NEWMARKET, Ontario (NNA) – Michael Schmidt, the Canadian dairy farmer who has been campaigning to legalise the sale of unpasteurised or “raw” milk, has been found guilty by the Ontario Court of Justice on 15 of 19 charges related to the sale and distribution of raw milk.                                                 

The September judgement by the Ontario court reverses the ruling of a lower court which last year acquitted Schmidt on all charges.

According to a statement from the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which has been defending Schmidt in his battle with the authorities, the court also dismissed all claims that legislation banning the sale of raw milk violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“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,” the statement quotes Schmidt as saying after the court issued its ruling.

An Ipsos Reid poll taken shortly after Schmidt’s 2010 acquittal showed that 70 percent of the Ontarians polled believed it should be legal to purchase raw milk.

But the ruling of the Court of Justice will not be the end of the matter. Schmidt has said that he intends to appeal the decision.

Schmidt’s lawyer, Karen Selick of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, said: “We have asked for their [the Ontario government’s] promise not to raid any farms so long as this case is wending its way through higher courts. The damage done to farmers and to cowshare members could be irreparable if they ignore this request.”

According to the Canadian Constitution Foundation, raw milk can be sold legally in 26 states of the United States and most European countries. It is even sold in vending machines in France, Italy, Switzerland and Slovenia.

But while it is not illegal to drink raw milk in Canada, selling it is because it is considered by the authorities to be unsafe. So Schmidt came up with the idea of a cowshare programme in which any member of the public who wants to have legal access to raw milk can buy a share in one of his cows. In return Schmidt provides the service of looking after and milking the cow; what he is not doing is selling the milk or other products made from it.

Schmidt, who has been dubbed the “raw milk champion”, runs a biodynamic farm in Durham, Ontario, north-west of Toronto. He has a master’s degree in agriculture and has been battling for almost two decades to legalise the sale of raw milk in Canada while the authorities have been doing their best to close his operation down.

END/nna/cva

Item: 111211-01EN Date: 11 December 2011

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