“Sacrificial Lamb?” CFIA to kill last remaining Shropshire lamb from Montana Jones’ flock today Aug. 24

This just in via Michael Schmidt:

The CFIA kill-team want the last word. They are scheduled to slaughter the last Shropshire lamb at the Wholearth Farm, Hastings, ON. Today Thursday Aug.24. (CFIA are regularly escorted by multiple OPP & armed Nat.Resources personnel.). The 4 month old lamb’s only ‘crime’ is symbolically being the last innocent survivor from the wrongly-accused flock of heritage Shropshire sheep that ‘went missing’ in April 2012.

Here’s a link to the National Post story about how the sheepnapping court case involving Michael Schmidt, Montana Jones, the CFIA, and other parties ended: http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/shepherd-wins-six-year-legal-fight-to-keep-flock-of-rare-sheep-from-government-slaughter

Some backstory from Montana Jones:

Did infected sheep come from U.S.?

This was the story from February 2015 that appeared around the time of the start of pre-trial hearings in the sheep-napping conspiracy case involving Michael Schmidt and Montana Jones. Once the presiding judge slapped a publication ban on the proceedings, the National Post took down this story. But now that the case is closed — it was thrown out due to having taken too long to come to trial — reporters can again report on it, and the National Post have put the story back up.

Montana Jones and one of her threatened Shropshires, earlier on in the long saga. This photo from Ursula Fugger (Shropshiresheep.org) was used in the National Post story.

From Adrian Humphreys in the National Post:

“The bizarre case of a flock of rare sheep — purportedly stolen from an Ontario farm by agricultural activists to thwart a federal kill order during a disease scare — was adjourned after government documents suggested the infected sheep that sparked the high-profile standoff could have actually been an animal from the United States.

Shepherd wins legal fight, six years later, after battling CFIA in court

Shepherd Montana Jones, with Shropshire sheep named “Murdoch”, outside the court after the Judge’s ruling that Michael Schmidt and we will not proceed to another 8-weeks of Superior Court (pre-trial motions plus 6-week judge and jury Criminal Trial) previously scheduled for April 2017. Photo by Laura Berman

From Adrian Humphreys at the National Post

NEWMARKET, Ont. — A six-year battle by a shepherd trying to protect her flock of rare sheep from government slaughter ended under an avalanche of more than 14,000 pages of paperwork Monday.

An Ontario Superior Court of Justice judge threw out charges against Linda “Montana” Jones, an eastern Ontario sheep breeder, and Michael Schmidt, a well-known agricultural scofflaw, blaming prosecutors and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for its reluctant disclosure of massive amounts of government documents.

It brings to a close the strange yarn of a fugitive flock, secretly removed from Jones’ farm hours before the CFIA arrived to slaughter them.

CFIA Sheep-napping case update

Michael Schmidt on the Never-ending Shropshire Sheep Saga, now in Oshawa

The Next Chapter, By Michael Schmidt:

Lawyer Shawn Buckley with Montana Jones and Michael Schmidt outside the Durham Regional courthouse in Oshawa.

I am in the Oshawa Courthouse or better described as the “Oshawa Court Palace” towering over the City of Oshawa.

The third chapter of the preliminary hearing about the ongoing “Sheep Napping Saga” commenced this week.

This is the third week, three more weeks will follow in September and December.

In December it will be three long years since Montana Jones, Robert Pinnell, Susan Atkinson and myself had been charged under the Criminal Code of Canada. Susan Atkinson pleaded guilty apparently faltering under the immense pressure and ended up with a six month house arrest.

Farmed and Dangerous — a review of the Montana Jones / CFIA sheep saga

From Edible Toronto magazine:

From woolly sheep and bucolic farm life to criminal charges and gag orders.
I look around some days and wonder how I got here from there.

BY MONTANA JONES

Photo courtesy of Edible Toronto magazine

“2015

After a court date in March, I commented to my son on how the average murder trial would rarely amount to ten thousand pages of disclosure, yet the government’s sheepnapping case will be well over that number.

