. Rosser, you referred to the $57.5 million announced in the budget. My understanding is that this money will be spent on the creation of a foot-and-mouth disease vaccine bank.

I have two sub-questions for which I would like to have quick answers, if possible. Will this amount of money be enough to set up a vaccine bank for the whole country? Should other vaccine banks be created for other diseases? I have in mind swine fever, although I do not know if there is a vaccine for that.

[Tom Rosser]

I would say yes.

In fact, we and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have considerable resources for that. We have recently received funding to increase resources for the foot-and-mouth disease vaccine bank as well as to prepare for African swine fever.

Significant investments were made recently, and they will allow us to increase our efforts.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Dr. Ireland, I have been made aware of a problem regarding vaccines against animal diseases. Once an animal has been vaccinated or when it is slaughtered for export, it would be impossible, when taking blood samples or other samples, to tell the difference between a vaccinated animal and one that is infected with a disease.

Is there any work being done on this? Do you think something could be developed quickly to overcome this problem?

[Dr. Mary Jane Ireland]

Vaccines that are used to address foreign animal diseases have a very important characteristic that must be present: They must distinguish between natural infection and vaccination. It's called a DIVA vaccine. It will be very important that vaccines for FMD, or maybe ASF in the future, be DIVA vaccines so that we are able to determine that the animals have been vaccinated versus naturally infected with a disease. Ultimately, we want to make sure that animals that are infected with the disease are dealt with immediately and promptly to reduce the spread of infection.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

If I understand correctly, it is in fact possible to tell the difference between an infected animal and a vaccinated animal.

Does mass vaccination entail commercial restrictions? Some traces of the injected virus must be left in the animal.

[Dr. Mary Jane Ireland]

On the use of a vaccine in the face of an outbreak, if maybe we could use the FMD vaccine, for example, countries import according to their own import requirements. Countries have their own import requirements for what they accept. Some will accept vaccinated animals and some will not.

Currently, avian influenza may be a better example. Most countries do not allow the import of vaccinated animals. Therefore, as we contemplate vaccination strategies and using vaccines in the face of an outbreak, we need to think about it and discuss it internationally and work with the World Organisation for Animal Health to ensure that we use vaccines properly and also are able to return to freedom to export products as quickly as possible.

In a foreign animal disease outbreak, a vaccine is used when you find the disease; it's not used to prevent it from coming into the country. In FMD, maybe someday avian influenza, maybe someday ASF, vaccination is generally used to address a disease outbreak when it happens. That will be the case with the foot-and-mouth disease vaccine: We won't use it unless we have an outbreak, and then we'll use it to prevent the spread and to return to freedom from the disease as quickly as possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Ms. Ireland.

Thank you, Mr. Perron. I have given you a little more time because of the interpretation delays.

Mr. MacGregor, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today.

Dr. Ireland, I would like to start with you.

Biosecurity seems to be a hot topic in Parliament. Not only are we examining it at this committee, but we also have some legislation that we're looking at. It had its first hour of debate on Monday.

In my research for that piece of legislation, I noted that most biosecurity incidents are the result of people who are authorized to be on the farm. Some reports have found that despite those risks.... You mentioned that the CFIA has voluntary biosecurity guidelines for some animal farming sectors. They are developed in co-operation with industry and government, but the adherence to those standards is not a legal requirement. Provincial legislation varies, and we're a very regional country.

Given the threat posed to some sectors by diseases such as avian influenza, which is keeping many scientists up at night, do we need to step it up a bit more and have a legal requirement for adherence? It's more in line with what Mr. Perron was asking about a requirement for stronger national laws and requirements, given the threats posed by some of these diseases.

[Dr. Mary Jane Ireland]

Mr. Chair, I won't comment on the legislation. I will, however, talk about biosecurity.

You're right. Today, biosecurity and the national biosecurity standards are voluntary. The CFIA doesn't have authority to mandate that. I would say that they are dependent on a number of factors, including human behaviour and following best practices. I would also say that many national producer associations actually require their producers to follow their species-specific biosecurity standards.

Biosecurity can mean a number of things. Every farm is going to have their own biosecurity requirements. It needs to be very tailored. Do you have animals outside? Do you have visitors? Do you hire summer students who need to understand the importance of biosecurity?

We can set national biosecurity standards, and then producer organizations can tailor them to their own needs, but every individual producer needs to think about their own facility and what makes sense for their particular operation and then follow it.

The extraordinary incursion of avian influenza virus, brought in most likely by wild birds or wild bird migration, has really underscored the importance and also the challenges of maintaining very strict biosecurity each and every day. In the case of avian influenza, that is what's needed to prevent infections.