The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has had its knuckles rapped again by a parliamentary committee over the way it treats producers caught in animal disease outbreaks, this time around bovine tuberculosis in Manitoba’s Riding Mountain National Park.
On Nov. 2, the House of Commons agriculture committee reported that the CFIA’s efforts near the park are not winning many friends.
“Unlike the Parks Canada agency, which has taken a transparent and collaborative approach with stakeholders, the CFIA and its approach are perceived negatively,” said the report, which was supported by all political parties in Parliament.
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Deer from the park are blamed for infecting local livestock with TB and the CFIA has attempted to control and eradicate spread of the disease. However, when the committee visited the park in October, they heard complaints that the CFIA has a corporate culture “that seems to be based on old-style consultations in that they tell us what they are going to do and then they ask us if there are any questions.
“The absence of communication or concrete actions in the specific context of Riding Mountain National Park is detrimental to CFIA’s reputation,” said the Commons committee.
It recommended that the Health of Animals Act be amended to allow improved and expanded compensation rules, including going outside the act if necessary for compensation programs in endemic disease situations.
Still, despite the criticisms of CFIA, the MPs said the Riding Mountain situation has improved since they first studied it in 2003. There is more local collaboration, local producers are more involved in decisions and Parks Canada has become more producer-friendly.
