00:08:20.580they literally had that in writing so karen and katie were inside the pen feeding the birds and
00:08:27.660then all of a sudden the rcmp were like you have to get out and they're like what are you talking
00:08:31.580about we have this document that says we're supposed to be doing exactly what we're doing
00:08:35.860that's what they got arrested for and that's one of the main reasons they're being shut down for
00:08:40.940compensation here and essentially if you look through it it's mostly just the stand that they
00:08:46.880took to dispute this stamping out policy that the agency has been getting away with pretty much
00:08:54.460unchallenged until they very publicly did so. So if you don't go in lockstep with the government
00:09:02.020as they try to destroy your life, then you won't get the compensation that you're legally entitled
00:09:08.560to for the government destroying your life. It's really quite something that it falls down on
00:09:13.340political lines, whether or not your birds are worthy of compensation or not. I guess
00:09:18.680if you like the CFIA, your birds are worth something, or at least if you don't fight
00:09:23.780back. But if you do fight back, your birds are worth nothing. Okay, let's get into exactly what
00:09:29.580the costs were in this nearly $7 million, because there is quite a breakdown for them to kill
00:09:36.380more than 300 ostriches. It's not just the cost of the cull itself.
00:09:43.580There's a breakdown for the CFIA. Their salaries amounted to $340,000. They also spent nearly
00:09:55.180$500,000 on professional services, which include disposal, protection services,
00:10:02.460whatever that means transportation of materials cyber security did they think that people were
00:10:09.900trying to hack them office security and private veterinary services they also charged 772 dollars
00:10:18.320for laundry i suppose that's for washing their weird little white suits they also reported
00:10:24.220spending over on top of delivery of materials so we already heard delivery of materials another
00:10:29.920$221,000 for straw and delivery. That's quite something. I'm in the wrong business selling,
00:10:36.600hey? The agency didn't specify a use for the straw, but we all know what that was about.
00:10:42.820And for personnel, the RCMP spent $2 million, $1 million for transportation and telecommunications.
00:10:53.880I suppose that's the drones. And there's Starlink, another $657,000 for professional and special services, $59,000 for rentals and leases, $17,000 for repairs and maintenance, $210 for utilities, materials, and supplies.
00:11:12.880And the Justice Department, they chucked in a $1.3 million bill only to say that it was total legal cost, but they didn't give a breakdown. The CFIA also had its own legal costs of $44,000, which the agency says is not included in litigation costs incurred by the Department of Justice Canada.
00:11:39.680So what are we looking at here for legals? Nearly $1.4 million to fight this farm to eventually kill all the birds and then not compensate the farm.
00:11:53.060To kill them a year after they caught the flu, a year after they caught the flu. And let's not forget the pushback against this. It wasn't just the farmers saying, hey, let's not do this. It was nonpartisan politicians. You had Elizabeth May with the Green Party, David Eby, basically some representation from everyone except for the federal liberals.
00:12:15.920And then you had the international pressure. So they're spending close to $7 million to execute this call to destroy the healthy flock, the farmers, their livelihood, and to destroy any kind of, it almost seems democracy in this situation.
00:12:33.220But that number that you're talking about is missing a few things.
00:12:38.060You mentioned a couple of them, but it's also missing over time when it comes to the RCMP.
00:12:43.720And they were working around the clock.
00:12:46.420So anytime that they were working on the weekend or what have you, none of those figures are in there.
00:13:26.260this is an ostrich farm the birds can't even fly like what what is happening right and a completely
00:13:34.700peaceful protest despite the violence that they saw perpetrated against the birds my concern is
00:13:42.200this causes a policing deficit in other places and I'm reliably informed that some places of1.00
00:13:46.860British Columbia are quite dangerous given the influx of foreign nationals gangs and guns and1.00
00:13:54.580opioids. Well, this was at the heart of the extortion issue, which is still ongoing, but this1.00
00:14:00.200is when it was really going down. And you have the RCMP and the CFIA doing this standoff. And
00:14:07.480remember that miraculous leave that came in and that joyful moment, Sheila, you were there, I were
00:14:13.340there, we were both catching different angles. I saw tears in some of the mainstream media eyes,
00:14:18.720the journalists there too, during that moment. And we all thought when you looked at that,
00:14:23.640that meant the Supreme Court could take around three months to make their decision, and they did
00:14:29.180pretty close to that. You would think, respectfully, respectful of the taxpayer dollars, that the
00:14:35.580CFIA, who wasn't even fully set up because there was all that pushback happening anyways, all the
00:14:40.720delays after our sources, of course, led to supporters realizing who was involved in the call,
00:14:48.120but you would think they would have left. You would think these RCMP officers would have been
00:14:53.180dealing with the extortion and all of the other issues maybe busting a fentanyl lab but no they
00:14:58.460just parked there and around the clock with their drones with their surveillance arresting the
00:15:03.400farmers when the cfia doesn't even know how to feed or tend to ostriches it really is outrageous
00:15:09.280that's why i'm so happy that we are actually doing this documentary doing what we do best
00:15:14.560telling the other side of the story so people see it all laid out and i'm very proud of this work
00:15:21.080I think it's going to resonate with a lot of people.
00:15:23.360And the truth, it just simply has to be told.
00:15:26.280Well, tell us the state of the documentary, because I think it's all but finished.
00:15:31.760You are planning, along with our team, the screenings of the documentary.
00:15:37.120So tell us a little bit about the process to make that documentary and the direction you took it in.
