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Cool Springs Ranch & Butchery north of Yorkton, Sask., is a magnet for the local food enthusiast — the kind of place that hosts farm to fork dinners and describes their animals as “pasture-fed” and “free-range.” It’s family-run, to boot — with Janeen and Sam Covlin allowing their daughters Emma, 8, and Kate, 10, to help raise their animals, bring them to slaughter and prepare them for market.

That was, until the government dropped by last week with an Occupational Health and Safety order prohibiting the girls from working in the chicken processing plant, a major part of the farm’s operation.

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The couple posted their plight to social media and support came their way in waves, much of it critical of an overbearing government trying to mess with tradition and grassroots family life. Within a day or so, the government withdrew the order, but said a 14- and 15-year-old who worked at the farm and were not members of the Covlin family would have to quit. Still, the case has squared focus on the line between chores and child labour and just how massively the relationship between children and work has changed over time.