Karen Selick is a lawyer with the Canadian Constitution Foundation. If you love food freedom please donate to the Canadian Constitution Foundation.
For more information about raw milk and food freedom please see Food Freedom: The Politics of Food.
Tag Archives: Karen Selick
Fresh Milk, Food Politics in Vancouver, BC
If you value the freedom to choose the kinds of foods on your table please come to Fresh Milk, Food Politics in Vancouver, BC.
When: April 6, 2013
Time: 8:30am-8:30pm
Where: Ukrainian Cathedral, 154 East 10th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5T 3E5
Cost: $99.00
Buy Tickets Here: Fresh Milk, Food Politics
Jackie Ingram and Alice Jongerden of Home On The Range invite you to Fresh Milk, Food Politics. “Please join us for a day of networking, activism and food politics. Dynamic speakers and food exhibits, followed by a wonderful local cheese and wine party to end the day!”
I will be running an information table for the Weston A Price Foundation. Please come and meet the people trying to ensure that you can have the food you want on your plate. If you would like to have some background history about raw milk and food freedom please read: Food Freedom: The Politics of Food.
Updated April 11, 2013: I wanted to share some pictures from Fresh Milk, Food Politics. Apparently, there will be videos of the lectures on the website soon. There were two lectures that I found particularly interesting. Karen Selick from the Canadian Constitution Foundation lectured on how the government uses children to restrict personal freedoms and Nadine Ijaz from the Pacific Rim College outlined the science behind the myths and truths around raw milk.
From the left are Mark McAfee, Micheal Schmidt, Jason Grati and Alice Jongerden. These are the people who are fighting for your food freedom.
Mark McAfee from Organic Pastures runs the largest raw milk dairy in California. In California you can buy raw milk in stores. Micheal Schmidt is from Glencolton Farm in Ontario. Michael has been fighting the government for nearly twenty years for the right of herdshare owners to drink milk from their own herd. Jason Gratl is the lawyer for Alice Jongerden from Home on the Range. Alice runs Canada’s largest herdshare program.
This is Raoul Bedi with the Canadian Consumer Raw Milk Advocacy Group getting signatures to petition the government for raw milk sales in Canada.
Canadian Consumer Raw Milk Advocacy Group
Slow Food Vancouver was a supporter of Fresh Milk, Food Politics.
This is Kate Hutchinson from Whole Family Nutrition. She is a specialist on the GAPS program.
The Weston A Price Kamloops Chapter was an exhibitor. It was great to meet all the people working — and sacrificing — to keep nourishing traditional foods on everyone’s table.
Updated April 19, 2013: Here are just two short interviews with Karen Selick and Nadine Ijaz. There are many more interviews from Fresh Milk, Food Politics.
Ontario Court Reverses Lower Court Decision for Raw Milk Farmer Michael Schmidt
All raw cheeses must be fermented for over sixty days before they can be sold in Canada. No raw soft cheese can be sold in Canada. We have completely lost artisan production of raw soft cheeses. How long will Canada remain the only country in the G8 to not allow any type of raw milk sales?
On September 28, 2011, Justice Peter Tetley of the Ontario Court of Justice reversed the lower court decision that acquitted Michael Schmidt on all 19 charges. Michael Schmidt has been found guilty on 15 of the 19 charges. This appeal was brought before the Ontario Court of Justice by the Ontario Government and the Grey Bruce Health Unit. (Here is a link for an overview of the Canadian Court System.)
Michael Schmidt says: ?This is just a temporary setback. We will continue to fight, both through the courts and through the legislature, for the rights of individuals to decide what they put into their bodies. The public supports us on this issue.? Presently Michael Schmidt is on a raw milk hunger strike. If you would like to learn more about Micheal Schmidt please see The Bovine.
Karen Selick is Michael Schmidt’s lawyer and works with the Canadian Constitution Foundation. The Canadian Constitution Foundation has stated they will support Michael Schmidt to the Supreme Court of Canada, if necessary, “in order to defend consumer choice, freedom of contract, and the right to earn an honest living free from government regulation that is arbitrary, unreasonable, unnecessary and unfair.” Here is a link to a statement from the Canadian Constitution Foundation about Micheal Schmidt’s Judgement. You can find a link to the full version of the judgment in the article.
Here are some older posts about Michael Schmidt’s food fight with the Canadian Government. This particular food fight is over raw milk and whether a herdshare program is a legal construct in Canada. A herdshare program is where a group of people collectively own a cow or a herd of cows and contract a farmer to care, milk and pasture the animals. The real issue isn’t raw milk but if we have the right to co-own a herd of animals and to have a private contractual agreement without undue government interference:
Michael Schmidt, Raw Milk Activist, Acquitted!
