Outbreaks of the highly pathogenic strain H5N1 have been detected in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta since late 2021.
“Poultry and egg production in Canada are supply managed and there are mechanisms in place that modelling boards can deploy to give them the flexibility to adjust to the kind of disruption that we are talking right now,” said Donald Boucher, director general of sector development with Agri-Food Canada.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency believes migratory birds are responsible for Canada’s 25 outbreaks, and expects there will be more cases as flocks continue to fly north for the summer. So far, there has been no evidence of farm-to-farm transmission. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has set up control zones in areas with active outbreaks in Ontario and Alberta to quarantine infected animals and limit the movement of goods and livestock in and out of the affected areas.