WESTERN PRODUCER — Agriculture critic John Barlow’s private member’s bill to fine trespassers who enter barns or properties where animals are kept is now under scrutiny at the House of Commons’ agriculture committee.
Bill C-275 would amend the Health of Animals Act.
“Simply put, this enactment would apply existing penalties within the act to people who trespass on farms and on properties and at facilities where animals are kept,” Barlow said at committee last week.
The bill also proposes to double the fines for organizations that encourage unlawful behaviour and put animals and farmers at risk.
“This bill does not limit an individual’s right to peacefully protest on public property,” Barlow said.
“This bill also does not prevent whistle-blowers from coming forward when they are a witness to practices which jeopardize our food security, our food safety or the welfare of animals.”
Bill C-275 is a newer version of Bill C-205, which died on the order paper at the 2021 election call. Barlow said discussion at that time centred on farmers’ mental health after a biosecurity incident.
“What worries me, colleagues, is since we had that discussion a couple of years ago, animal activists have become even more brazen to the point where they’re endangering the lives of animals on farms (and) in some cases the public and the livelihoods of our farmers,” he said.
Barlow also said some trespassers have introduced disease.
Bloc Quebecois MP Yves Perron said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency already testified during Bill C-205 discussion that they don’t have the staff to enforce this legislation. Barlow said he isn’t asking the CFIA to be the RCMP.
“The RCMP will do their job and police this and try to resolve the situation when it happens on the ground. The CFIA will have a role to play in the follow-up, when fines are laid,” he said.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture testified in favour of the bill.
Megz Reynolds, executive director of the Do More Agriculture Foundation, said farmers shouldn’t have to live in fear of protesters trespassing when they already face so many other challenges.
Some are afraid to send their children out to do chores because of the additional risks that protesters could present, she said.
“A lot of producers are feeling that they’re not understood,” Reynolds said.
Several provinces have toughened their own trespass legislation to deal with this issue.
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