“This is everything that matters right now in Canada, and we need to see that, because if we don’t see that, then we are that much further gone,” said Pasitney.
The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday dismissed an appeal from Universal Ostrich Farms to stop the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) from slaughtering hundreds of birds on the farm. CFIA officers have been poised for weeks to slaughter hundreds of healthy ostriches that were exposed to the H5N1 avian influenza almost a year ago, in December 2024.
On Sept. 22, the CFIA and the RCMP invaded and occupied Universal Ostrich Farms located at Edgewood, British Columbia, a picturesque town in the heart of the Kootenays, located not far from the Valhalla Provincial Park and about two hours east of Kelowna.
On Sept. 24, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a stay of that execution while it considered an appeal from the farm.
“The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will be moving forward to complete depopulation and disposal measures as authorized by the Health of Animals Act and guided by the stamping out policy for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI),” the CFIA said in a statement on Thursday morning.
Upon discovering that the court would rule on Nov. 6, farm spokeswoman Katie Pasitney told The Post Millennial, “You know, even when people say, ‘oh, let's talk about something else. This isn't that important.’ I disagree. I mean, this is everything that's important right now. And it's not because of just our ostriches. It's about how we got here, how this started, what has happened in between, and what this means to all Canadians.”
“This is everything that's important right now. This is our freedom of speech. This is our land rights. This is how they can come in and seize your property to kill based on suspicion. This is eradicating your animals with no respect, with no dignity, with no second thought. Science is being thrown out the window, and speculation is winning. There's no more discovery. There's only destruction. This is everything that matters right now in Canada, and we need to see that, because if we don't see that, then we are that much further gone,” Pastiney said.
Immediately following the announcement Thursday, Pasitney told TPM "This is punishment. These animals have been alive for over 300 days, healthy, never tested, never tested. Those animals are setting up gun cases. They're setting up guns. These animals are 35 years old. We're not a commercial poultry facility, and we're not for food consumption. There are families, babies, and my mom will never get them back."
"When did life become so meaningless in Canada? When did we start offering MAID [Medical Assistance in Dying] to the people who are sad, who are depressed or who can't get up the stairs properly because they're older? When did we lose the quality, the value for life?" she asked.
Pastiney accused the CFIA of ignoring the Supreme Court’s order that instructed the government agency to care for the birds but instead systematically took action with neglect, maltreatment, and cruelty. Former federal Minister of Agriculture estimated that the operation at the farm was costing taxpayers at least $100,000 per day.
The CFIA has been preparing to kill 399 ostriches based on a cull order that followed an apparent outbreak of avian flu on the farm in December 2024 and was also continuing to refuse to test the birds even after a highly publicized intervention by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr who argued the birds needed to be studied to see what antibodies they created to develop immunity to avian flu; that these animals provided vital information that could protect humans as well.
The federal agency continues to insist the birds could still develop a “mutant virus,” but many scientists say this is highly unlikely.
There was obvious video evidence of cruelty and harassment at the farm since the court granted “custody” of the birds to the CFIA. Pasitney, who is the daughter of farm owner Karen Espersen, repeatedly asked the CFIA for permission to count the number of birds on the farm but was denied access to the “death pen” that the agents had constructed out of hay bales or even to cross a barricade placed around the 58 acre farmland.
The farm is owned by Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski. Pastiney, also works on the farm and has become a familiar face on Canadian and US news reports. Her story of seeing government overreach steal and kill livestock while destroying their livelihood has been likened to a second Freedom Convoy story for Canadians. Pasitney is appealing to the same conservatives and libertarians who supported Tamara Lich and Chris Barber in the trucker rebellion.
The story all began on Dec. 19, 2024, when the trio noticed some sick birds on the farm. Within a month, 69 of the ostriches were dead of what might have been avian influenza. The remainder of the birds developed herd immunity and survived.
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