An untold story — the other “Milk Man” sells raw milk and goes on to win his case when charged in Ontario court

Is that George Michael or Michael George?

When I was a toddler growing up in Sudbury, a milk man came to our house every day with a horse-drawn cart to bring milk for my family and for all the other families on the street. But now, fifty years later, you might well imagine that the milk man has gone the way of the dodo.

But you’d be wrong. The vocation of “milk man” has been making a comeback in recent years with the resurgence of interest among people wanting to drink raw milk straight from the cow. By now, just about everybody has heard of Durham farmer Michael Schmidt who’s been all over the news several times in the past couple of years for his civil disobedience of what he sees as Ontario’s antiquated and overly-restrictive milk prohibitions.

But not many people know that there was another “milk man”, quietly supplying farm fresh raw milk to southern Ontario families in 2004 and 2005*. No, this was not some farmer selling a few litres out of his bulk tank to neighbours up the road. I’m sure that kind of thing goes on all over rural Ontario and no one thinks anything of it.

Michael Schmidt’s “second anniversary of raw milk raid” press conference Tues. Nov. 18, 1 pm, at Queens Park, Toronto

It has been two years since this scene unfolded at Michael Schmidt's Glencolton Farms in Durham: armed officers of the state seized equipment, computers and business records and laid charges relating to operating a milk plant without a permit. What have we learned in those two years?

Last year at about this time cowshare holders and cow lovers held a large public rally with Michael Schmidt at Queens Park to mark the one-year anniversary of the raid on Michael Schmidt’s raw milk farm in Durham Ontario. Michael says that following that event, Premier McGuinty said publicly on the radio that anyone is welcome to come and celebrate an anniversary at Queens Park.

So Michael is taking the Premier at his word and returning again to Queen’s Park to celebrate the second anniversary of the raid on Glencolton Farms which took place Nov. 21, 2006. And surprise of surprises, the case — at which charges laid at that time will be addressed — has still not come to trial. That will be in late January of 2009, if it doesn’t get postponed again.

This second anniversary is planned as a more intimate affair. This time the great hordes of cow-share holders and cow-lovers are not being asked to come out and show their support. That support has by now been amply demonstrated. Instead this is intended as a more intimate working session where the Premier and the press can be briefed from the horse’s mouth, as it were, on the latest developments and insights in Ontario’s raw milk saga. Here’s what Michael says in his invitation to the press:

Mr. Schmidt goes to California, shows movie at WAPF Wise Traditions conf.

WAPF panelists discussed legalities of the Farm/Consumer link -- Mark McAfee, Christine Chessen and Michael Schmidt

Michael Schmidt has recently returned from California where he and filmmaker Norman Lofts showed Norman’s award-winning documentary on Michael Schmidt and raw milk at the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Wise Traditions conference. Here’s what Michael has to say about the experience and about what he learned at the conference in San Francisco:

I just returned from San Francisco where I attended and participated in the Wise Traditions Conference. Together with Mark McAfee, and Christine Chessen I was part of a panel discussing regarding the legal issues of the Farm to Consumer connection.

Norman Lofts prize-winning documentary film about our battle here in Canada was screened and received with great success and disbelief. It is hard to describe the outpouring of support after people watched the film. I did not realize how much closer people can get to the issue by watching this film.