Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good afternoon.
The CFIA is pleased to be invited here today to share its knowledge and regulatory perspectives.
The CFIA is a science-based regulatory agency, and its mandate is the safeguarding of plants, animals and food, which enhances the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. The CFIA fully recognizes that bee populations are important for the health and vitality of the Canadian agricultural sector.
Federal and provincial jurisdictions share responsibility for managing bee health in Canada. The CFIA works at the national level, first, by designating certain bee diseases as regulated and reportable diseases—this means that specific disease-control measures have to be applied for their control—second, by minimizing the risks of introducing bee diseases into Canada through the control of importations, and third, by providing guidance to the bee industry through the national bee farm-level biosecurity standard.
The provincial governments help to maintain bee health within their jurisdictions by administering bee health management programs and regulating the interprovincial movement of bees to minimize the spread of bee diseases and pests. Canada has always relied on strict, science-based import measures to safeguard our borders from the introduction of diseases and pests.
Comprehensive import risk assessments, guided by the methodology of the World Organisation for Animal Health, are conducted by CFIA science experts before imports of bees are permitted from any country. These risk assessments are peer-reviewed by members of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, an independent organization consisting of academia, researchers, and federal and provincial apiculturists. We then consider identifying, developing and implementing possible options for risk assessment.
Bee diseases and pests can spread between countries through the international trade of bees, especially with respect to packaged bees. A package of bees poses higher risks than queen bees, usually weighs two or three pounds, and contains about 8,000 to 12,000 bees. On the other hand, honeybee queens can be individually inspected for health and the presence of pests before importation into Canada and, therefore, pose lower risks than honeybee packages.
Based on science-based risk assessments, Canada currently allows for the import of honeybee queens from the United States, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Italy, Ukraine and Malta. Due to higher risks, honeybee packages are only permitted for import from Chile, Australia, New Zealand and, more recently, Italy and Ukraine.
I will now share some information on the current situation with the importation of honeybees from the United States.
Canada closed its border to U.S. honeybees in 1987 due to reports of varroa mites and tracheal mites in the United States. The CFIA reassessed the situation in 1994, 2003 and 2013. Although the last risk assessment was conducted in 2013, the CFIA, on an ongoing basis, reviews new scientific information on Canadian and U.S. honeybee health, and if any significant new information warrants a risk assessment, the CFIA would initiate another risk assessment.
Due to diverse views among experts and stakeholders on whether sufficient new scientific information is available or not, the CFIA undertook an initiative between July and October 2022 to formally request a call for submission of any new scientific information regarding honeybee health in Canada and the United States. The CFIA is currently evaluating all submissions received and remains open to receiving additional submissions. If sufficient new evidence is available that would warrant a new risk assessment, the CFIA will proceed with a new risk assessment. At that time, the CFIA will also review any science-based risk-mitigation protocols that could mitigate any risk.
The CFIA continues to engage with the Canadian Honey Council, the United States Department of Agriculture, provincial governments and apiculturists, and it is open to receiving information from other stakeholders and members of industry on the import of honeybees. However, the CFIA's first and primary responsibility is the safeguarding of plant and animal health and food safety.
Thank you again for this opportunity to provide the CFIA's perspective on bee health in Canada.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.