The Federal Court of Canada issued it's decision in a national class action lawsuit regarding the importation of honey bee packages from the United States.
In the lawsuit beekeeper plaintiffs challenged the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) administration of Canada's honey bee import program.
The importation of honey bee packages from the United States has been restricted since 1987 due to a deemed unacceptable level of risk. Importation of honey bee packages are not allowed to be imported from the U.S. into Canada at this time.
In this this class action the Plaintiffs, who are commercial beekeepers, were seeking damages on their own behalf and on behalf of the other class members, which damages they allege were caused by the negligence of the Defendants in prohibiting the importation of live honeybee packages from the continental United States after 2006, thereby causing them economic harm.
The court ruled that the CFIA's role is to protect human and animal health and that in doing so it does not owe a duty of care (or compensation) to the Plaintiffs. The decision acknowledges that Canada employed due diligence in its regulation of honey bee imports.