Raw milk showdown at Osgoode Hall

From the Canadian Constitution Foundation blog, “The Justice Report”, by Derek From:

Photo credit: National Post.

On February 5th, 2014, the Canadian Constitution Foundation will ask the Ontario Court of Appeal whether the government can take away your freedom to eat foods to promote your health when those foods cause harm to no one.

CCF client, Michael Schmidt, grew up in rural Germany where the sale of unpasteurized milk is legal. He obtained a masters degree in agriculture in 1978, writing his thesis on bio-dynamic farming—an early form of modern organic agriculture. He developed the “cow-share” concept in Germany for the purpose of reconnecting consumers and producers to ensure a safe milk supply.

CFIA changes the status of a reportable disease; now what about Scrapie?

From Karen Selick, on The Justice Report:

The CFIA decides that formerly reportable disease, Anaplasmosis, will henceforth no longer be a reportable disease. So now what about Scrapie? Click image to learn more about the disease.

“Montana Jones today brought to my attention an interesting article (“CFIA to give up on wiping out anaplasmosis”) published at Grainews.ca, a website that provides daily news on agriculture topics to Canadians.  Here’s the link.   

I’ve never heard of anaplasmosis before, but the article makes it clear that, like scrapie, it has been classified as a “reportable” disease under Canadian law until this latest announcement.  Anaplasmosis is apparently caused by a parasitic micro-organism and has been detected in wild animals (deer) as well as in cattle, sheep and goats.

Anaplasmosis shares the following additional characteristics with scrapie:

Why didn’t the CFIA disclose finding the five missing Shropshire sheep?

From Montana Jones’ lawyer Karen Selick, on The Justice Report:

“…The Better Farming website here quotes an e-mail they had received from spokesperson Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA on December 6, 2012.  While I haven’t seen the e-mail myself, here is what Better Farming writes about it:
“Gauthier notes that five of the 31 sheep that disappeared are still missing. The agency’s investigation continues, ‘including work to confirm what happened to the other five sheep,’ she writes.”

The truth is that the CFIA found the remaining five sheep months ago.  Two of them had apparently died during transport and their remains were recovered in June, 2012.  The other three sheep were surrendered by unknown persons on September 12, 2012.  The live animals were left in a crate on a roadside near Erin, Ontario with a note indicating that they were Montana Jones’ sheep.

Karen Selick on the CFIA charges against Michael Schmidt and Montana Jones

From Karen Selick on The Justice Report:

Michael Schmidt (left) said: “Last picture before we peacefully surrendered to be arrested, fingerprinted and mugshot taken.” (via Facebook)

“On December 5, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued a press release announcing that charges had been laid against CCF clients Montana Jones and Michael Schmidt in relation to the disappearance of sheep from Montana’s quarantined farm. Here’s a link to the release.

The law decrees Michael Schmidt must also pay a “victim surcharge” of $1,945 for his victimless raw milk offenses

From Karen Selick, on The Justice Report:

Michael Schmidt, after the sentencing last Friday, outside Newmarket court.

“A fact that hasn’t yet been publicized following the sentencing of CCF client Michael Schmidt on Friday, November 25 is that in addition to the fine of $9,150 imposed by Justice Tetley, a “victim surcharge” totaling $1,945 was also added to the tab. The total amount that Michael is supposed to pay is therefore $11,095.

Under section 60.1 of Ontario’s Provincial Offences Act, the “victim surcharge” gets added automatically. The amount is determined on a little chart found in the regulations, here.