Ottawa-The risk of African swine fever coming to Canada is one more reason why the country should have a law to deter anti-animal agriculture activists from entering farms without the permission of the owners, Conservative ag critic John Barlow told the Senate agriculture committee.

Trespassing incidents have increased in Canada and the U.S. by protestors who do not realize they could transmit diseases to the livestock on the farms, he said. Also current fines for trespassing under the Health of Animals Act are not high enough to deter intruders who are backed American organizations. People who have legitimate reasons for entering a farm follow sanitary precautions to eliminate any health threats to the animals or birds, Barlow said.

“This is not an ag gag law. This does not in any way stop people in the public from protesting on public property. What this does is put a line in the sand where you cannot cross onto private property where there are very strict biosecurity protocols in place. By all means, you are more than welcome to protest on public property, but you cannot go onto private property without understanding the biosecurity protocols.”

Barlow was motivated to write the proposed law, which needs approval by the committee and third reading by the Senate to become law, by an incident involving a turkey farm in his Alberta riding. There have been incidents elsewhere in Canada but trying to get the Criminal Code changed to deal with them would be protracted process compared to amending the Health of Animals Act.

“We see African swine fever, avian flu and foot and mouth disease, and we certainly see what’s happening with H5N1 and dairy cattle. We have to take every step we possibly can to ensure that our livestock, food supply and food security are protected. This is just one tool for us to ensure we are taking those appropriate steps to make sure our food supply and food chain are protected.”

Since he presented his bill to the Commons just over two years ago several provinces including Ontario have introduced anti-trespassing rules for farms. “I think it’s important that we have a national focus and legislation that will address this.”

He told the Senators that he thinks the trespassers are not aware of the risk of spreading disease or the consequences of a disease outbreak on a farm nor does he believe that protesters are purposefully trying to carry a disease from one farm to the next. “I think it’s a matter of them not knowing. But I think not knowing the consequences or potential consequences of your actions isn’t an excuse.

“The idea of this is to ensure that if there are reasons for a person to come on a farm — if you are bringing in feed or are a delivery person — you still have to go through the same biosecurity protocols as anyone else. Everyone has to go through these protocols, and protesters are circumnavigating those steps.”

This news item prepared for National Newswatch.