OTTAWA — It all started with an avian flu outbreak last winter on a small British Columbia ostrich farm. The beleaguered flock’s brush with disaster has now spiraled into a national standoff over science and personal freedoms. And it’s one that extends beyond Canada, as top Trump administration health officials have become personally involved.

After the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordered the owners of Universal Ostrich Farms to kill more than 300 birds last year, they refused, sparking a legal and political battle that on Thursday will reach Canada’s Supreme Court. It is a winding, only-in-the-Trump-era political saga that involves a New York City grocery magnate, a celebrity doctor turned agency head and the lightning rod American ambassador to Canada.

And the 10-month fight over the flock has evolved into a wider debate about government overreach, institutional trust and the international rules that guide Canada’s trade policies.

“We’re not criminals, we’re farmers,” Katie Pasitney, who co-owns Universal Ostrich Farms, recently told reporters. “We’re doing nothing wrong.”

In the U.S., she has rallied allies like Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who agree.

Like her, Kennedy and members of his Make America Healthy Again movement believe the order to kill the birds amounts to government overreach based on outdated policies. Kennedy says the Canadians should study the birds rather than kill them to understand why some birds survive the flu.

The controversy has stirred up debate across Canada’s political landscape. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, caught between his populist base and party moderates, is under pressure to defend the birds — a dilemma exposing fractures in his support ahead of a 2026 leadership review.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has so far managed to dodge the issue as his government faces calls to be more transparent and retest the birds.

Lawmakers from across party lines told POLITICO the issue resonates with constituents from British Columbia to Ontario.

“We should not have been able to garner more attention and more support internationally from the Trump administration than our own government,” Pasitney said.

The Ostriches

Last December, after receiving an anonymous tip, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency showed up at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, British Columbia, to test the flock. When two ostriches tested positive for avian flu, the agency ordered the entire flock culled.

Court documents show that 69 birds died in December and January after the agency declared an outbreak. Over 300 birds survived, but the CFIA ordered them destroyed under Canada’s “stamping-out” policy — a measure aligned with the policies of the World Health Organization, the U.N.’s health agency, designed to help prevent viral spread among animals and people while maintaining trade stability.

The farm owners objected vociferously, but they weren’t the only ones.

“We understand the importance of containing the bird flu and the important role that agency plays. What’s hard to watch is a lack of discretion and ability to evaluate case-by-case scenarios,” British Columbia Premier David Eby told CBC in May.

Universal Ostrich Farms has bred the birds since the mid-1990s. At first they raised them for slaughter, but in recent years they began using the ostrich eggs for research. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the farmers began collaborating with researchers in Japan and Boston studying antibodies from the eggs.

The farm argues its ostriches that survived the avian flu outbreak have developed herd immunity to H5N1 and that their eggs hold scientific insight into the illness. But the CFIA disputes that claim.

“Through a thorough review of scientific peer-reviewed literature, no evidence was found that a particular ostrich flock would be superior to other ostrich flocks for antibody production,” the CFIA said in a statement in May.

The farm is seeking an exemption to save its ostriches, but the Federal Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal have upheld the decision.

On Sept. 22, the CFIA took control of the ostrich enclosure — a first for Canada, even though it has plenty of experience killing birds: More than 14 million commercial and backyard birds have been culled in recent years, including more than 8.7 million in British Columbia.

For now, the ostriches remain alive … behind police tape.

The MAHA Movement

South of the border in the United States, the birds have attracted an unlikely patron.

Although New York billionaire John Catsimatidis is best known as a business owner, GOP megadonor and outspoken talk show host, Pasitney knew he was also an animal lover. Earlier this year, she called into his WABC radio station, hoping to catch his attention, and told him and Curtis Sliwa, the recently defeated GOP candidate for New York City mayor, on “Sid & Friends in the Morning” that “the Canadian government wants our farm killed off of two tests.”

The farmer’s gambit worked.

Not only is Catsimatidis now bankrolling the Universal Ostrich Farms’ legal battle against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, but he also has recruited members of the Trump administration to the fight, including Kennedy and Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Kennedy and his “Make America Healthy Again” movement have a natural ally in the Canadian farmers. Both distrust the World Health Organization and allege that pharmaceutical companies are shaping government decisions, including around vaccines. President Donald Trump said he would withdraw the U.S. from the WHO on his first day in office, accusing it of mishandling the Covid pandemic. The withdrawal takes effect in January.

In May, Kennedy pulled $590 million in funding for pharmaceutical company Moderna that the Biden administration had granted in January to help develop vaccines against potential pandemic flu viruses, such as bird flu, arguing mRNA technology poses more risk than benefits for these respiratory viruses.

