How the son of Russian spies paved the legal path for B.C. ostrich cull

Jason Proctor · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 06, 2025 7:31 PM EST | Last Updated: November 7

In his conflict for Canadian citizenship, Alexander Vavilov got an accidental denied to the owners of B.C.'s Universal Ostrich Farms connected Thursday — a accidental to reason his lawsuit earlier Canada's apical court.

In the process, the lad of Russian spies acceptable a ineligible threshold for decision-making "reasonableness" that would doom the B.C. birds six years later.

That threshold — and Vavilov's sanction — are plastered each implicit the little tribunal decisions the Supreme Court of Canada refused to reconsider this week, providing justification for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) determination to bid a cull of hundreds of ostriches past December.

WATCH | Supreme Court dismisses entreaty to halt ostrich cull:

'Coherent and unified attack to judicial review'

Although the apical tribunal ne'er gives reasons for dismissing a case, the Federal Court of Appeal made wide successful September that the ostrich farm's owners were improbable to win earlier the Supreme Court of Canada with arguments that failed to rise "a superior oregon arguable issue."

Vavilov was calved successful Toronto successful 1994 to Russian spies posing arsenic Canadians nether assumed names — who would aboriginal beryllium arrested successful the U.S. and charged with espionage. Their communicative formed the ground for the deed TV bid The Americans.

Alexander Vavilov, the Toronto-born lad of Russian spies, helped acceptable a precedent for 'reasonableness' successful authorities decisions successful his agelong combat to regain Canadian citizenship. He's seen present successful December 2019 aft winning astatine the Supreme Court of Canada. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

In 2014, the Canadian Registrar of Citizenship cancelled Vavilov's citizenship — aft concluding that the regularisation granting Canadian citizenship to individuals calved successful Canada exempted children of diplomats, and different representatives oregon employees for overseas governments.

He challenged the determination successful Federal Court, sparking a combat with Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration that continued each the mode to the Supreme Court of Canada.

On the surface, those facts whitethorn look to beryllium a cardinal miles removed from the plight of much than 300 ostriches connected a workplace successful Edgewood, B.C., facing demolition due to the fact that of the menace of avian flu.

But the contented underlying some cases is the relation of the courts successful reviewing discretionary argumentation decisions.

Universal Ostrich Farms applied for a judicial reappraisal of a determination to bid the cull of much than 300 birds successful effect to the menace of avian flu. The owners besides claimed their animals should person been exempt from a disposal order. (Camille Vernet/Radio-Canada)

"The Supreme Court’s objective, in [Vavilov's case], was to make a coherent and unified attack to judicial reappraisal that applies to a spectrum of administrative decision-makers," Federal Appeal Court Judge Gerald Heckman wrote past September.

"This includes the CFIA decisions reviewed by the Court."

'Experts successful law, not successful nationalist health'

The CFIA ordered a cull of the birds connected Dec. 31, 2024 — wrong 41 minutes of receiving affirmative avian flu results from carcasses of 2 of immoderate 25 to 30 ostriches which had died implicit the erstwhile 3 weeks astatine Universal Ostrich Farm.

Universal Ostrich's owners applied for an exemption from the CFIA's alleged "stamping-out" argumentation — which aims to counteract the dispersed of viruses with the imaginable to harm Canada's carnal health, quality wellness and planetary commercialized done "swift elimination of infected populations."

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an exertion to entreaty little tribunal decisions upholding an bid to cull ostriches successful bid to stem the dispersed of avian flu. (Benoit Roussel/Radio-Canada)

The bureau rejected the exemption application, which was grounded successful the birds' allegedly "rare and invaluable genetics" and the farm's claims that affected ostriches had been separated from the flock.

Universal Ostrich's owners asked the Federal Court for a judicial reappraisal of some the archetypal announcement to dispose of the birds and the aboriginal refusal to exempt them from the cull.

From there, the lawsuit made its mode to the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

The farm's owners applied to the Federal Court and past the Federal Court of Appeal, but the tribunal challenges failed each time. (Olivier Plante/CBC/Radio-Canada)

The modular acceptable by Vavilov's lawsuit asks whether a determination "exhibits justification, transparency and intelligibility and is justified successful narration to the applicable factual and ineligible constraints."

The archetypal Federal Court determination connected the ostriches cites that modular — stressing that judges "need to enactment retired of technological debates and absorption connected whether the decision-makers utilized their expertise to marque tenable and procedurally just decisions."

"Judges are experts successful law, not successful nationalist health, virology, epidemiology, oregon veterinary medicine," Judge Russel Zinn wrote successful the archetypal determination ruling against the farm's owners.

"Reasonableness asks whether the CFIA’s mentation of its decisions tells a compelling communicative of however it reached them ... Procedural fairness is astir the decision-making process itself, not the outcome."

Not the court's occupation to reason science

Debates implicit carnal rights, the lethality of the illness and claims the surviving ostriches mightiness clasp a cardinal to warring avian flu attracted important attraction — but the arguments extracurricular the tribunal were antithetic to the ones taking spot inside.

Zinn said it wasn't his occupation to determine "whose subject connected the microorganism successful question is 'better.'"

The conflict for the lives of the ostriches attracted wide attention. But debates implicit subject had small to bash with decisions happening wrong the courtroom. (Camille Vernet/Radio-Canada)

"To determine a victor successful this contention will cause this Court to perpetrate 2 cardinal sins successful reasonableness review," helium wrote.

"First, it volition punctual this Court to reach beyond the morganatic scope of reasonableness reappraisal of a broad policy decision. Second, it volition efficaciously marque this Court an academy of subject and an arbiter of information successful immunology and carnal and nationalist health."

To that end, Zinn cautioned against arguments purporting to favour "common sense" determination making.

"Common consciousness successful decision-making lone becomes truly 'common' and 'sensible' when mean individuals are acquainted with oregon routinely exposed to the benignant of determination being made," helium wrote.

"That is not the lawsuit here. The complex, science-driven, and high-stakes decisions progressive successful managing the dispersed of avian influenza autumn good extracurricular the realm of commonly shared lived experience."

'Judges don’t person hearts of stone'

In Vavilov's case, the Supreme Court of Canada recovered the determination to portion him of his citizenship unreasonable.

The tribunal said the decision-maker successful that concern failed to warrant her mentation of a instrumentality that did intelligibly not use to the children of foreigners who person not been granted diplomatic immunity — adjacent if they were spies.

But the reasonableness modular went the different mode for the ostrich farmers, who are regulated by an bureau mandated with ensuring the wellness of animals and humans and "safeguarding the cultivation manufacture connected which Canadians beryllium for their livelihood and nutrient security."

The Supreme Court of Canada seemingly saw thing to suggest the determination to bid a cull — oregon immoderate of the decisions by the judges who aboriginal reviewed the CFIA's ruling — were unreasonable.

"Judges don’t person hearts of stone. Like each people, we recognize the affectional bonds that turn betwixt radical and the animals they attraction for," Heckman wrote.

"Both levels of tribunal determined that the CFIA had reasonably exercised its authorization successful the circumstances of this lawsuit and that its argumentation was lawful."