A report by three farm organizations in Western Canada is calling on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to be compassionate, provide more compensation and be more transparent when dealing with disease outbreaks that involve destruction of farmers’ complete herds and flocks.
There have been dozens of outbreaks of avian influenza, especially recently in British Columbia and Alberta.
Producers require empathetic support, better compensation and information sharing during a disease outbreak said speakers at a forum organized by Animal Health Canada.
The report was issued by the Outbreak Support Network which is supported by the Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network, Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership and the Western Canadian Animal Health Network.
The report addressed outbreaks of bovine tuberculosis, foot and mouth disease and highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Betty Althouse, former chief veterinary officer for Saskatchewan, said “the goal of the Outbreak Support Network is to establish a framework for supporting private veterinary practitioners and producers dealing with a suspected or confirmed case reportable to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.”
The goal of the network’s current phase is to articulate problems, develop solutions and make recommendations for the next phase. Althouse said in a recent speech about the interim report.
By far, the top one was communication and information sharing, she said.
This creates a problem where producers are at the intersection of various agencies asking them for the same information, such as local health units and CFIA.
“That is very frustrating to public health, and it’s also very frustrating to the producers, because they’re hearing another federal agency that they don’t know whether it’s different or the same from CFIA … asking the same questions they’ve already answered.”
She encouraged more information-sharing methods and transparency among jurisdictions to address this problem.
She said the CFIA assigns a case officer and that can make a big difference by providing a single source for reliable information throughout the response to the disease outbreak, yet sometimes information is left out.
Farmers also said they felt the CFIA lacked empathy for the stress involves in depopulation.
Private veterinarians have complained about lack of compensation for the time they spend helping farmers, including those within quarantine zones.
She said some poultry specialist veterinarians felt they had as much or more expertise than CFIA officials and they wanted their input considered and included.
They were a little resentful of the time that was expected of them on calls and working groups that they weren’t paid for, Althouse said.
Coordination and standardized frameworks among government agencies will be important, she said, and the CFIA website should be made easier to navigate.
She said the industry should consider insurance. Deborah Whale of Ontario led a years-long effort to develop am disease insurance program. Canada’s national egg marketing agency has a reciprocal insurance program.
