Lawyer Ron Doering, former head of the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency, says the civil servants who work there have tremendous
clout, far beyond normal and even beyond police forces.
For example, they have the power to come on farms, search
everywhere for anything, seize livestock, plants and records, detain (hold
them) indefinitely and destroy them.
They don’t need a search warrant, as do the police, to do
all of this.
There were no administrative appeal systems until about a
week ago. A number of farm organizations, such as the Canadian Cattlemen’s
Association, the National Pork Council and the Canadian Meat Council,
immediately praised Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz for setting up an office to handle complaints, plus a statement of rights and responsibilities.
It took a decade to get that much accountability into place.
Before that, appeals had to go to a court which, when you’re
fighting government lawyers with unlimited resources, can be a long,
frustrating and very expensive experience.
The new complaints office comes at a time when, Doering said in a
column, “increasingly, more than it should, the CFIA has been charging people
in criminal courts for what are often minor infractions.”
In court they need only prove the facts, not criminal
intent, Doering notes. The result after conviction is a criminal record.
Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. now has a criminal record after the
CFIA gained convictions in Brampton court for failing to meet the standards for
welfare when trucking chickens to its processing plant, including fragile spent
hens.
The company faces scores of additional charges for similar
chicken-trucking offences. It has, understandably, decided to buy new
chicken-hauling carts with drawers.
Doering did not mention that there is an appeal process available
to meat-packing companies that are fined for infractions. It’s so secret that I
had never heard of its existence until about a week ago.
As Doering headlined his column: “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
And look well beyond the fluffy news releases about the new office to handle complaints.
