‘Very low odds’: Top court expert says B.C. ostrich case will struggle to get hearing
By Canadian Press on September 15, 2025.
An expert on the Supreme Court of Canada says a British Columbia ostrich farm faces an uphill battle “with very low odds” to get a hearing to stop the cull of about 400 birds.
Emmett Macfarlane, a political-science professor at the University of Waterloo, has written a book on Canada’s highest court and says the court focuses on cases where there is a question that needs to be clarified about the law, not to re-litigate possible errors in individual situations.
Macfarlane says that in the case of Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., multiple lower courts have decided not to stop the cull, suggesting there isn’t much legal “controversy.”
The farm has been fighting for months to try to stop an order by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to cull the ostriches over an avian flu outbreak, saying the birds are now healthy and scientifically valuable.
It has lost in Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, and on Friday was denied another stay of the order while it prepares to apply for leave to go to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Federal Court of Appeal Judge Gerald Heckman Heckman’s ruling says the farm has not established that its final proposed appeal “raises a serious or arguable issue.”
“The appellant was afforded a full and meaningful opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of this policy before this Court and the Federal Court. It did not succeed. Both levels of court determined that the CFIA had reasonably exercised its authority in the circumstances of this case and that its policy was lawful,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2025
Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press
12-11
I am trying to understand the reporting in this matter, because the information I have found is that even if these ostriches ‘appear healthy’ now they are contagious and if they are contagious why are they allowed to expose wildlife to the virus which can then be shared with other birds and spread the disease. You do not need 400 birds to conduct studies on the virus so most should be put down to reduce the spread.
Briefly, one of quick look without having to find the other source that showed they can appear healthy but be contagious:
“even ostriches appearing healthy can “silently” shed avian flu virus through their feces, urine, and respiratory secretions, increasing the risk of infection to humans and other animals. The virus also posed a risk of mutation into more infectious forms for mammals”
Why are we allowing this threat to continue for so long? If there is a spread, they will face huge civil actions!
Trust BC, where they enable and encourage drug addiction which kills young people in a painful, hellish manner on the streets, yet they allow birds which cause a threat to not just BC, but states and provinces nearby, by birds migrating down through the area. Insanity or they are all gettting high and lost their ability to make reasonable decisions!