From farmer Michael Schmidt:
L-R: Former medical officer of health, Dr. Murray McQuigge, and his successor, Dr. Hazel Lynn
The challenging task of the office of chief medical officer of Health in Owen Sound
I like to respond to the recent article in the Owen Sound Sun Times about the consideration to charge me once again in regards to a public protest, where apparently raw milk was distributed.
The relationship with both chief medical officers of “health” have been for strange reasons aggressive and spiteful.
As much as I have tried to enter into a discussion with them there have been only a few occasions where there was no escape for them but to face me and respond.
Dr. Murray McQuigge was the first one to declare war and tried everything to profile himself as the man who saved thousands of children by shutting our farm down.
He appeared as “expert witness” in 1994 and used a “Harrowsmith” hear-say story as evidence why he has to enforce the law.
In the story he claimed the reason a baby died in the hospital was because another mother in the same room drank raw milk and infected the other mother or the baby.
He purposely left out that an investigation which published the results in the Toronto Star conclusively linked the death NOT to raw milk but to contaminated chicken feed.
He also went public telling the press that raw milk cannot be allowed because there is Tuberculosis in local cattle.
Shortly thereafter the federal chief veterinarian accused him of publicly lying because Ontario has been declared TB free.
His response: makes no difference.
During the raw milk hearing a friend of mine was in the washroom when McQuigge and his assistant exchanged the following:
“we need to stop these baby killers”
Which is also consistent with an interview they gave to I believe CBC where McQuigge’s assistant Patterson had selected a grave yard as back drop talking about the many children who have died from raw milk.
When the second crackdown came Dr. McQuigge wrote an open letter to the Premier McGuinty with the following quotes.
“SELLING RAW MILK IS TANTAMOUNT TO MANSLAUGHTER”
and
MICHAEL SCHMIDT APPEARS TO BE ON A HUNGER STRIKE TO LEGALLY KILL CANADIANS.
Whenever I meet him I shake his hand, be it in court or on the street.
He always shook my hand despite his own dire predictions that people die because of secondary transmission of all the deadly bacterias from raw milk.
The successor of Dr.McQuigge was Dr Hazel Lynn which no doubt appears well educated and cultured. She attended several times Symphony in the Barn, but before she got paid to finally shut us own as Chief Medical Officer of Health.
I also had interesting encounters with her.
A few years back after visiting Mark McAffee I met her in the wonderful coffee shop the Beancellar in Owen Sound. I greeted her and told her about the wonderful experience in California that one can get raw milk in the super market and in Italy and other European countries even out of vending maschines.
She looked at me and replied ,why don’t you move there?
And than she continued snappishly “I don’t care about raw milk I just care about that you are breaking the law”
This itself is consistent with many interviews she has given and also consistent with York Regions attempt to convince me prior to my contempt trial that they would drop the charges if I just move out of the York Region District.
It is not about health, that is obvious and very clear.
In order to prevent too many PR disasters Hazel Lynn hired a few years ago a former TV reporter , Drew Ferguson, to manage the public image of the Bruce Grey Owen Sound Health unit.
Which he is trying to do but has not really enough knowledge to be able to respond intelligently.
I assume he advised her NOT to appear with me in a televised debate about this issue which is too bad, because I actually like her and would most likely have no problem if she would not get paid over 300 hundred thousand dollars a year plus expenses to finish me off.
It is understandable that she is now increasingly under pressure to show results.
The milk is still flowing and will continue to flow even if she gets paid 400 hundred thousand dollars.
Lying to the public seems to be the mandate of Public Health officials.
I in fact feel deeply sorry for them because they know that they have to enforce a policy which is outdated and wrong but they need to keep this well paid job because they have to make a living.
Chris Munn the health inspector who confiscated the glass off raw milk which they now use to hopefully bring me down had to have an immense courage to do that amongst all the peaceful protesters.
But he is just “doing his job” and that’s all what matters.
How symbolic this one glass of milk to bring me down has become and yet I believe that in fact the glass of milk has become the symbol of our food rights movement.
The Bovine 
Money is no good in the next world. Think of all money as counterfeit.
What follows us from here is of a more genuine category:
What we ‘do’ and what we ‘don’t do’.
This doing and not-doing would be the real thing that counts.
100% support for Mr. Michael Schmidt.
nedlud
Chris Munn could be charged with theft, no?
H.Lynn@publichealthgreybruce.on.ca
Thanks for that address. I’ll write her right after this posting.
Can you have a prominent link on the left for all the various protest contact info, such as McGuinty’s email (which is prominent), Michael’s food freedom petition, and Michael’s Facebook group, as well as any other “take action” sorts of links?
