The project will improve access for livestock processing for some producers
A new two-year pilot project is designed to help livestock farmers in Quebec by giving them access to an Ontario abattoir.
The project, a collaboration between the Quebec and Ontario governments, with additional support from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), would see a limited number of cattle producers in Quebec’s Abitibi-Témiscamingue region have their livestock processed at a provincially licensed and inspected facility across the Ontario border.
The meat produced at that location will then be shipped back to Quebec for sale.
“All meat traded under the pilot will be clearly identifiable and fully traceable in the marketplace,” the CFIA says, adding the project won’t affect Ontario farmers’ access to meat processing.
Current law states only meat from federally inspected plants can be traded interprovincially or exported internationally.
Livestock farms accounted for more than half of the operations in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
This region of Quebec was home to 328 animal operations in 2024, or 53 per cent of farms in the area, provincial agricultural data shows.
This pilot project is designed to address challenges farmers in remote areas face.
A Canada Gazette document related to this project indicates the closest abattoir in Quebec operating near Abitibi-Témiscamingue under federal oversight is about 800km away.
That’s roughly the distance between the Ontario Agricultural College and the Coteau-du-Lac National Historic Site.
The document also identifies other processing issues, like “specific gaps, including sheep, in Manitoba and Saskatchewan,” and in border areas of B.C. and Alberta.
A July 16 CFIA release doesn’t name the “nearby” Ontario abattoir involved in the pilot project.
But the closest provincially licensed and inspected Ontario abattoir to the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec is at Belle-Vallée, Ont., around 175km north of North Bay.
That’s a similar distance between The CN Tower in Toronto and Western University in London.
This pilot project aligns with proposed CFIA amendments to the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations.
The amendments would allow limited exemptions for producers to access abattoirs outside of their home borders, and for provincial facilities to explore if a federal license makes good business sense.
In addition, these changes would support food security and rural communities by increasing access to affordable meat.
“Lessons learned from the pilot will inform the development of the final regulations,” the CFIA says.
A public comment period about this project is open until Aug. 26.