Urgent: Defend Our Farms: Demand a Reversal of CFIA’s UOF Cull Order

This is my letter to my MP and MLA Cc to Minister of AG and CFIA feel free to copy, edit etc and send to your elected officials …I cannot bring myself to use the words honorable before their names…

To: laila.goodridge@parl.gc.ca, minister.energy@gov.ab.ca
Cc: heath.macdonald@parl.gc.ca, Kody.Blois@parl.gc.ca, Paul.MacKinnon@inspection.gc.ca
Subject: Urgent: Revise CFIA’s Response to Universal Ostrich Farm—Protect Farmers’ Rights

Dear, Laila Goodridge and Brian Jean

I am a constituent and rural rights advocate alarmed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) directive to cull all remaining (approximately 400) ostriches at Universal Ostrich Farm (UOF) in Edgewood, B.C. This action overrides farmers’ property rights and flies in the face of common-sense, evidence-based disease control.

Key Facts

• Novel Hybrid Strain Outside Standard Categories

  CFIA identified a unique H5N1 reassortant (genotype D1.3), the first of its kind in Canada—neither clearly high-pathogenic (≥ 75 % mortality) nor low-pathogenic (≤ 2 % mortality), in December 2024

• Low Mortality and No Transmission

  Out of approximately 450 birds, only 69 died (≈ 15.3 %), and zero illness or deaths in nearly six months (besides the 2 that were shot while they lay sleeping)—also ZERO new cases reported ANYWHERE in the entire province, this fact alone should signal there is no threat to the public or other animals.

• No Justification Based on Trade or Exports

  UOF is a private, closed-circuit operation with no commercial or export product. International trade rules (OIE/WOAH) are irrelevant.

• Diagnostic Failures

  Reliance on PCR alone is a failure as is well known it amplifies any RNA fragments, live or dead, and CFIA lacks transparency on cycle thresholds (Ct).

• Disproportionate Costs to Taxpayers

  Multi‑million‑dollar contract awards for CO₂, contractors, and disposal drain rural and federal budgets—resources that far exceed the actual risk posed by this event.

• Property Rights Violated

  Under the Health of Animals Act, ministers can order farm-wide culls without judicial review or adequate compensation—setting a precedent where suspicion trumps ownership and due process.

• Misplaced Research Funding

  While UOF’s on-farm antibody research went unfunded, private labs received $13.44 M for COVID‑19 immunotherapy R&D—underscoring inconsistency in federal priorities.

• Logistical Overkill

CFIA protocols would deploy the equivalent of a light-infantry company (~80–90 personnel) on site, let’s visual what this massive slaughter would look like:

• 4 squads of 10 operators each to capture and restrain birds

• 2 squads of 10 for captive-bolt euthanasia

• 30 support staff for veterinary oversight, PPE/decontamination, security, and transport

• 10 officers for command, bio-zone management, and federal coordination

All this for a flock posing no ongoing risk—raising the question: is this disease control or a small-scale military operation? Please let common sense prevail, what a total waste of time, money and resources…just to kill them.

This operation squanders time, taxpayer dollars, and skilled personnel to execute birds whose robust immune systems may hold vital insights for human and animal health research. Let that sink in…

Demands for Immediate Reform

• Lift the Blanket Cull Order: Reclassify UOF’s situation as a low-pathogenic event; replace mass depopulation with a quarantine + targeted management plan. As with any animal wrongfully committed let them off with time served.

• Ensure Transparent, Rigorous Diagnostics: Abandon PCR as sole proof; require full disclosure of Ct values and live-virus isolation protocols. Serology testing is much more reliable and informative

• Release All Data & Costs: Publish CFIA’s test results, environmental/serology data, and contract spending in real time, vendor by vendor.

• Restore Property and Due-Process Rights: Amend the Health of Animals Act to require judicial review and fair compensation for any depopulation order.

• Safeguard Canadian Values: Direct that all agricultural and biosecurity policies be governed solely by Canadian laws and interests—not international mandates by unelected foreign bodies.

• Introduce legislation to amend the Health of Animals Act, revoking ministers’ unchecked cull powers and restoring due‐process protections for all farm owners.”

Farmers know their land and livestock best. I urge you to stand with rural communities and call for a proportionate, rights-respecting CFIA response.

I beg you to consult with fellow MLAs, MPs, ministers, and veterinary experts to form a cross-party coalition demanding these reforms. We the people deserve leaders who defend our rights, not trample them with unscientific mandates. We must restore property rights as this is a very dangerous and slippery slope…

Remember: as CFIA and global health agendas decimate our farms, our children and grandchildren risk food insecurity—forced to rely on lab-grown protein while our real food supply is destroyed.

Thank you for your attention and prompt action.

Please report back on the steps you will take to address these urgent concerns.

Please no auto generated responses, we need real responses to real concerns.

Sincerely,
Connie Shields
____________________________________________________________________________

Feel free to copy and paste any or all parts that work for you…email to MP’s Senators, MLA’s, City Council and Unions …the more you send the more likely one will land on a desk that the person takes action.

I will follow up next week by phone if I have not received a response.