Message from the President and the General Manager
Three regulatory mandates at the heart of our services
Attestra develops and carries out its activities in accordance with the regulatory mandates received from the Québec government. On September 25, 2001, the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation (MAPAQ) mandated Agri-Traçabilité Québec (ATQ), which later became Attestra on December 2, 2020, to ensure the traceability of agricultural products.
To make the most of the organization’s expertise and as a reflection of its strategic orientations, Attestra’s areas of intervention have gradually broadened, enabling us to apply our solutions and expertise to other societal issues beyond just the traceability of agricultural products.
Our ability to design and implement traceability solutions has been demonstrated by two other regulatory mandates entrusted to Attestra: the mandate related to the traceability of excavated contaminated soils for the Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs (MELCCFP), received in 2020, and more recently, the mandate to monitor the use of antibiotics in animal health assigned by MAPAQ.
These two additional mandates have dominated Attestra’s activities during this financial year, with the Information Technology team responding first and foremost, and then followed by Technical Support and Customer Service personnel. The latter are increasingly in demand from stakeholders in the agricultural and environmental sectors as they have been forged into a solid, multi-purpose team that is ready to respond with dilligence to all users of our systems.
Our 2023-2024 activity report presents the achievements of the last few months in the context of our three regulatory mandates.
Animal traceability in Canada: evolving federal regulations
On March 18, 2023, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) published the draft Regulations Amending the Health of Animals Regulations (Identification and Traceability) in the Government of Canada’s Official Gazette (Canada Gazette, Part I).
This long-awaited publication is the culmination of a process that began in 2006, when it was realized that identification and traceability requirements were ineffective in preventing and responding to disease outbreaks. The federal Minister of Agriculture and the provincial and territorial counterparts committed to implementing a national traceability system in collaboration with the industry.
To date, there are still significant gaps between the Québec and the Canadian traceability systems, the latter being described as a “traceability system at each end of the value chain” because animals are identified when they leave their farm of origin and the identifiers are declared at slaughter or export, at the end of the chain.
The overall objective of the CFIA’s proposed regulatory amendments, dated 18 March 2023, is to improve this traceability system by expanding its scope and standardizing it nationally in order to limit and reduce the impact of a disease, food safety issue, or natural disaster on agricultural industry stakeholders, as well as the resources required by the industry and government to carry out response activities and support market access.
Following a period of consultation, while some of the proposals for improvement have been well received and will strengthen the current system, it is clear that weaknesses remain and many of poorly received proposals will require adjustments.
In a context where livestock are currently or could potentially be affected by numerous diseases, it is imperative that Canada equip itself with a robust traceability system.
CFIA has listened to the comments from stakeholders during the consultation period and, over the next year, will be looking at the elements of the regulatory proposal where changes can be made.
In Québec, this adjustment period will be an opportunity to lay the foundation for the changes that will affect our traceability system.
The main differences between Québec and Canada, as well as the proposed regulatory changes, are presented in the Proposed Amendments to Federal Regulations section of this activity report.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all our partners, all of Attestra’s employees for their commitment to ensuring quality services, and the users of our systems who, through their comments and feedback, enable us to continually improve our tools and services.
We would also like to emphasize the quality of the relationships we maintain with our founding members, the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation (MAPAQ), the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) and La Financière agricole, with whom we have undertaken a process to review Attestra’s governance which is scheduled for completion in 2025.
Paul Doyon Marie Christine Talbot
President General Manager