MARCH 2020 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Government slow to act on trespass


legislation Police, victims frustrated


by PETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – When three


provincial cabinet ministers stood together last fall to support stronger protections for livestock operations vulnerable to trespass by animal rights activists, BC’s major farm organizations were pleased. “To have our laws reflect


that care and concern that we have for the work that you do is really important,” said attorney general David Eby, backed by agriculture minister Lana Popham and solicitor general Mike Farnworth, at the BC Agriculture Council’s reception in advance of Ag Day at the legislature at the end of October. “We’re on your side and we’ve amended the law to make it absolutely clear to everybody.”


An amendment to the


province’s Trespass Act including “a building or permanent structure designed or used for shelter for livestock” among the premises where trespassing was explicitly prohibited passed October 29 and received royal assent on Halloween. Penalties were to be laid out in regulations. BC Agriculture Council


president Stan Vander Waal said farmers across the province should feel “a lot lighter” and more confident going about their business as a result.


But the amendments have


yet to take effect. “An order-in-council is


required for the amendment to the act to be brought in to force,” the attorney general’s office told Country Life in BC. “That order is being prepared and is expected to go before cabinet in the near future.” Staff noted that the amendment doesn’t give livestock operations any greater protection, however. “It is important to note that


livestock operations were already protected under the existing act and those provisions continue in force,” it said, noting that the amendment simply makes the act’s provisions, and government’s protection of livestock operations, explicit. The fact doesn’t sit well


with participants in a workshop the Centre for Organizational Governance in Agriculture hosted in Abbotsford on February 13 addressing food trends and emerging issues.


Bonnie Windsor, assistant plant manager of Johnston’s Meats in Chilliwack, shared her experience when animal activists targeted the processor in the wake of more than 150 people invading Excelsior Hog Farm in Abbotsford last April. She expressed concern that the province’s failure to follow through on updates to the Trespass Act were emboldening groups she describes as “food terrorists.” “We cannot expect, as


agriculture, that we’re going to get the level of support and acknowledgement from any level of government that we think we need. That’s been proven, even in this case,” she says. “You’ve likely seen the tough stance Alberta recently took on food terrorism, and in my opinion, that makes it likely we could see increased activity here in BC, where there’s less risk to them legally.”


The decision to not lay


charges against activists who chained themselves to an Interior Savings Credit Union branch in Kelowna last November to protest its sponsorship of RibFest in the Okanagan, and delays in charging those who invaded Excelsior last spring frustrate her, as well as Abbotsford Police Department Sergeant Casey Vinet. “We submitted a very


comprehensive report, and we are hoping at the end of the day that Crown counsel sees it the way we do and lays the charges that we have recommended,” says Vinet of the investigation regarding Excelsior, which was burglarized prior to being invaded last April and had cameras installed on its premises. “We are all sitting and waiting, and it makes us ask how serious this is all being taken. … As soon as we don’t treat this seriously, and there’s no meaningful consequences, we just embolden these folks and things just get worse for you folks and for us, quite frankly.” Indeed, several instances in


the Okanagan this year underscore the fact that incidents continue unabated. Vinet says the level of activity in Abbotsford is such that his department now has an officer dedicated to monitoring the issue. “We actually have an officer dedicated to issues of protests or potential farm invasions,”


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says Vinet. “He is monitoring this stuff on a daily basis right now because of the activity that we’re seeing.” But if awareness is heightened, so are discussions around how to fight back. “We can’t fight back against


the activists themselves. We have to fight for our consumers. Someone is out there telling our story, and it’s not a very pretty one. We


need to tell our stories,” says Windsor. “It’s up to us – all of us: agriculture.” She urged producers to “be


transparent, be open, provide information, educate.” “We need to make sure our customers and consumers have the right information,” she says. “Education and information brings trust, understanding, respect and appreciation for what we do –


feed people.” Vinet told producers that they need to respond to the threat of trespassers as they would to any other external threat, with a coordinated communications plan involving all members of the industry. “Come up with a


communications plan, a strategy, collectively, then make that a focus,” he says. “I think that will go a long way.”


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