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Results: 1 - 15 of 155
View Alistair MacGregor Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you so much, Chair.
Thank you, Dr. Pritchard, for informing this committee as we examine Bill C-205.
You were chief veterinary officer of British Columbia—also my home province. Can you tell me a bit about some of your main duties in that role?
Jane Pritchard
View Jane Pritchard Profile
Jane Pritchard
2021-06-15 16:06
That was one of three hats that I wore in the duties. You get a little grey in between, so I was replaced by three people when I retired.
As the chief veterinary officer, the primary duty is basically to advise the minister of agriculture and the government, and to enforce what was brought in while I was there, which was the new act to protect animals. It's a lot of being aware of what's going on.
When you get into the relationship like I had with avian influenza in 2014, a lot of what I was doing was simply being this spokesperson as the CVO. I was getting all of the information, but my duties within that were of a relationship, advice and that sort of thing. Most of what I was doing was running the lab and getting the diagnostic samples through and, at the same time, making sure we were delivering the same services to prevent all the diseases in all the areas. Then the other side of it was overseeing, to make sure the people who were working under me—because we had been through it before—were not burning out.
Jane Pritchard
View Jane Pritchard Profile
Jane Pritchard
2021-06-15 16:08
I did not specifically, but the current Health of Animals Act….
In British Columbia, the chief veterinary officer is all-powerful once an emergency is declared. There is a tremendous amount of power that falls on the shoulders of the chief veterinary officer to be able to do things, without even having written approval or putting it in writing; you can do all kinds of things verbally. There is a great deal of power that is very onerous to carry. The act itself provides so much power that you weren't looking for anything else to support it.
However, outside of that, certainly in dealing with an occasion where animal activists broke into a mink farm, let mink out and filmed them—it was just horrible—that was a family farm, and I was looking for something more there.
View Ken Hardie Profile
Lib. (BC)
I have one last question, then. What is the state of our assessment of salmon stocks in British Columbia? Do we have up-to-date assessments of those stocks?
View Bernadette Jordan Profile
Lib. (NS)
Salmon are in serious decline. I think we are seeing some populations as low as 90% down in some areas. We have almost 50 different types of salmon that are on the possible species at risk listing, so there is no time to waste in making sure that we find the right path forward.
I'm not sure, but if I could turn to my deputy, he may have more numbers with regard to what the salmon stock numbers are.
Philip Ralph
View Philip Ralph Profile
Philip Ralph
2021-05-28 15:28
That's a great question.
On what we developed, I have to give credit where credit is due. It's gained from sources that are out there. If you look at our standard and then at the Province of British Columbia's website, you're going to see a lot of similarities in the standards. As far as published standards go that are out there and available and actually in effect today, the Province of British Columbia actually has the best one in Canada. I can say that. I don't even live in the Province of British Columbia, so I'm not trying to do something with a hometown advantage.
View Sean Casey Profile
Lib. (PE)
View Sean Casey Profile
2021-05-28 15:29
If it makes you feel any better, sir, you're not the first witness to have said that.
Philip Ralph
View Philip Ralph Profile
Philip Ralph
2021-05-28 15:29
I understand from veterans and first responders living in the Province of British Columbia that the downfall with the system seems to be that they're not readily enforcing the standard they have. How do you then regulate it?
There are all kinds of accessibility issues—the question was asked earlier—but once you have a standard, then you have what the dogs are and where they can access all those pieces that need to come in. They're important. It's an important starting place. I wouldn't say that we have the 100% solution, but it's certainly a great place to start.
View Randall Garrison Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you.
I will turn to Mr. Lake since I have cited him.
I'm curious about whether the BC Care Providers Association is working on establishing standards for itself as care providers and professionalizing its own organization. You've talked about B.C. care aides needing to be professionalized, but does your organization work to establish standards of care that your members will deliver when providing long-term care?
Terry Lake
View Terry Lake Profile
Terry Lake
2021-05-11 12:48
All our members are contracted to the provincial government through health authorities, and they're very highly regulated. For instance, all inspection reports of long-term care are available on the health authority websites. We have patient care quality officers whom families can go to if they feel there's an issue about care in their family's nursing home.
On our independent living and home health side, we are starting an assurity program, which does have a level of care, a level of standards, that people have to meet. That's more on the independent living and private home health side, not the contracted long-term care side, because the regulations there—I can tell you, having been the minister—are very stringent.
In British Columbia we have probably the best organized system of care for seniors because we are so tied into regional health authorities for oversight. Whether you are a health authority home or a contracted provider, that same level of regulation and care and hours of care are legislated.
View Ken Hardie Profile
Lib. (BC)
Thank you again, Mr. Chair.
I wanted to talk about the role of the province. One of our witnesses said something to the effect that the province of B.C. kind of vacated the field in certain areas, particularly when it came to habitat, and that we had one DFO officer in Kamloops trying to cover an amazing amount of territory.
Ms. Reid, does that sound like something that you heard along the way?
Rebecca Reid
View Rebecca Reid Profile
Rebecca Reid
2021-04-26 17:08
I can't speak to the staffing levels in B.C., but I think that we are always challenged to have enough habitat people on the ground, given the significant territory they have to cover.
View Ken Hardie Profile
Lib. (BC)
The staffing level was the DFO person in Kamloops, basically by themselves.
Let's turn this on its head a little bit. What's the role of the province, particularly in the inland waters, that complements or is supposed to complement the work of the DFO?
Rebecca Reid
View Rebecca Reid Profile
Rebecca Reid
2021-04-26 17:08
The province has responsibilities for fresh water, with the exception of the management of salmon. When you're looking at agriculture, land types of decisions, water flow and water availability, those are areas where we do interact with the Province of B.C. It has responsibilities for steelhead management, for example, so there's another interaction. We work with the province from a habitat perspective quite carefully and significantly. We also work with it in the marine environment—for example, for aquaculture for our tenures. That's the interface between DFO and B.C. when it comes to land and water.
View Ken Hardie Profile
Lib. (BC)
I don't want to put you terribly on the spot, but would it appear that the province is somewhat challenged keeping up its end of the work that needs to be done?
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