Evidence of meeting #28 for Health in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cfia.
A recording is available from Parliament.
National President, Agriculture Union
They were not specific to one facility. There were positive tests in Quebec, Alberta and Ontario, but the majority of them were in Alberta: 18 inspectors in the Cargill plant tested positive.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Of the 40, 18 of those were from the Alberta Cargill plant?
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
You also mentioned that CFIA was late to protect inspectors. Approximately, what were some of the dates associated with that? We had our first case of COVID-19 in Canada in January. When did we start hearing from CFIA of some of the protections being offered?
National President, Agriculture Union
It was over a month, a month and a half even, before the protections were put in place. I attribute some of that to confusion in the Public Health Agency, because at the beginning, our members were told they should not and could not wear face coverings, even though some of those inspectors wanted to supply their own.
Then later on it was decided that face coverings would be helpful if everyone wore them. That was confusing. The face coverings and face shields were not available. Some plants did manage to acquire both face coverings and face shields. In those cases, the CFIA told the plant that if they were going to provide their employees with protection, they had to provide CFIA inspectors with that protection.
However, in the plants that didn't provide those protections, the inspectors in those plants didn't get the protections. In my opinion, the pause button should have been pushed. An assessment should have been done and a determination made at that point of how they were going to protect everyone in those plants. Once that determination is made, then you move forward with your protections in place. It was piecemeal, by all interpretations, in my opinion.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Thank you, Mr. Murphy.
If you're able to provide us with any of those dates, it would certainly be appreciated going forward.
Liberal
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and hello to my colleagues again.
I'd really like to thank the witnesses for their presentations today.
My questions are going to be directed to Ms. Hatcher. Before I get into my questions, Ms. Hatcher, you mentioned your pedigree. I think your pedigree is just fine. Thank you very much. We're glad to have you here.
I want to follow a similar line of questions to my colleague MP Blois. Here in Cape Breton, we have a local organization called the Pan Cape Breton Food Hub. The food hub supports local food producers and works to help families across the island ensure that they have food security through these extremely challenging times. They source their food entirely from local farmers and have garnered a lot of support from community members.
As challenging as the pandemic has been, do you think we'll start to see more support for local farmers and leadership from groups like the Pan Cape Breton Food Hub to fight food insecurity across this country?
Farmer, Canning Sauce Company
Yes, definitely. I think that as we live through the results of this pandemic we're realizing how long our food chain is, and I think we're taking some really active steps to shorten it. I believe that support locally, whatever local means to you anywhere in Canada, will definitely increase with how we've seen how long our food chain actually is. I think the support is going to be overwhelming.
I don't know that it's going to.... If we can't get the food out of the fields or if we can't have an avenue to sell the food, some of the support, as wonderful as it is, is not necessarily going to be as beneficial as it could be.
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
You talk about steps. I'm thinking, Ms. Hatcher, that if you had not the magic pen but the steps to put in place, where would you start?
Farmer, Canning Sauce Company
To put in place? Do you mean to bring our products to market?
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
Yes. It's that, and I think also the bigger picture in terms of food security, but let's start there.
Farmer, Canning Sauce Company
Okay. To bring our products to market—I can only speak for my province of Nova Scotia—I think we're doing a good job. For the farmers markets in general, those that didn't already have an online platform set up switched to it very quickly, which was incredibly helpful for both the consumer and the producer.
As an overall picture of food security and the health of our citizens from a food perspective, the things that I would put in place would definitely be those I alluded to, like incentives for farmers. Incentives for corporations that choose to purchase locally would be a massive one. If our hospital systems were purchasing their food locally, that would be incredible revenue for whatever community they're based in.
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
Yes. Hospitals, restaurants and even universities that have—
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
—a large contingent of students throughout the country and throughout the world.... I really appreciate that.
I want to stay with you. We know that there's a potential second wave in early September or at some time in the fall. I'm wondering if over the past few months you have adopted any new practices that will support your organization should we have a second wave. I think you alluded to some of this in your opening statement. You have a great platform. What advice would you give to other food-producing groups moving forward?
Farmer, Canning Sauce Company
I think a second wave is inevitable. That's a personal opinion. I think that bolstering the food producers within your community and ensuring that you're supporting them is really the only way that we can strengthen our food system, community by community. It doesn't necessarily start with the big boys or the medium farms or the large farms.
That's not to say that there is not an incredibly important place for them, but without our small producers and without community support for them, without municipal governments, provincial governments and federal governments, without those people standing behind them and supporting that movement and saying, yes, this is the preferred option, this is where you should be going, I don't think we really stand a chance. People are getting frightened and in many instances, when there are fear-based decisions, you're often going to go with the cheapest decision.
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
I particularly liked your opening statement when you talked about this being an opportunity to reform, not just reform but to reframe, thinking and doing in the industry when it comes to local food security. You're absolutely right. I think that is one of the first places to go, the small farmers, but also connected to other industry partners and all levels of government, so I thank you for that.
Conservative
Tamara Jansen Conservative Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
I want to direct my questions to Mary Robinson. I am a retired farmer. I used to produce out of 28 greenhouse acres, both floral and vegetable. For many years, I was very concerned that all levels of government were basically attacking the farming sector, making it almost impossible for us to do our work. I kept saying that they've been coming after the resource sector and that we're next.
When I look at the way Minister Bibeau has been responding to the needs of farmers right now, the government is basically expecting to create food security on the backs of farmers. What are you thinking? Do you feel we have had a reasonable response to the needs that farmers are facing?
President, Canadian Federation of Agriculture
Mrs. Jansen, it's nice to know that you're a former farmer.
