URGENT RAW MILK ACTION ALERT
(from the Weston A. Price Foundation, with appreciation for all their work)
Mobilizing For Food Sovereignty
BACKGROUND
On Wednesday, September 28, 2010, the Ontario government won its appeal against biodynamic farmer, Michael Schmidt. The appeal reversed the former ruling, which confirmed cow share members’ right to obtain raw milk products. Justice Peter Tetley rejected Schmidt’s argument that providing raw milk to cow share owners who are aware of any health risks was his legal right.
Schmidt has been fighting for the right to provide raw milk at his Grey County farm ever since it was raided by government officials in 1994. The recent ruling convicts Michael on 15 of 19 and reverses last year’s lower court decision to acquit him of all charges. This latest judicial ruling basically endorses governmental interference of property ownership rights and violates basic human rights to food sovereignty.
Since this ruling, Michael has embarked on a hunger strike and faces imminent danger of another raid to his farm, as do other farms that participate in Cowshare Canada.
He feels that our movement is in great danger and we must act in unison now!
Michael’s urgent message: We must mobilize our forces throughout Canada and the US with an enormous public outcry. We need to put relentless pressure on legislators in both countries—national, state and local—and also on health authorities through a massive letter-writing and call-in campaign. We also need to organize face-to-face meetings whenever possible. Canada desperately needs US support in these matters, so we encourage all US members to send messages to key Canadian contacts as well.
ACTION TO TAKE
It is imperative that we organize to a much higher level. We need everyone in our movement to participate. We need:
- At the very least, all members (US and Canada) should write to Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Canada. Submit by email at https://correspondence.premier.gov.on.ca/en/feedback/feedback.aspx or send a fax to 416-325-3745.
- US citizens to write letters and call local, state, and federal legislators in the U.S. and to write letters to Canadian members of the Provincial Parliament in Ontario and British Columbia listed in this alert.
- Canadian citizens to write letters to Canadian members of the Provincial Parliament in Ontario and British Columbia listed in this alert.
- All need to write letters and call your local and state health officials.
Michael is depending on us to back up his brave efforts for food sovereignty!
CANADIAN CONTACTS:
Dalton McGuinty, Premier
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park Toronto ON M7A 1A1
1-800-387-5559
https://correspondence.premier.gov.on.ca/en/feedback/feedback.aspx
Fax: 416-325-3745
Tim Hudak- Leader of the Opposition
4961 King St. E Unit M1
Beamsville, ON L0R 1B0
timhudak@niagara.net
905-563-1755 (or toll free at 1-800-665-3697).
Deb Matthews-Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
242 Piccadilly Street
London, ON N6A 1S4
dmatthews.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Tel: (519) 432-7339
Fax: (519) 432-0613
Andrea Horwath – Leader of the New Democratic Party
Hamilton Centre Constituency Suite 200
20 Hughson Street South
Hamilton, Ontario L8N 2A1
ahorwath-co@ndp.on.ca
905-544-9644
Fax: 905-544-515
Randy Hillier
Lanark–Frontenac–Lennox and Addington Constituency
Unit 1
105 Dufferin Street
Perth, Ontario K7H 3A5
randy.hillierco@pc.ola.org
613-267-8239
Fax: 613-267-7398
Jack MacLaren
2 Beaverbrook Mall, Unit 102
Kanata, ON K2K 1L2
jack@jackmaclaren.com
Tel: 1-877-780-5225
Greg Sorbara
Liberal MPP in Ontario
Constituency Office
140 Woodbridge Avenue, Unit AU8 – Market Lane
Woodbridge, ON L4L 4K9
Tel: (905) 851-0440
Fax: (905) 851-0210
gsorbara.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Queen’s Park Office
Room 186, Main Legislative Building
Toronto, ON M7A 1A4
Tel: (416) 212-1022
Fax: (416) 212-1025
Larry Miller
Federal Conservative MP for Grey
Chair of Standing Committee on Agriculture in Ottawa
1131 2nd Avenue East, Suite 208
Owen Sound, ON N4K 2J1
519-371-1059 phone
519-371-1752 fax
millela1@parl.gc.ca
or
Room 510, Justice Building
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
613-996-5191 phone
613-952-0979 fax
ottawa@larrymiller.ca
U.S. CONTACTS
State and Federal Elected Officials: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
State Health and Agriculture Departments: Google your state and “Health Department”
SAMPLE LETTER
An Urgent Appeal for Justice
Dear ___________,
Today, governments are pouring enormous resources into interfering with people’s rights to their own property and to obtain the food they need for their well-being. Governments that are truly concerned with justice are supposed to protect citizens’ rights, not violate them. We urgently demand an open, in-depth dialogue with government and health officials about these violations of food rights.
Increasing numbers of people consider it crucial to their health to obtain high-quality foods directly from organic, sustainable farms. These foods often include raw dairy products, meat and eggs from free-ranging, grass-fed animals—foods of very dense nutrient value that cannot be found in grocery stores.
In states and provinces where the law bans the sale of raw milk, people enter into contracts to co-own a cow and board the animal with a farmer. As owners of the cow, they are also the owners of the milk the cow produces, and are legally entitled to drink it because no sale of milk is involved. These arrangements are called “cowshares.”
The most allergenic food in North America is pasteurized milk, so it is not an option for many families. Raw milk is less allergenic for some, and reduces asthma attacks (huge international studies such as the recent GABRIELA study show this to be true). That is why we must be free to make that choice. That is why our lack of food sovereignty creates illness and pushes us all into food slavery.
These basic principles of justice must prevail:
- Food sovereignty is an inalienable constitutional right;
- Rights to one’s own property is a legally binding principle;
- Cowshares are a legal binding contract of property ownership;
- Access to foods from small farms is essential to the health and well-being of families who choose these foods;
- Small sustainable farms are essential to the health of agriculture world-wide;
- Governmental interference with property ownership rights along with violations to basic human rights of food sovereignty must end; and
- Government and health authorities must abstain from the infringement of rights and violence or threat of violence against participants in cowshare programs.
Sincerely,
(Action Alert from the Weston A. Price Foundation)
October 27, 2011
