SASKATOON – The Canadian Grain Commission is taking steps to combat grain sabotage by an obscure environmental organization which vows to contaminate grain if the British Columbia government doesn’t meet environmental demands.
“We’re taking it seriously. There’s no reason to believe it’s not a prank,” said Paul Graham, information officer with the grain commission in Winnipeg.
“We’ve notified everyone involved … and asked them to be extra vigilant.”
A group called the David Organization wrote B.C. premier Mike Harcourt demanding government action on several environmental issues. One of the threats, if the demands were not met, was contaminating car lots of grain at the terminal elevators with pesticides.
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A member of Harcourt’s staff said the letter was delivered to the premier and speaker’s office in an unmarked brown envelope. Police and other officials apparently had no prior knowledge of the group.
The letter was turned over to Vancouver RCMP, which contacted the grain commission, a federal government agency that regulates the grain handling system and guarantees grain quality.
The letter said the group would target car lots of grain at Prince Rupert, Thunder Bay, St. Lawrence and Vancouver terminals. They also threatened to notify the embassies of grain-importing countries of the plan.
The commission notified the terminal elevators, grain handlers unions and inspection stations to guard against contamination attempts.
Graham said he believes the grain supply is not at risk because of the “well-established quality measures” already in place.
Each day samples are taken from every grain car entering the terminal elevators. If contamination is suspected, the grain is unloaded in a special bin until the sample can be analyzed.
Canada exports 30 million tonnes of grain each year. This is the first time the safety of the grain has been a threatened target of environmental activists.
