Canada’s chief veterinary officer has been named to an expanded role as the country’s chief food safety officer.
Brian Evans, who’s been the country’s chief vet since 2004 at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and has also served as the CFIA’s executive vice-president in Ottawa since 2007, was named to the additional post Tuesday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Evans remains chief veterinary officer in his new post, which takes effect June 28 — but as the CFIA’s executive VP, he’ll then be replaced by George Da Pont, who’s currently commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard.
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Evans worked in private practice in Newfoundland and Ontario before being recruited to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as a veterinary inspector in 1982, and went on to establish Canada’s regulatory standards for international trade in animal embryos.
By 1997, he was named director of AAFC’s animal health division, and became executive director of CFIA’s animal products directorate the following year.
In 2004 he received the Canadian Animal Health Institute’s Industry Leadership Award, for which CAHI said its membership voted “unanimously” to recognize his leadership during the BSE crisis and the outbreak of H7N3 avian flu in British Columbia.
As chief veterinary officer, Evans is also the government of Canada’s delegate to the 167-member country World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Specific details on his duties in the new post weren’t yet available Wednesday.
Da Pont comes to CFIA with a master’s degree in history from the University of Saskatchewan and experience in the federal bureaucracy across several departments and agencies, including four years (2001-05) as as assistant deputy minister in the fisheries and oceans department and about 10 years (1987-97) with Indian and Northern Affairs.
He was named acting commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard in 2005 and confirmed in the commissioner’s role the following year.
