Two Saskatchewan organic growers who failed to mount a class action lawsuit against the developers of genetically modified canola will not pursue individual claims.
“We are closing a chapter but not the book,” said Dale Beaudoin, one of the two growers who were going to represent all Saskatchewan organic farmers if their attempt at launching a class action had been successful.
Their application for certification, which was filed in 2002, was dismissed by the Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench May 11, 2005.
That decision was upheld by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in a May 2, 2007, decision. The farmers asked the Supreme Court of Canada to entertain an appeal but were turned down last December, leaving individual lawsuits as their last resort.
Read Also
Manitoba beekeepers battle for survival
Honeybee colony losses have hit 43 per cent, making 2025 the latest in a string of poor bee survival years for Manitoba’s honey producers
“The courts of the land failed to see our side of the story on how we needed canola in our rotation of crops,” said Beaudoin.
Trish Jordan, spokesperson for Monsanto Canada, said the seed technology company is glad to see an end to the six-year-old case.
“We’re pleased that this issue is resolved. It clearly shows that Monsanto and Bayer have done absolutely nothing wrong,” she said.
While the two farmers never got their day in court, they believe they brought public attention to liability issues surrounding GM contamination and helped convince Monsanto to withdraw its plans to introduce Roundup Ready wheat.
“I believe our case has raised awareness around the impacts of products released into the environment,” said Larry Hoffman, the other farmer named in the court documents.
“We will work to further address those issues in the future.”
Jordan agreed that the duo ran an effective public relations campaign, but she found that to be one of the more troubling aspects of the case.
“It became more of a media issue for them than actually a legal issue and that was a concern for us from the get-go.”
Monsanto said its decision to suspend work on GM wheat was based on a lack of support from the wheat industry and had absolutely nothing to do with the threat of a class action lawsuit.
In a news release issued by the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate, a group that supported their case, the farmers said in the absence of the protections offered by class action legislation, they were unwilling to take on the deep pockets of the multinational seed technology companies.
But they vowed to carry on their fight along with other organic farmers, using an analogy made popular by Percy Schmeiser in his battle with Monsanto.
“Just as in the biblical story of David and Goliath, David has his moment of victory. Someday we, the organic farmers, will receive the justice we deserve,” said Beaudoin.
Jordan said that is an overused analogy designed to capture the attention of the media that tend to gravitate toward the big corporate entity versus little guy stories. And she is puzzled by Beaudoin’s comment about deserving justice when the courts have decided there wasn’t enough evidence to proceed with a class action lawsuit.
