'This is a kill mission': B.C. ostrich farmer gives update on CFIA's death pursuit against healthy flock

Federal judge who paused the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s cull order is replaced, as government lawyer scoffs at farmers’ “belief” in herd immunity.

| April 09, 2025 | News Analysis | 1 Comment

“There is a small subset of the population that holds certain beliefs about herd immunity.”

That was the dismissive remark made by Department of Justice lawyer Eileen Jones during a recent case management conference, as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) presses forward with its attempt to slaughter 400 ostriches at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, British Columbia.

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For the farmers — who maintain that their ostriches have been symptom-free and have had natural immunity to the H5N1 avian flu for months, Jones’s statement was a chilling echo of Justin Trudeau's infamous “small fringe minority” comment aimed at Canadians who questioned government vaccine mandates.

Katie Pasitney, one of the farmers behind the groundbreaking ostrich research farm, joined Rebel News once again to provide a detailed update on the CFIA’s unrelenting legal campaign, the farm’s mounting financial burden and a troubling shakeup in their judicial review case.

The farm’s previous victory — a dramatic emergency injunction granted by Justice Battista just before the CFIA was set to kill the flock on February 1 — is now clouded in uncertainty, as Pasitney revealed during her latest interview with Rebel News that Battista has been removed from the case.

Adding to the pressure, the farm has been under quarantine since December 30.

“All of our farm’s ways and means of raising money have been shut off,” she explained, noting that the shutdown includes revenue from research partnerships and egg sales not for human consumption.

Pasitney also announced a restructuring in the farmers' legal team. In addition to longtime counsel Michael Carter, the farm has brought on Lee Turner, a Kelowna-based lawyer known for representing COVID vaccine injury whistleblower Dr. Charles Hoffe.

“We've been lucky now to have Michael Carter and Lee Turner as co-council and they're both helping our farm and all of us fight this fight,” said Pasitney.

The dual-counsel approach has also allowed the farm to shift how they pay their legal fees moving forward, which is expected to cost tens of thousands of additional dollars.

To date, the farmers have paid around $75,000 for the fight, thanks to support from crowdfunding.

Pasitney says several case management conferences have taken place to try and reach a resolution, but their pleas for scientific testing to simply prove the flock is now immune have fallen on deaf ears.

“Give us the opportunity to test our ostrich eggs that are being laid right now. Give us an opportunity to test our ostriches that are all happy and healthy right now. We can prove that they are not a public threat, that they have antibodies… that was met with complete deaf, just a deaf response,” she said.

“They are not interested in testing these animals. It has become very clear that this is kill mission.”

Pasitney believes the government’s priorities are skewed:

This should be something that should be very interesting to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, as well as it should be very important to us. It should be important to both sides. We could not have to spend them however much money of the government and the time to kill all of our animals if they're all happy with herd immunity, natural immunity, and robust antibodies.

Paitney said the Department of Justice lawyer's characterization of them “a small subset of the world” that believes in herd immunity is alarming.

“During the COVID-19 times, if when you go back and you look at all of their marketing, their marketing was on community immunity, which resembled herd immunity. If you get vaccinated, you can create community immunity and your immune system. They're using it when they want to, that's gonna benefit them.”

A two-day judicial review hearing is now scheduled for April 15 and 16 at the Vancouver Law Courts. The farmers welcome public support at the courthouse and are asking anyone who attends to do so peacefully.

“We stand for peace, and we stand for kindness. That's how we are meant to win this,” said Pasitney.

Click "EDIT AND SEND EMAIL" below to email the following officials to demand the CIFA and Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food reverse this scheduled massacre!