“This IS a murder trial,” he said. “A mass murder.”

He’s referring to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) killing my rare, very healthy heritage Shropshire sheep. They’ve murdered over a hundred Shrops in the last couple of years. Little lambs, rams, pregnant ewes, and their unborn. All were beautiful, and all were meant to live out their beautiful lives.

Sheep-napping preliminary hearing continues April 27 in Oshawa court

From Michael Schmidt:

The preliminary hearing into the Montana Jones, Michael Schmidt, CFIA, sheep-napping case continues Monday April 27th at the Ontario Court of Justice, 150 Bond St. Oshawa.

Concerned citizens are encouraged to come out and see their civil servants at work on the nation’s business. There should be plenty of room for everyone in room 406 where the hearing will take place.

Expected proceedings include the judge announcing his ruling on the publication ban as well as further discussion about adjourning the preliminary hearing pending delivery by the Crown of the still-missing disclosure documents.

Michael Schmidt on the many mysteries of the Montana Jones and CFIA sheep-napping case now before the courts

From Michael Schmidt:

Patrick Lyster — part of the mystery? Photo from his website.

Let me begin with the statement that many disputed facts with regard to the mysterious sheep-napping case are in front of the court and cannot be revealed according to some RULES.

Let me state as well that it appears as if the prosecution seems to know the rules but likes to enforce them only when the accused appears to have abused them and disregards the rules whenever they see fit.

But all of this seems to be part of a society dominated by complacency and conformity.

Let’s explore the many mysteries, which surround the incredible saga of the lost sheep.

Mystery number one

Did Montana’s Shropshire sheep have scrapie in the first place??

In a democratic society one should expect that a government agency first should be required to provide proof “beyond reasonable doubt” of the existence of disease, before eradicating a herd of heritage sheep.

Publication Ban Sideshow Monday in Lindsay court for Schmidt, Jones, CFIA

Supporters of the defendants are being encouraged to come out to Monday’s court date at 9:30 am, Monday March 2, 2015 as the Crown argues why a publication ban would serve the public interest in this case. At least that’s what we imagine they might argue. Lindsay court is at 44 Kent St. in Lindsay, ON.

Montana Jones, Karen Selick, Michael Schmidt. Photo via theccf.ca

From theccf.ca:

“The preliminary inquiry in this matter started as scheduled on February 17, 2015. It was supposed to run on 10 consecutive court days, with an additional week at the end of April.

But on the second day of the prelim, lawyer Shawn Buckley was suddenly handed another 104 pages of documents that had never been disclosed previously by the prosecutor Damien Frost. Mr. Buckley had sent Mr. Frost a lengthy list of the documents he required approximately two years earlier, but Mr. Frost’s client, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)—for reasons known only to themselves—had failed to provide these important papers. Over the next two days, additional disclosure was handed to Mr. Buckley, bringing the total for the week to 382 pages.

Michael Schmidt, Montana Jones, CFIA Sheep-napping “Show Trial” is already attracting international interest

American raw milk journalist and food rights champion David E. Gumpert is following the case with interest, as evidenced by a recent post on his “The Complete Patient” blog. See excerpt below:

“In Canada, Stage Set for Food Rights Show Trial”

Michael Schmidt. Photo via Complete Patient blog.

“That sheep-napping case involving Canadian farmers Michael Schmidt and Montana Jones is turning into a major criminal and political drama.

If you’ll remember, this case stems from a 2010 dispute between the Canadian government and farm owenr Montana Jones over whether her rare Shropshire sheep should be slaughtered because they were supposedly exposed to the serious disease, scrapie. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the equivalent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, insisted the sheep needed to be slaughtered to determine for certain whether they harbored scrapie. Jones insisted there was no evidence they did, and sought to negotiate a compromise whereby her farm would be quarantined for up to five years to be certain.