Michael Schmidt and Gordon Watson convicted of contempt of court in BC “Home on the Range” raw milk case

Michael Schmidt and Gordon Watson, on the steps of the BC court house.

Ontario raw milk advocate Michael Schmidt and BC raw milk pioneer Gordon Watson were found guilty today, on charges of contempt, by Mr. Justice Wong of the B.C. Supreme Court. The charges relate to an order dating from March 18, 2010, given to former “Home on the Range” cowshare farm agister Alice Jongerden to cease and desist the farm’s raw milk operations.

Subsequent to this order, Michael Schmidt was said to have taken over as agister of the farm which was reconstituted as “Our Cows”, the products of which were labeled as cosmetics and “not for human consumption”. In his judgement, Justice Wong said:

The BC raw milk court proceedings

Wondering what happened in court out there in B.C. last week, with Fraser Health accusing Michael Schmidt and Gordon Watson of contempt of court? Well, the author of the Bank of Common Sense blog has been public spirited enough to write it all up and post the story, so we can all follow along:

From the Bank of Common Sense:

The accused men, Michael Schmidt and Gordon Watson, with raw milk, on the courthouse steps in British Columbia. Photo from the Food Renegade.com. Click image to go to source post.

“Why is raw milk such a contentious issue? I’ve gone through the big picture regarding raw milk in the previous link. But considering in British Columbia this affects a few hundred people, it seems that it’s out of line to spend over $200,000 in court fees.

I just spent a few days watching a court proceeding in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Raw milk family’s day in court in B.C.

From the Hella Delicious blog:

Image of Michael Schmidt and Gordon Watson via Hella Delicious blog

“Just got back from the New Westminster courthouse. Our cowshare family spent a loving day together listening to the interactions between the lawyers, judge, Gordon Watson and witnesses over what seems to be unravelling as a case of malicious intent on the part of Fraser Health against this private local community of people who enjoy owning a lovingly cared for and properly fed cow.

Saga of the little Chilliwack dairy

From Michael Schmidt:

Some of the members of the Little Chilliwack Dairy that could.. Photo via Michael Schmidt

Preface

In a surprise move Fraser Health lawyer Susan Beach took sick leave and Gordon Watson’s and my 55,000 dollar contempt of court hearing was “indefinitely postponed”, agreed on by all parties.

Susan Beach is the second lawyer having been bestowed with the responsibility to erase the little Chilliwack dairy, who needed to remove herself. Guy McDonald had to do the same a few years ago due to a mysterious illness.

This begs the question, is this Little Chilliwack dairy, “that could, would and should” in fact making Government lawyers sick?

UK considers revising raw milk rules

From Food Safety News:

“…England and Wales have about 100 registered cow operations selling raw milk for human consumption, as well as 27 registered producers of raw milk from goats, and three from sheep.

Not since 2002 have any of those raw milk producers had a product associated with an outbreak of illness. In the 10 years prior to 2002, there were 20 outbreaks — mostly of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium  DT12 — which sickened 242 people and sent 36 to hospitals. There were no deaths.

Except for Scotland — where all raw milk sales are banned, the UK limits sales to the farm where raw milk is produced.   

B.C. raw milk activist launches civil suit

From Home on the Range Farms.com:

VANCOUVER – another front in the fight for freedom of choice with respect to food has opened with the latest salvo from Gordon Watson, a co-founder and shareholder in the Our Cows herdshare in Chilliwack.

Watson, who faces charges for contempt of court along with Ontario raw milk activist Michael Schmidt, initiated a civil action in December against the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health Authorities. He alleges that health authority officials overstepped their statutory obligations in shutting down Our Cows, formerly known as Home on the Range, resulting in Watson losing property.

Watson seeks declarations affirming his right to milk from animals he owns either personally or jointly with others, damages totalling $31,002,000, and costs.

Cowshares now legal in B.C.?

This just in from Gordon Watson in B.C.:

Someone just brought to our attention that the regulation which categorically outlawed packaging and distribution of raw milk for human consumption, in British Columbia,  was repealed last year

If what appears on the website < www.bclaws.ca > is correct,  then the bright lights atop the Liberal govt. didn’t even tell the lawyer for Fraser Health Authority prior to our court appearance on December 6th last year. But … as they taught my old man at the Officers Training School …  ” never discount stupidity”

To check this out, go to < www.bclaws.ca > then click on the “P” in the alphabet at the top.   When you get to the next screen with all the Statutes starting with “P”,  scroll down to the Public Health Act. Immediately under that heading, there are the Regulations subordinate to that Act.    Scroll down some more until you see “Public Health Act Transitional Regulation“.  What’s shown there says that sections 6 and 7 were repealed by an Order in Council as of December 2 2011.

Gordon Watson, race and raw milk

Readers may recall that we have implemented comment moderation back in October and what we’ve been chiefly excluding are comments from Gordon Watson, one the founders of the raw milk movement in B.C. Gordon has periodically written to the Bovine to complain about being not able to answer his critics, and so, in the interests of fairness, we are going to re-open that debate on The Bovine, even though, frankly, it’s outside our comfort zone. 

And just as an example of how you can talk about race without being racist, in his book “Civilization”, historian Niall Ferguson looks at what he calls “the west, and the rest” over the past 500 years, and tries to tease out what were the “killer apps” that allowed the west to maintain its ascendancy over “the rest”. And he considers the question of what is the outlook for the future. In his view the west has lost its nerve on a number of fronts and is starting to fall behind. Niall is married to a black woman, Ayann Hirsi Ali.

So does Gordon sees raw milk as some sort of catalyst for white people to regain their nerve vis a vis these qualities that once made the west dominant in the world?

“Fraser Health wins round one in raw milk battle”, says Chilliwack Progress

From Robert Freeman, in the Chilliwack Progress:

“The Fraser Health Authority won the first round in its case against distribution of raw milk by a Chilliwack cowshare group in BC Supreme Court on Tuesday.

But Gordon Watson, cowshare spokesman, vowed to be his “prickly, cantankerous worst” when the courtroom battle resumes on April 2.

“The lawyer for Fraser Health got an order stating that its officers can go onto the farm property at any time, without a search warrant. But so what?” he said in an email to The Progress. “Under the Public Health Act they could have done that anyway, if and when they had good reason.”

Raw milk information night October 19th, 7 pm in New Westminster, B.C.

From Gordon Watson in Vancouver:

Wednesday evening  October 19^th 2011  doors open at 7 pm

at the Sapperton Pensioners’  Hall   318 Keary Street, New Westminster. Free admission

This coming Wednesday, for about an hour, starting at 7:20 pm, I’ll be giving a bit of an update to do with raw milk continuing to be available in British Columbia.

In a nutshell : the ruling in Ontario,  in which the Court ruled against raw milk dairy farmer Michael Schmidt, does not change our situation here in BC. REAL MILK is still flowing within the ‘Our Cows’ cowshare.