A solicitous mom packed 15 pieces of fried chicken into her son’s luggage when he returned to Canada from a visit home to El Salvador, so that he would have something to eat when he got home. Her unknowing son checked “no” on the Customs Declaration asking if he was bringing meat products into the country. A Canada Border Services inspector fined him $800 when he found packed poultry present. Mario Castillo was successful in defending himself at a Review Tribunal but lost his lunch at the Federal Court of Appeal. The Court said Castillo “may have been unaware that the chicken was in his luggage, but this is of no assistance to him given a plain reading of the provisions and the clear intent of Parliament to provide for an absolute liability regime for these types of violations.” However, Mr. Castillo may still have a wing and a prayer: the case has been referred back to the Agricultural Review Tribunal for a fresh determination.
Canada Border Services Agency v. Castillo, 2013 FCA 271 (CanLII)
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