Tribunal Overturns $10,000 Fine Issued to BC Ostrich Farm

A $10,000 fine against a B.C. ostrich farm issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency claiming the farm owners violated a quarantine order has been tossed by the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal.

Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., made international headlines last year after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued a cull order for around 400 ostriches at the farm, saying the birds needed to be killed because they carried a form of the H5N1 virus, which causes avian influenza, that had not been identified in Canada before and that was connected to a case of human infection in the United States.

The owners of the farm challenged the order all the way up to the Supreme Court, saying the birds had immunity, displayed no symptoms, and were important for scientific study, but were unsuccessful in having the order overturned. CFIA completed the cull in November 2025.

Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal member Patricia Farnese found in a Feb. 6 decision that a quarantine notice issued to the farm, which the farm owners were said to have violated, was not delivered according to policy. Policy states quarantine notices are to be personally delivered, and the agency opted to email a copy to the farm owners’ lawyer, the decision says.

“Without proper service, deciding whether Universal contravened the quarantine notice is unnecessary,” Farnese wrote in the decision.

The agency argued that the farm owners’ lawyer had indicated on Feb. 2, 2025, that “all future communications be sent via email,” saying it satisfied the requirement for personal delivery when the notice was emailed to the lawyer on Feb. 6.

Farnese disagreed, saying the agency “has not met their burden to prove that either Universal waived their right to personal delivery or that the circumstances justify an exception to personal delivery requirement.”

CFIA also argued that winter conditions and protesters at the farm restricted access, and may have hindered delivering the notice by hand. However, the tribunal decision says the agency did not provide sufficient evidence to support the claims, adding that “normal winter conditions existed” at the time the farm owners were said to have violated the quarantine order.

Farnese added there was “no evidence” that protesters prevented access to the property prior to Feb. 26, 2025.

“Instead, the evidence shows that Agency staff were met by Universal’s owners or operators whenever they accessed the property, including on February 26,” she wrote in the decision, adding that both the notice of violation and the $10,000 fine were “set aside.”

Spokesperson for the farm Katie Pasitney said the tribunal was upholding safeguards put in place for public trust of institutions like the CFIA.

“The Tribunal is reminding everyone that quarantine orders are different because they carry such heavy consequences,” Pasitney said in a video posted to social media on Feb. 9. “That is why Parliament built these safeguards, because it is supposed to protect our farmers, our families,” she said.

The Epoch Times attempted to contact CFIA for comment but did not hear back by publication time.

December Decision

The decision comes more than a month after the tribunal upheld a separate $10,000 fine and notice of violation against the farm issued by the CFIA, which said the farm failed to properly notify officials about avian flu symptoms in its birds.

The farm owners were criticized for not reporting the sick birds in the December 2025 decision, which said that despite being “experts in ostrich health and welfare,” the owners “failed to exercise” adherence to the Health of Animals Act.

The tribunal noted that $10,000 was the base amount of a penalty for the violation.

Court Battle

CFIA said positive test results of avian flu from two birds at the farm in December 2024 required the rest of the herd to be culled. The farm owners secured a court injunction to pause the cull while awaiting a judicial review.

The judicial review was dismissed on May 13, 2025, and the farm owners appealed that decision.

Officials from the food inspection agency arrived at the farm on Sept. 22, 2025, with a police escort to arrange for the cull, but were not able to proceed because a stay order had been issued by the Supreme Court while it considered the farm owners’ appeal.

The farm remained under CFIA’s control while awaiting the court’s decision. The Supreme Court dismissed the farm’s appeal in November, and the agency carried out the cull within hours of that decision.