That would be very useful to those of us who are blogging and writing, so we can steer people to the proper places to make their voices heard.
Thanks for the great job that you do!
Michael’s assertion, that “lying to the public seems to be the mandate of Public Health officials,” strikes a chord with me.
In 1977 my dear 20-year-old sister went on a 30-day water fast because she wanted to lose weight. She became ill and our parents took her to the doctor. A locum, Dr. John Blatherwick, suggested that she just had the flu, and that he would send her for tests if they brought her back the following week. She died shortly thereafter from liver failure, in the Royal Columbian Hospital.
John Blatherwick eventually became the Chief Medical Officer for the city of Vancouver, and served for many years.
When I heard the story that ‘Chief Medical Officers’ are generally doctors who can’t make it in private practice, I could readily believe it.
My mother and I have sympathy for Michael, stuck in his extremely difficult position.
Facts don’t matter. Government control is what matters. They’ll be coming for all of us at one point or another. Praying for strength for Michael Schmidt.
below a mail I sent to Mrs. Lynn …
Dear Mrs. Lynn,
below a message I sent to Mr Dalton McGuinty. I have followed the saga of Michael Schmidt for a number of years. It is obvious that you talk past each other: simply because you refuse to engage in the MEANING of what Michael is doing – you counter with Reason, which is by necessity limited in scope. I ask you to engage with Michael in a dialogue about the meaningfulness of your respective professions, farmer and health-inspector. It could just be that in the end you read from the same book … however it means letting go of temporary laws and regulations … if only for a moment.
You still might become world-famous (I hope for the right reasons), respectfully Christoph Jensen
October 28, 2011 at 5:24 pm
ANOTHER MESSAGE I SENT TO MR. DALTON MCGUINTY
from the book: Hunger for Freedom, The Story of Food in the Life of Nelson Mandela
page 34: Ounu Amasi Recipe: 1 ltr unpasteurised milk, 1 hollowed out Calabash
Amasi (soured milk) is the staple diet of Africans and has been made for
hundreds of years. It is a real immune-booster and accounts for the excellent health the rural people enjoyed until recently.
It goes on to say in his book ‘Hunger for Freedom’: ‘Now Mandela would never go to a shop to buy amasi. It has to be genuine and he would know what is genuine.’ i.e. not made from pasteurised milk.
I, Christoph Jensen, am a farmer colleague of Michael Schmidt, having been involved with the production of cheese, yoghurt and the distribution of milk for more than 40 years. Through my involvement with the herd, the fields, the milk – I did develop a passion for the ‘real thing’, without becoming a food-fanatic. The operation I was involved in was always human-scale, i.e. we could safely trace the processes from the finished product to the cows, to the fields, to the fodder. Cheese-making is a craft, and crafts involve certain ethics (something that is lost by necessity when producing on an industrial scale). Ethics and personal conscience are closely interlinked – and this is when we speak about integrity.
I urge you to meet with a man of integrity, Michael Schmidt …
another quote from Hunger for Freedom:
‘I was not born with a hunger to be free. I was born free. Free in every way that I could know. Free to run in the fields near my mother’s hut, free to swim in the clear stream that ran through my village, free to roast mielies under the stars … It was only when I learnt that my boyhood freedom was an illusion … that I began to hunger for it.’ Nelson Mandela
At Michael’s trial, the issue of “asymptomatic carriers” was also raised by the Crown’s expert witness. On cross-examination, Michael pointed out that this gentleman had shaken his hand 3 times, knowing that he was a raw milk drinker. Michael asked him whether he was afraid he might have caught some disease. His answer was, “I wash my hands regularly so I have no concern.”
Apparently, according to the expert, simple hand-washing is all it takes to alleviate any concerns.
(In the name of Human Health and Safety ) I just had a bright idea flash :
Let’s immediately ban kissing as it may lead to the transmission of harmful bacteria , viruses and diseases.
Don’t tell the government as it might give them ideas for some new laws to pass after they have banned all raw dairy and other foods and natural enzymes, herbs and supplements from the public marketplace.
Anyone caught kissing in public should be fined $55 000 to “send a message” .
Later on , the government can work on legislation and “enforcement ” of the kissing ban in people’s private homes and bedrooms as well.
The way it would work is that both parties would have to be wearing face masks, or airtight helmets if they wanted to kiss.
2. And while we are at it : Let us ban petting of animals since that might lead to harmful bacteria or disease transmission.
Animals and humans in the city will have to wear spacesuits at all times. Any animal or human not wearing a spacesuit would be liable for a fine of up to $55 000 and/or seizure of their home.