“No farmers, no food!” protesters chanted before Parliament Hill recently. Dozens gathered with signs denouncing government overreach, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the culling of hundreds of ostriches at a B.C. farm.
In December 2024, some ostriches at Universal Ostrich Farms near Edgewood, B.C., exhibited flu-like symptoms and later died, encouraging the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to investigate. The CFIA ordered the shooting of more than 300 birds. Instead, it’s evolved into a political movement.
The demonstration in Ottawa was one of several protests occurring in major cities across Canada as part of the ‘Farmer’s Protest Canada’ movement. The use of vehicle convoys and anti-regulation messages mirror the Freedom Convoy protest.
“I feel that it’s animal cruelty,” protester Suzanne Normoyle told Capital Current.
To Normoyle, the CFIA’s intervention at the farm was government overreach. She and other protesters fear agricultural restrictions and regulations will unfairly hinder farmers.
“It’s not just an ostrich problem, it’s a food problem,” Normoyle said. “If they can do that to healthy birds, what are they going to do to other animals?”
Katie Pasitney, whose mother co-owns Universal Ostrich Farms, said she’s “really proud” of the movement that has been built around the ostriches.
“Across our country, I think what we’re seeing is farmers are living in fear,” Pasitney said. “Fear of regulations that are being written without us, fear of policies that are punishing us. We’re the people who feed our country and bring innovative science and technology. Fear of losing everything.”
Pasitney believes Canada and the world are watching what has happened. She hopes it will give farmers a place in policy-making.
“If it took 1,000 gunshots and the death of our ostriches in the biggest massacre to change Canada and protect our agricultural sector and animals from ever being treated this way by an agency,” she said, “then it gives us hope.”
Universal Ostrich Farms
In December 2024, around 25 to 30 birds with “flu-like” symptoms at Universal Ostrich Farms died in a three-week period. The CFIA intervened after receiving an anonymous tip about possible avian influenza infection. The government agency first imposed a quarantine order.
After testing the dead birds, the CFIA confirmed the virus was the H5N1 subtype of avian influenza and issued a cull order. The total count of avian influenza deaths on the farm reached 69.
The farm applied for an exception from the cull citing rare and valuable genetics, but it was denied by the CFIA.
“We’re losing the strength and the genetics in our animals of the lineage that has been developed over decades and decades,” said Pasitney.
Universal Ostrich Farms then went to court. The Federal Court ruled the CFIA’s decisions were “reasonable” and “procedurally fair.” The farm appealed but it was dismissed. The Supreme Court of Canada then ruled Nov. 6 that it would not hear the case.
The CFIA culled and disposed of more than 300 ostriches. The agency called the cull humane, and the disposal responsible.
Conservative MP Scott Anderson, in whose riding the farm is, denounced the cull order in a Sept. 25 House of Commons meeting.
“The Liberal government has failed to do its job, letting the Canadian Food Inspection Agency order the slaughter of a herd of ostriches with no transparency or communication with farmers or Canadians,” he said. “This communication fiasco has been allowed to escalate into a crisis. Now tens of thousands of Canadians have raised their voices on the issue, wanting to know why.”
Avian influenza
Avian influenza, bird flu, is a highly contagious viral infection that primarily affects birds.
“Avian influenza is primarily an avian virus and it is evolving to become better able to infect mammals and even humans,” Katharine Magor, says. She is a researcher and professor in biological sciences at the University of Alberta and has been researching avian influenza, specifically the H5N1 subtype, since 2006.
The virus is highly pathogenic: if it infected a herd of chickens, it could kill them all. But the virus is also an acute infection, so if an animal’s immune system can get the virus under control, it can clear it completely. This means ostriches, which have a more advanced immune system than chickens, may not be impacted the same.
“They are likely to get sick, maybe some of them will die from it, but unlike chickens (…) ostriches may recover,” said Magor.
Though a herd that has recovered may achieve herd immunity from the virus for a short time, birds are likely to get reinfected with slightly different strains of the flu. In the case of Universal Ostrich Farms, the presence of avian influenza was nevertheless a dangerous and serious situation, said Magor.
“They were probably not infected at the time of the culling,” she said, “but they were undoubtedly infected at the time of the identification of the problem.”
Although it is possible for some birds to recover, the virus still poses a serious risk—notably to humans. Of the 964 human cases of H5N1 influenza confirmed by the World Health Organization between 2003 and 2025, 466 cases resulted in death, a fatality rate of around 48 per cent.
“It’s a very dangerous virus,” Magor said. “We’re all on red alert, those of us that work in this field.”
Last year, a B.C. teenager infected with H5N1 was hospitalized for months. Magor said the teenager is lucky to be alive.
The virus has not yet learned to move from human to human and it has typically infected humans through their eyes, transmitted from birds. However, as the virus evolves, Magor believes human-human transmission may be possible in the future.
“That virus can replicate very efficiently in cells in the lab, so we know it’s capable, it just hasn’t happened,” she said. “We’re all watching this virus because we’ve never seen anything like it.”
