BC Supreme Court Gives Injunction Against Raw Milk

Fraser Health Authority has won a permanent injunction from the BC Supreme Court against Home On The Range and contracted milker, Alice Jongerden, in Chilliwack, BC. The Abbotford News said:

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper ruled farm operator Alice Jongerden is “willingly causing a health hazard” and must stop packaging or distributing raw milk or related products for human consumption.

Home On The Range argued an Ontario court ruling upholding a similar raw milk co-op there set a precedent exempting operations where members don’t pay directly. Members hoped a victory would effectively legalize raw milk in BC and allow more cow-shares to form. Nor, she said, did it matter that the co-op provides milk to members rather than via direct sale to the public. “The remedy for the respondents is to convince the government to change the legislation,” she found.

Gordon Watson is an active owner and member of the herd share co-operative. He stated that the raw milk will continue to flow. ?We?re going to keep on dairying within the letter of the law? said herd share member Gordon Watson. ?The threshold is in the milking room? That?s where she?s not allowed to handle milk for sale.?

The dairy herd is jointly owned by the shareholders. The dairy herd must be milked and cared for regardless of the ruling. There are many shareholders willing to come in and care for the diary cows which they all jointly own. Gordon Watson is one of about 400 shareholders of Home on the Range. He said: ?The milking is continuing and people are getting the raw milk today. I will be taking responsibility for the packaging and distribution.?

I guess the next step for the government is to get injunctions against all 400 herd share members! I hope you are feeling really safe and protected with our government restricting your rights to co-own a herd of animals and enjoy the products from those animals. Just remember it’s for your own good. You are too ignorant to develop a safe food production and processing system on your own. That’s why they are called Fraser Health “Authority”, because they know what’s best for you. Your personal freedoms are secondary to their “good works”.

For other postings on this issue please read: Canadian Government Appeals Michael Schmidt’s Acquittal, Michael Schmidt, Raw Milk Activist, Acquitted!, and Raw Milk Contamination?.

Here are some links for more information:
The Bovine

As I have been following the raw milk story in the media, I have been surprised at how much misinformation is out there. There are so many factual errors in reporting it is hard to maintain respect and trust for media coverage. I have received an education about how issues are reported and twisted in the media. I have learned that only deeper research on a given topic will allow a person to understand complicated issues such as raw milk.

Updated April 4, 2010: Here is a link to read the judgment by Her Honourable Madam Justice Gropper by the ?Petitioner?, Fraser Health Authority and the “Respondent”, Alice Jongerden DBA Home on the Range. Remember, granting an injunction is to restore the status quo ante which is to “make whole again someone whose rights have been violated”. In this case, it is the Fraser Health Authority “whose rights have been violated” and restored.

Canadian Government Appeals Michael Schmidt’s Acquittal

Yes, our fair government has appealed Michael Schmidt’s acquittal. (This is your tax money in action.) The Government of Canada is appealing our rights to jointly own a herd of animals and hire someone to care, milk and pasture those animals. I guess the government is also appealing our rights to choose the types of foods we see as healthy in the name of safety. This is a sad day for food security and food freedom. This sounds more like an issue about control than safety. Here are a few links:
1. Crown Files an Appeal on February 11, 2010
2. Province Refuses to Accept Raw Milk Acquittal
3. Michael Schmidt at Queen’s Park News Conference

Every time I get approached I make it very clear, that the ruling did not legalize raw milk at all. This ruling acknowledged and clarified the limitations of the state’s jurisdiction…We are over regulated, we are over controlled, and we are forced into an environment of compliance through fear… This raw milk debate is about basic rights, which we have lost and which we are losing every time this Government passes another regulation without considering the most important factor of liberty and individual rights… This raw milk battle is about basic food rights.
Michael Schmidt

Where large populations are controlled by a small number of individuals for their own benefit, it would be to the interest of kings, czars, nobles, etc. that the masses be educated in a way that render them slave-like in mentality. The language of wrongness, “should” and “have to” is perfectly suited for this purpose: the more people are trained to think in terms of moralistic judgements that imply wrongness and badness, the more they are being trained to look outside themselves – to outside authorities – for the definition of what constitutes right, wrong, good and bad. When we are in contact with our feeling and needs, we humans no longer make good slaves and underlings.
Marshall Rosenberg

Updated April 5, 2010: If you would like to read the Judgment from His Worship P. Kowarsky Justice of the Peace for Regina V M. Schmidt on January 21, 2010.

Michael Schmidt, Raw Milk Activist, Acquitted!

Michael Schmidt has been fighting for the rights of his herd share members to consume raw milk for the last three years. The National Post said today: “Justice of the Peace Paul Kowarsky upheld the legislation, but said in this case Mr. Schmidt did not break the law because he was distributing to joint owners of cows and not the public at large.”

The Globe and Mail today describes the issue as: “really about the extent to which consumers should be free to buy foods, however rarefied, and whether constitutional rights stretch as far as the grocery basket, farmer’s market and the people who own shares in – but do not live on – food producing farms.

This is not just about raw milk, this is about people’s rights to choose whatever foods they want. I advocate for choice, said Joseph Heckman, an organic farming expert at Rutger’s University in New Jersey who has consumed raw milk since childhood and now studies it.”

The court has upheld our individual rights to hire someone to care, milk and pasture animals. They have upheld our rights to jointly own a herd of animals. This ruling may be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. But right now, Michael Schmidt can go back to the business of running his farm.

Updated January 23, 2010: Patricia Meyer-Watt CNP From the Weston A Price Foundation Toronto Chapter posted this article from the Toronto Star about Michael Schmidt’s acquittal. The essence of why herd share programs are legal is outlined in the following statement: “Schmidt has long maintained he does not break the law by providing milk to the cow?s owners, all of whom purchase a portion of the cow and pay to board the animal at Glencolton Farms. The prohibition on raw milk in Ontario does not apply to farmers drinking raw milk from their own cows. [Justice of the Peace Paul] Kowarsky ruled Schmidt?s cow-share program did not break the law because the farmer only provided milk and raw milk products to his members, did not advertise or market his operation, and that cow-share members were aware they consumed milk at their own risk.”

Updated April 5, 2010: If you would like to read the Judgment from His Worship P. Kowarsky Justice of the Peace for Regina V M. Schmidt on January 21, 2010.