Court rejects B.C. mink farmers' bid to allow breeding to continue while case proceeds

Fur farmers challenging B.C.'s phase-out of the province's mink industry have been denied a request for interim relief while their court case proceeds.

Fur farmers challenging B.C.'s phase-out of the province's mink industry have been denied a request for interim relief while their court case proceeds.

In a decision issued in early March but published online this week, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carol J. Ross found that the petitioners had raised a serious legal issue and would face irreparable harm without interim relief from the court. 

These concerns were outweighed, however, by a legal precedent that requires deference to government authority on decisions made for the protection of the public interest.

The province argued that the possibility of a new variant of COVID-19 arising from infected mink justified the decision to ban mink farmers from breeding their animals during the 2022 season, as part of the province's phase-out of the industry by 2025.

Ross accepted that this decision was in the public interest, writing in her reasons for judgment:

"In the present circumstances, I agree with the respondents that the pandemic requires proactive and speedy action by the government and that sometimes this will entail significant economic consequences. There is a risk of the evolution of a new variant of concern leading to a new wave of COVID-19 which could be a potentially catastrophic outcome."

Ross acknowledged that the likelihood of that particular outcome might be low, but wrote in her decision that there are "many uncertainties" that could make it more or less likely. None of the measures currently in place to prevent COVID-19 transmission in society or on mink farms have eliminated that risk, the justice wrote.