A key component of policing stems from community approval of the force's operations — and this issue has been playing out in remote Edgewood, British Columbia, where the RCMP has been assisting the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in its effort to cull 400 ostriches.

Universal Ostrich Farms insist the birds are healthy, having been fine for more than 250 days since a pair of the flock died due to avian flu. The CFIA disagrees and is determined to destroy the ostriches, despite their use in scientific research and not human consumption.

On Monday's Rebel Roundup livestream, host Ezra Levant compared the ongoing demonstration to the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa and assessed the difficulties police face in a rural community. 

Go Ad Free

“In Ottawa, they had quick access to enormous numbers of police and, if needed, heavy equipment,” he said, contrasting the 2022 protest with the simultaneous protest at the Alberta-Montana border crossing in Coutts. The latter protest was “very far from any police resources,” making it “logistically difficult for the police to crackdown” on the demonstration.

In the case of Universal Ostrich Farms, Ezra said police are still trying to figure out how to execute the CFIA's request.

“The police certainly don't want injuries,” he said, adding the officers know “every move they make is going to be filmed.”

Ezra also noted how private companies have been contracted by the CFIA to be involved in the cull, only to then back out after receiving pressure from the public.

Citing Robert Peel's foundations for modern policing, which says police are dependent on public approval for their actions, Ezra said the concept was “so important,” given it separates “a police state — that treats everyone like an enemy — and police in a democracy, where everyone helps the police because they have delegated things to police.”

Each of Peel's principles is “as relevant today as when they were written over a century ago,” he said.

“If you've got some distant and partisan bureaucracy,” he continued, “who's decided to kill 400 ostriches on the other side of the country, and the locals are getting uppity about it ... that's not in sync with Robert Peel's rules now, is it?”