Egg producer takes CFIA to court over release of records
Thursday, October 31, 2013
by SUSAN MANN
Egg producer Burnbrae Farms Limited is trying to stop the Canadian Food Inspection Agency from releasing what it claims are confidential records pertaining to the company.
The company has filed two applications in Federal Court in Ottawa requesting a judicial review under the Access to Information Act of the CFIA’s decisions dated Oct. 9 and Oct. 16 “to disclose confidential records,” according to court documents dated Oct. 28.
Information on what confidential records the CFIA was going to disclose and to whom wasn’t included in the court documents.
CFIA confirmed in an Oct. 31 email that Burnbrae filed the applications against the agency in Federal Court. But spokesperson Elena Koutsavakis says “as this matter is before the court, CFIA is unable to comment further.”
Burnbrae CEO Joe Hudson couldn’t be reached for comment. Similarly company official Ted Hudson couldn’t be reached for comment. Burnbrae Farms is a family owned and operated company that has been producing eggs for more than 60 years. It’s owned and operated by the Hudson family and has farms in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba.
According to Burnbrae’s website, the company is one of Canada’s leading egg producers and sells eggs and egg products to major grocery store chains, food service operations and large bakery/industrial customers throughout Canada. The company has egg grading stations across the country in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.
In the court documents, Burnbrae has asked the court to quash the CFIA’s decisions dated Oct. 9 and 16 to release the company records and for a confidentiality order under a section of the Federal Court rules. Burnbrae has also asked for an order under the Access to Information Act for part or all of the hearing to take place “in camera.”
Burnbrae says its grounds for the requests include CFIA acted without jurisdiction, beyond its jurisdiction or refused to exercise its jurisdiction, CFIA made an unreasonable decision, CFIA erred in fact and law by making an unreasonable and incorrect finding of fact and law when it concluded the records Burnbrae wants to keep under wraps could be released.
None of Burnbrae’s allegations have been proven in court.
Burnbrae’s lawyer, Christopher J. Edwards of the law firm Templeman Menninga LLP of Kingston couldn’t be reached for comment. BF
Update Nov. 5 2013:
by SUSAN MANN
The records Burnbrae Farms Ltd. is trying to prevent the Canadian Food Inspection Agency from releasing include documents containing confidential, proprietary information, the company says in a prepared statement from president Margaret Hudson.
Most businesses would not wish to disclose this type of information to competitors and the documents are exempt from disclosure “pursuant to the Access to Information Act,” says the statement emailed by Hudson.
Burnbrae has launched a judicial review in Federal Court requesting the court to quash the CFIA’s decisions of Oct. 9 and 16 to release the records. Information about what company records the CFIA was prepared to release and who requested the information under the Access to Information Act was not included in the court documents or in Burnbrae’s prepared statement.
But Burnbrae says “this is a normal course application for judicial review to determine and delineate the types of records that should be exempt form disclosure or produced. Burnbrae Farms is not suing the CFIA.”
Hudson says in an email this is the first time there has been a request to release these types of Burnbrae Farms records. She didn’t answer questions about what information is in the documents CFIA was prepared to release and who requested it. BF