The Syilx Okanagan Nation in B.C. says it did not issue a cease and desist letter that claims to protect a controversial ostrich farm from a Canada Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) cull, and questions its authenticity.

Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C., east of Kelowna, is embattled in court with CFIA after an avian flu outbreak in December killed 69 of the farm’s ostriches, prompting a cull order by the federal agency to destroy over 300 of the farm’s remaining birds.

In a Tuesday statement to CBC Indigenous, the Chiefs Executive Council of the Syilx Okanagan Nation said it had received a copy of a cease and desist letter reportedly shared with RCMP by the farm’s spokesperson.

The letter, given to CBC Indigenous by Okanagan Nation Alliance, said the farm “lies within the territor

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