Canada Organic/Biologique Canada

Organic Products Regulation, 2009 came into effect in Canada on June 30, 2009. I'm looking at the information the federal government released here, and trying to see whether fibre for spinning must be certified to be marketed in Canada as organic.

Scope of the Regulations

In the OPR 2009, a new section is included which limits the scope of their application to food and drink intended for human consumption and food intended to feed livestock, including agricultural crops used for those purposes, and also to the cultivation of plants.

This section further down under the heading Consultation looks to me as though spinning fibre is not regulated by this annexation to the Canadian Agricultural Products Act:

Some sectors of the industry (aquaculture, personal care products, textiles, pet food and cosmetics) and stakeholders in Quebec expressed concern that a number of organic products which are regulated at the provincial level are not included in the scope of application of OPR 2009.

So I went to the Islands Organic Producers Association website and looked at a pdf from Canadian Organic Growers called "A Guide to Understanding the Canadian Organic Standards." Pages six and seven says textiles are excluded from organic certification under the OPR but organic claims on textiles are subject to the Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act (truth in advertising legislation).

Wondering if organic certification of textiles is regulated at the provincial level in British Columbia, I looked at the website of the Certified Organic Associations of B.C., which administers the British Columbia Certified Organic program. The COABC website states, "COABC adopted the Canada Organic Standard as the standard for the BC Certified Organic Program as of Jan 1, 2009."

That would bring us back to do (DO RE MI...).