Emily Crocco will assume the role on Jan. 17
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A Canadian ag review board will have a new leader later this month.
On Jan. 17, Emily Crocco, a lawyer with more than two decades of experience in administrative law in the public and private sectors, will begin her five-year term as the chairperson of the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal.
She will replace Luc Bélanger as chair.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Crocco’s appointment on Dec. 20.
Croco also has ag experience as her education includes studying agriculture at the University of Guelph.
Emily Crocco (Facebook photo).
"With her extensive experience in administrative law, including more than a decade as an adjudicator, Ms. Crocco will help ensure that the Tribunal can manage the volume and complexity of applications for review while ensuring it continues to provide fair and efficient service for Canadians,” Bibeau said in a statement.
The tribunal, established in 1983, is “a federal quasi-judicial administrative tribunal and has exclusive jurisdiction to determine all matters relating to the validity of administrative penalties imposed for violations in the agriculture and agri-food sector,” the tribunal’s website says.
As chair, Crocco will adjudicate these cases and work alongside three part-time tribunal members.
Those members, listed on the tribunal’s website, are Marthanne Robson, Geneviève Parent and Patricia Farnese.
The tribunal’s latest decision came on June 8, 2022.
The tribunal reviewed a 2019 decision from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to fine Anthony Kankam $800 for failing to declare goat meat upon arriving in Canada from Ghana. Mr. Kankam claimed the product in his luggage was tuna.
The tribunal upheld the CBSA decision and gave Mr. Kankam eight months to pay his fine.