Canadian Government Appeals Michael Schmidt?s Acquittal
Helping Michael Schmidt, Raw Milk Activist
Here are some older posts about the raw milk situation in BC:
Raw Milk Contamination?
BC Supreme Court Gives Injunction Against Raw Milk
Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick
Just for fun, CBC is polling to see if people think raw milk sales should be legal in Canada. Tell them what you think:
Should raw milk be sold in Canada?
Updated October 16, 2011: Here is a video about a Raw Milk Rally with Michael Schmidt on October 12, 2011. Michael Schmidt should be an inspiration to all citizens of Canada opposing oppressive bureaucracies.
Helping Michael Schmidt, Raw Milk Activist
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
Thomas Jefferson
I received an email from Karen Selick. She is the Litigation Director for the Canadian Constitution Foundation and Michael Schmidt’s lawyer in the upcoming battle in the Supreme Court of Canada. For further information about this important issue please read:
Michael Schmidt, Raw Milk Activist, Aquitted!
Canadian Government Appeals Michael Schmidt’s Acquittal
Dear Raw Milk Supporter,
Would you like to help dairy farmer Michael Schmidt as he continues to fight for your freedom of choice in food?
Consumers shared in the victory on January 21, 2010 when the Ontario Court of Justice pronounced Michael ?not guilty? on 19 charges relating to the production and distribution of raw milk. But the province of Ontario wasn?t happy with that decision: the government instructed its lawyers to appeal to a higher court.
Fortunately for Michael, a legal organization has volunteered to step into the fray and handle his side of the appeal. It?s the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF), a registered charitable organization that stands up for the constitutional rights and freedoms of Canadians. The CCF thinks this case might set an important precedent for individual freedom. CCF litigation director Karen Selick is acting for Michael on the appeal.
There?s still plenty of work to be done, and it continues to be a David-and-Goliath battle. The Ontario government still has half-a-dozen lawyers working on this file, being paid out of your tax dollars. The CCF has only one lawyer on the file, and raises its money through the generous donations of volunteers across the country. If you?d like to contribute to this worthy cause, you can do so by making an online donation by credit card to the CCF:
DONATE NOW
Canadian donors who give $25 or more will receive a charitable donation receipt that they can use to reduce their income taxes. What a great way to channel some of your tax money away from the prosecution and towards the defense!
While you are visiting the CCF website, you may want to visit its Consumer Choice page, containing links to newspaper articles and radio interviews about raw milk, here:
Consumer Choice Litigation: got freedom?
Consumer Choice Litigation: CCF Publications
Updated September 23, 2010: I have made a $50 personal donation and GO BOX Storage has made a $200 corporate donation to Michael Schmidt’s legal fund. My heart was warmed when Erika, my 8 year old daughter, made a personal donation of $5 from her own money to Michael Schmidt’s legal fund. Erika said that since she can only drink raw milk, she would like to help make it possible for other children in Canada to drink raw milk too. If you believe in food freedom, please donate what you can. Even $5 can make a difference if all of us give a little.
Updated September 24, 2010: Sonja, my 10 year old daughter, decided not to give to Michael Schmidt’s legal fund. She said it was because no one can fight the government and win. I was sad that Sonja felt that way at 10 years of age. I told her, if the government has got that powerful and is doing actions you cannot support, it is even more of a reason to fight back. She just gave me a sad look. I guess many people will feel the same, but this is one of the few times I have donated money for anything in decades.
Updated September 28, 2010: Michael Schmidt has taken over Home On The Range, a herd-share in Chilliwack, BC. The new name of the herd-share program is Our Cows. Michael Schmidt will be speaking at 11:00am in front of the Fraser Health Authority Safety Office at 45470 Menholm Road, Chilliwack, BC. For more information please read Let The Media Circus Begin: Local BC Raw Milk Action Plan.
Updated September 30, 2010: I can’t help but love Michael Schmidt and his battle for our collective food freedom:
Raw Milk “Drink In” At Fraser Health Authority Office
Dictatornship of Bureaucrats Behind Raw Milk Fight
Raw Milk Giveaway
February 22, 2011: Here is some essays from Kimberly Hartke. She is the Weston A Price Foundation Publicist. She has posted a number of articles called Raw Milk Around the World. I particularly like the article by Sir Julian Rose, a vocal supporter of raw milk, which states: “If you are still in doubt about the benefits of real, fresh milk, you might be reassured to know that the Queen of England drinks nothing less.”