The same month, Kennedy met with the CFIA asking it to spare the birds by collaborating with U.S. health agencies on a long-term study, arguing the flock could offer valuable scientific insight into H5N1 immunity.

Oz even offered the birds sanctuary at his Florida ranch, a request that U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Catsimatidis said he also mentioned the ostriches to Trump.

“I spoke to President Trump about it, too. He knows about it,” Catsimatidis told POLITICO in July.

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Catsimatidis, along with those in the MAHA movement and many backers of the ostrich crusade, are skeptical of mRNA vaccines, often advocating for natural therapies as an alternative.

“Maybe some of the drug companies, the pharmaceutical companies, probably hate Secretary Kennedy for setting them straight,” Catsimatidis said. “Maybe they don’t want cures.”

The CFIA says there’s “no linkage to the application of the stamping out policy at the ostrich farm and the availability of human avian influenza vaccines.”

Danielle Smith and Doug Ford

In Canada, some of the country’s top conservative leaders have realized the fight over the birds is bigger than just one flock. As in the United States, the movement against established public health practices has become an important political constituency to be wooed.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith of the United Conservative Party asked her agriculture minister how the province would handle a similar outbreak. “If we can find a better way than doing mass culls in situations like this, I think it’s probably worth it to try to find a better way to do it,” Smith said in July.

Protesters have shown up at the offices of Conservative MPs in Alberta, and some MPs tell POLITICO they hear about the ostriches often from constituents.

“This case has really taken on a lot of public sentiment behind it,” Smith said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a self-proclaimed animal lover and member of the Progressive Conservative Party, wants the ostriches spared too. Ford previously praised Catsimatidis’ commitment to animal protection, noting that he “puts his money where his mouth is.”

“Anything John needs, I’m always there to support him,” Ford said.

Both premiers maintain a relationship with Catsimatidis unrelated to the flock. His Red Apple Group conglomerate, which includes energy businesses, purchases oil from Alberta, and Ford frequently appears on Catsimatidis’ radio show.

Pierre Poilievre

Not all conservative politicians have waded into the fray — and it’s costing them.

Pierre Poilievre’s grip on his Conservative Party is showing strain as he faces pressure to speak up in favor of the birds. So far, the usually outspoken leader has avoided saying the word “ostrich” altogether.

“This is just another example of total Liberal incompetence,” Poilievre has said when asked about the culling. Poilievre, who must win over Liberal voters to become the next prime minister, is focused on broader issues like cost of living, crime and inflation.

But during the Covid-19 pandemic he aligned himself with the “Freedom Convoy” demonstration — which opposed pandemic measures and vaccines — that blockaded downtown Ottawa for three weeks and halted almost C$4 billion in Canada-U.S. trade. The movement continues to oppose government overreach, with organizer Tamara Lich backing the birds and hosting benefit concerts for the ostriches.

Convoy-aligned supporters are noticing Poilievre’s silence. Conservative influencers who promoted Poilievre’s run for prime minister in the April election — and who have stood by him since — are now calling him out and blaming his inner circle for giving him bad advice.

“Pierre please read the room. It’s honestly so painful to watch you fumble these easy layups,” one wrote on social media in September.

“Can you please use your voice to speak up for Canadians?” another said. “The [British Columbia] Ostrich standoff is a grave injustice.”

Poilievre risks losing support from his base, including those who support the MAHA movement, if he backs the cull. But if he speaks out against the cull, the Liberals could paint him as flouting public health and hurting Canadian trade. By criticizing the health agency, he sticks with his brand of attacking federal bureaucracy.

Next January, Poilievre will face a scheduled leadership review. The Liberals’ prospects are tied to his future. Many Liberal MPs hope Poilievre will stick around given that he’s unpopular with their constituents.

Mark Carney

Prime Minister Mark Carney has not touched the issue publicly. The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the ostriches, or to say if Trump has brought up the birds during their meetings.

“No comment,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

He ignored a written request that Kennedy, Oz and Catsimatidis sent in July, offering “to stand with you in a joint public statement that highlights cross-border compassion and thoughtful decision making.”

Canadian Health Minister Marjorie Michel has the authority to direct the CFIA to call off the cull, but she has also remained silent, even after Green Party Leader Elizabeth May asked her to retest the birds.

When asked by POLITICO on two separate occasions, Michel’s office said she won’t be commenting on the ostriches.

Last month, with tensions growing between protesters and national police outside the B.C. farm, Canada’s Supreme Court granted an interim hold on the culling.

It will decide on Thursday whether to hear the case.

If it rejects it, the culling order stands — and the ostriches will be killed.