Ottawa—A bill to toughen penalties for trespassers on livestock farms received strong final support in the Commons and now is before the Senate for approval.
Only the New Democrats voted against the bill introduced by Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow, who thanked other MPs and Canadians for their strong support for the bill.
The agriculture sector assisted him in developing the bill and colleagues helped improve it the bill while it was under study by the Commons agriculture committee.
He noted an open letter from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, which said bill provides “targeted intervention against the on-farm food safety and biosecurity risk by limiting the access of unauthorized entrants to animals and farms.” The bill would “further strengthen our overall food system by enhancing the measures in place to protect the health of farm animals across our country.”
The bill also “strikes a balance between producers’ safety and protection and the right to lawful and peaceful protest. Our members’ operations often host visitors to demonstrate how the land is managed or their animals are cared for, but there is a key distinction between those who willingly follow prescribed, strict biosecurity and sanitation practices and those who willfully endanger animal health, welfare, and food safety.”
Barlow noted the letter also included support from the Do More Agriculture Foundation. It said that on a daily basis farmers must deal with numerous factors outside of their control that directly influence their mental wellbeing.
“Farmers should not have to add living with the fear of protestors trespassing into enclosed areas and endangering their animals, livelihoods, and food security on top of everything else that weighs on them day in and day out. Farmers are among the most vulnerable when it comes to mental health challenges like stress, anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, and burnout.”
Passage of the bill by MPS sends a message to our farmers, our livestock producers and their families that “their animals matter, Canadian agriculture matters, our food security matters and, most importantly for farm families across the country, their livelihoods matter.
“We care about their mental health. We recognize the unwavering dedication our farmers and farm families have for the well-being of the animals in their care.”
He urged urban MPs to share this message with their constituents so they better understand “what Canadian agriculture is, how we do it, why we do it and the very strict regulations and protocols in biosecurity we must follow to ensure the security of our food supply.”