November 2, 2022. Safe Food Matters Inc. has launched its second lawsuit against Health Canada over its 2017 re-registration of glyphosate. It claims Health Canada, through the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, acted unreasonably and unfairly when on September 29, 2022 it rejected the group’s objections for the second time.
Safe Food Matters initially sued PMRA in 2019, lost in federal court, then appealed. The appeal was successful and on February 2, 2022, the Federal Court of Appeal directed PMRA to reconsider the objections, and to follow the Guidance of the Court when doing so.
The Court issued the Guidance to avoid the ‘endless merry-go-round of judicial reviews and subsequent redeterminatons’. It aims to force PMRA to do its job and protect Canadians from the harms of pesticides.
Mary Lou McDonald, president of Safe Food Matters, commented:
This is EXACTLY what the Court of Appeal didn’t want – PMRA is making us get on the ‘merry-go-round” and sue again. The PMRA ignored the Guidance of the Court, and also created a brand new test for objections that is impossible to meet.
The Act and the law say the public have a right to participate in decision-making on pesticides, yet PMRA shut the door on that right. We feel compelled to take this action to force PMRA to explain how it listens to Canadians when making decisions on harmful chemicals that are very present in our everyday lives.
The Notice of Application was filed on October 31, 2022, and it concerns PMRA’s second response to the objections of Safe Food Matters. It argues the PMRA did not follow the Guidance, did not provide adequate reasoning, and treated SFM unfairly by requiring it to meet a test it knew nothing about.
If you’d like to help pay the legal fees for the Court case, please donate on Canada Helps, and receive a tax-deductible charity receipt.
If you’d like to stop the use of glyphosate in Canada, please sign the House of Commons petition, open until January 2023.
Safe Food Matters Inc. is a charitable organization (charity#785105495RR0002), founded in 2016, working to ensure our food is safe. Our president is a lawyer, and our board has experience in academia, business and activism. For more information: contact Mary Lou McDonald, SafeFoodMatters@gmail.com
