A Saskatchewan farmer will get another chance to prove his allegations that Agriculture Canada was responsible for bringing bovine tuberculosis into this country’s farmed elk herds.
Dale Conacher of Mervin, speaking without legal counsel on behalf of other plaintiffs, spent a long day in Court of Queen’s Bench April 28 detailing the sequence of events leading to the destruction in 1991 of all animals on his farm, including 400 elk and 800 hogs.
Others plaintiffs included Laurie, Keith and Milton Conacher, Cliff and Rollie Begg, Bentley Brown and Miles Johnson.
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The hearing was held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for a civil trial.
Although compensated $5,000 per elk, Conacher is seeking the difference between that amount and the market value at the time, estimated at $12,000.
Conacher argued the infection came from a farm in Alberta that continued to sell its animals into Saskatchewan after bovine tuberculosis surfaced in its hogs.
Agriculture Canada also allowed the import of elk, bison and deer into Canada from the United States in the late 1980s, even though tests for bovine tuberculosis were inadequate and some American herds were infected, he claimed.
“They knew or ought to have known and knew that to leave it unchecked was playing with fire,” Conacher said.
He also argued that changes in the Animal Disease and Protection Act and Health of Animals Act led to capped values and decreased compensation levels for his herd.
Counsel for the federal government, Myra Yuzak, contended there was no evidence to prove Conacher’s allegations that officials knowingly or willfully jeopardized elk herds and the industry.
By day’s end, justice Douglas Campbell told Conacher he needed to return with documented evidence to support the allegations or request a mishearing.
He cautioned Conacher that the cost of going to trial “to you and your colleagues would be extreme. I wouldn’t let you go there unless there is merit in it.”