00:15:46.000And before we wrap the show, I wanted to give you an opportunity to let people know where they can find out more information about when the screening is coming to a place near them and perhaps if they know a venue.
00:15:58.080But before that, tell us just the process of this documentary, because it was, you know, you were there for a very long time.
00:16:06.380And I imagine it was quite emotional for you to have to relive all that in the making of the documentary.
00:16:11.820Yeah, absolutely. As I'm saying this, you guys can go on another device and go to callingthecure.com. I believe as we're filming this, two locations, two locations in British Columbia, more to come in other provinces.
00:16:23.640um but yeah you know taking me back to to when it actually happened after doing that coverage and
00:16:31.280seeing the ups and downs something to be clear is every time that I went to the farm which ended up
00:16:36.980being weeks at a time um it was because it seemed as though the call was going to happen
00:16:44.240so I got in this rhythm of going there to cover it and then ta-da they're gonna live another two
00:16:52.160whatever months and the fight lives on. So to actually watch all of that come to an end after
00:17:00.020the epic grassroots stand against the government overreach that took place, and then to add the
00:17:08.700salt to the wounds on how they did it through the dark, strategically taking the floodlights and
00:17:15.920shining them out so that myself and the other independents could not actually capture anything
00:17:21.980like that. And, and the, the brutal way in which they had done it, the research that I had done
00:17:29.020showed that it should take some time to go ahead and humanely destroy this flock. And that's not
00:17:38.520what happened. It was done like this. And in fact, the CFIA itself in its own manual, when they were
00:17:45.940interviewed not just I believe three weeks earlier even they said it's probably going to take
00:17:52.420you know someone sitting on the ostrich another person holding the ostrich and and they described
00:17:59.000a completely different process than what they did they were so eager to kill them at any expense
00:18:04.180and keep out the public so it was all shocking and of course seeing firsthand these farmers lose
00:18:10.940everything that they were fighting for and their supporters it really did affect me it really
00:22:45.420So credit to these ostrich farmers for having a very public stand that allowed, you know, journalists like myself to get in there and really see.
00:22:54.340So we're going to have what I would describe as almost sort of mini dogs or very comprehensive reports that come out that continue on, not exactly about the ostrich story, but while covering and investigating for this documentary, it was like, whoa, this is a story in itself.
00:23:11.820There's some reports I think you're going to be really shocked about, one involving Dr. Bonnie Henry.
00:23:17.520I won't give too much away, but how, you know, the provincial authorities can piggyback with the CFIA and also totally annihilate, you know, farmers and even an industry.
00:23:30.400So we're going to have some stuff about that.
00:23:32.180You're really going to want to stay tuned because this is an issue.
00:23:35.940What we saw on live display with the ostriches is not an isolated issue.
00:23:40.160issue. And even just yesterday, I received an email from a farmer, very similar story where
00:23:47.420the CFIA just shows up and they feel like their animals were not even sick and now they're gone
00:23:53.860and they're devastated and they're crying in their barn alone. So this is really, really,
00:23:59.140really, really big and important work. Sheila, you know, you're a farmer yourself. It's so
00:24:05.580important we support our farmers. And Sheila, you take a stand, a very vocal stand, but you know
00:24:10.360that most farmers are not like that. They just want to bring food to the table. They just want
00:24:14.560to help society, work hard, get up early, you know? And so it's an honour to be their voices.
00:24:22.860Yes. And I think you're doing an incredible job for a non-farmer. You got a crash course in0.98
00:24:27.700the avian flu problem and ratite biology. And moreover, to your point about the CFIA,
00:24:35.580The CFIA is one of the worst performing agencies in all of government.
00:24:42.080Conservatives pointed out at committee that the liberals eliminated the chief redress officer at the CFIA.
00:24:52.340So the person who listens to the complaints when it comes in against the CFIA.
00:24:58.120So roughly one in three complaints against the CFIA were found to be justified.
00:25:03.120And many of those CFIA rulings were subsequently reversed. And what was the government solution to it? Well, then let's get rid of the guy who's taking the complaints so then we don't have to deal with the complaints.
00:25:16.240But the problem is, that's typical like chef's kiss liberal government solution to these problems. But the reality is, these are real farmers' lives being ruined by this underperforming agency that has a 30% whoopsie doodle rate, which is completely unacceptable.
00:25:36.380And I would ask Mr. Iannaro, and thank you for your answers, if you would also table with the committee.
00:25:42.420We had known that with the chief redress officers, part of the CFA, it was a very critical office that was eliminated by the Liberal government.
00:25:50.760And we know that almost 27 percent or well over a quarter of all the complaints brought in by customers and producers and businesses to the CFA were justified and many of those decisions had to be reversed.
00:26:03.080Can you table with this committee an updated report on how many CFIA complaints were received since 2015 to the present, broken down by subject matter, by province, and the outcome of those complaints?
00:26:15.580That would be very helpful to this report as well.
00:26:57.060In a perfect world, the future conservative government of this country would gut it and start from scratch.
00:27:07.300There's no possible way an agency with a 30% screw-up rate should be remaining without a complete rewrite, a complete rebrand.
00:27:19.360And Drea, one more time before we sign off, because you're busy, I'm busy, let people know how they can find out more about the Ostrich Doc.
00:27:28.380I know you did just a few minutes ago, but maybe people didn't take your advice at the time and get out another advice or a device and let them know how they can get in contact with us if they have a proposed venue for the Ostrich Documentary.