The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us all about the value of food security.
Our supply chains are good, but at the height of the pandemic, some stores did run out of things like meat and eggs.
This was just a hint of what is possible.
I bring this up because of the case of the City of Burnaby cracking down on a local resident who was keeping some chickens and a rooster at her home in order to have fresh eggs.
It’s part of a growing urban movement, with some cities opening their minds to allowing residents to do more to be food secure and have access to free-range, organic options.
Vancouver, New Westminster and North Vancouver all allow backyard chickens (not roosters) and, by all accounts, this hasn’t caused any major problems.
I was contacted by a friend who says her Burnaby neighbour added the chickens and rooster more than a year ago. (My friend didn’t want her name used.)
“These chickens and their rooster - all of whom have fun names - have become not just a food source but part of their family,” said my friend. “And as time went on since their introduction to our little local community, they’ve also become an important part of the neighbourhood. As their house is on a corner lot, their backyard is visually accessible to anyone passing by, and we’ve all become addicted to stopping by to say hello to these fowl friends of ours. The local children love them, and people stop every day by the dozens. They’ve had many people tell them how much being able to pop by and see the chickens has meant to them while they’re on their socially-distanced walks.”
Sadly, she said, “no-fun” Burnaby recently told her the chickens had to go. I’m assuming someone in the neighbourhood snitched on the chicken woman because of course someone did.
Burnaby does not allow these kinds of backyard chickens. This issue actually just came up at council when local resident Marika Wasaznik asked the city to reconsider its rules around keeping backyard chickens in residential areas of the neighbourhood.
In Vancouver, up to four hens are allowed at a residential property, and in New Westminster and the City of North Vancouver, up to eight chickens are allowed on a property – as long as the properties are big enough. In Burnaby, chickens are only allowed on properties zoned A1 (agricultural) and A2 (small holdings).
In a City of Burnaby report, staff acknowledged that other cities do allow the keeping of chickens on residential properties, but cited concerns around noise, pests, disease and unwanted hens after they’ve finished laying eggs.
That just seems so short-sighted.
We’re in a new age. Why not try a pilot project? Why not try and be bold?
Burnaby can be so frustratingly stuffy. How does it know better than New West or Vancouver?
It’s time to join more progressive cities on this issue.
- With files from Dustin Godfrey
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
