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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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VICTORIA – The Province has issued a Ministerial Order under the Emergency Program Act to allow the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to access a Greater Vancouver Regional District landfill and incinerators for the safe disposal of infected chickens. The province has taken the action as part of its support to the CFIA to control, eradicate and clean up avian influenza in the Fraser Valley.
Public health is the primary concern in choosing disposal options.
The Ministerial Order sets out the regulatory groundwork to permit disposal at municipal landfill operations. It states:
· The GVRD will provide assistance to the CFIA and provincial ministries by developing a disposal program at their incinerator site located in Burnaby and their land fill site located in Cache Creek to dispose infected chickens. · Provincial ministries will develop programs to modify permits to allow for destruction of infected birds in the GVRD incinerator and disposal within the GVRD landfill in Cache Creek as required.
The decision to establish this order was reached on the basis of the best advice of technical advisors at the federal, provincial and local levels and after consultations at all levels of government. CFIA and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries continue to work with the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, local medical health officers and local governments to ensure safe collection, transportation and disposal, and the health and safety of workers.
This Ministerial Order will remain in effect for a period of 30 days or until such time as the CFIA is satisfied that the avian flu threat has been controlled in the Fraser Valley.
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