Raw Milk on Trial in Canada… again!

From Liz Reitzig, on Nourishing Liberty blog:

Mothers, Farmers face possible arrest in Canada with raw milk trial; court proceedings set to begin March 16

Raw milk trial in Canada–Famous Canadian dairy farmer, Michael Schmidt, his wife, Elisa Vander Hout, and son, Markus Schmidt are each named in an injunction for permanently ceasing production and distribution of raw milk in Ontario.

Also targeted are the individual herdshare owners as “Jane Doe and John Doe.” Join March 16 Peaceful Demonstration Courthouse in Newmarket (Near Toronto) to prevent ban on even “counselling” raw milk distribution. If you are not able to be there, consider a donation to help cover legal expenses.

The injunction reads, in part,

“An interim and permanent injunction restraining and enjoining the Respondents and any and all persons having knowledge of the injunction Order from directly or indirectly, by any means whatsoever:

Raw Milk “hits the fan” in CBC TV comedy; was it inspired by real-life adventures in “Schmidt Creek”?

In which “Alexis accidentally gets Johnny into the raw milk business”:

Click here to watch the “Milk Money” episode of “Schitt’s Creek” on CBC.ca

Raw Milk Goes to Court March 16th

Everyone’s invited to this Family Food Freedom Rally (and court hearing) Wednesday March 16th, 8:30 am, at the Ontario Court of Justice, 50 Eagle Street, Newmarket. The following is from an email sent out yesterday by the Agricultural Renewal Cooperative:

“Come one, come all, bring the kids.  This is a family event.

Court Appearance and Rally

9am wednesday March 16

New Market Court house

50 Eagle Street

The more the merrier bring everyone you know

this is _the_ most important event of the year

your presence at this event is critical to the case

Everyone who drinks raw milk or knows someone who does or thinks that those who drink raw milk should be able to choose should be there!”

2016 Raw Milk Symposium – Part 3

From the Corporate Mystic:

Includes presentations by Elisa van der Hout, Blaine McAfee, Dr. Art Hill, questions from the floor, panel discussion, and a brief presentation from Canadian Constitution Foundation Litigation Director (and Michael’s former lawyer), Karen Selick.

In case you missed it, here is Part 1 (talk by Mark McAfee) and here is part 2 (talk by Nadine Ijaz).

WANTED — for defending raw milk?

Michael Schmidt’s introduction to the story (from Facebook):

“This is one of the courageous farmers who came to the last milk raid. He is now hunted down by our local police force of West Grey. West Grey Police is known to investigate break ins, know who did the break in and dont do anything about it. I get story after story from local people mad as hell how police would not do anything, does not follow up and does not arrest people for committing these real criminal acts.

And here they play big wanna-be cops to find George. Everybody knows where George is. The story is getting more and more intersting by the day. George thank you for standing up. All they trying now is to criminalize a peaceful protest. Criminalize raw milk and criminalize farmers…”

From the Owen Sound Sun Times story:

“West Grey Police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating George Hugh Bothwell. Bothwell, 69, is wanted for obstructing a peace officer, which stems from an occurrence on Oct. 2 in the Municipality of West Grey….”

What happened on Oct 2

Other people charged in connection with the Oct 2 “standoff”

It’s Miller Time in Raw Milk Land

From Bayshore Broadcasting:

“(Durham) – A controversial Durham-area raw milk farmer has an ally in Ottawa.

The MP for Bruce-Grey Owen Sound, Larry Miller, visited Michael Schmidt’s farm on Wednesday — and he says the Ministry of Natural Resources is mismanaging its department “by trying to make an example” of Schmidt.

Miller tells Bayshore Broadcasting News the consumption of unpasteurized milk is commonplace by dairy farmers throughout Grey and Bruce Counties.

MP Larry Miller says it’s time to regulate the sale of raw milk

From the Owen Sound Sun Times:

“Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Larry Miller says it’s time to regulate the sale of raw milk.

“It isn’t about whether you like Michael Schmidt or don’t like Michael Schmidt or whether you want to consume raw milk or you don’t want to consume raw milk. The ultimate thing that needs to happen here is for the province to get off its fanny and regulate raw milk,” Miller said after a visit to the Schmidt farm on Wednesday.

“I was raised on it, my kids were raised on it and there isn’t one dairy farmer in my riding that I know of that doesn’t drink milk from their own cows. So what’s the difference . . . If people want that choice then let them have that choice, but put regulations in place that make it safe to drink,” he added.

Miller and Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker toured Schmidt’s Durham area farm at Schmidt’s invitation. Miller says he found the operation as clean and safe as he’s seen anywhere.

Health Policy Researcher Nadine Ijaz at the 2016 Guelph Raw Milk Symposium

From The Corporate Mystic on YouTube:

Video of Mark McAfee Speaking at the 2016 Guelph Raw Milk Symposium

Guelph 2016 — Raw Milk Symposium

Thanks to the many speakers, farmers, consumers, guests, and media who took time out of their busy lives to convene January 30th, in Guelph, for yet another in what’s become a long series of raw milk symposia that began not long after the infamous 2006 raid on Glencolton Farms. In this brief report, we are not going to try to cover all the great information that was presented during the afternoon, but rather to give a flavour of the proceedings.

First speaker on the agenda was farmer Mark McAfee (shown speaking in the photo above), who, together with his wife Blaine, came all the way from California to participate in this symposium and to share with Ontario raw milk producers and consumers a bit of the wisdom he’s gained running what is now the biggest raw milk farm on the continent — with some 550 cows and 500 acres of pasture. Mark is also involved with the RAWMI standards group, and he shared some intel from that work as well. A video crew from TVO was on hand to record much of the proceedings.

One big difference from past symposiums of this sort, is the low key role played by Michael Schmidt, seen above sitting in the audience with his wife Elisa, and lawyer Karen Selick. Unlike Elisa and Karen, however, Michael did not make a speech, although he did ask a question from the floor at one point.