I’m writing to encourage you to participate in the Michael Schmidt Solidarity Raw Milk Fast on October 25, 2011. I am writing to draw attention to this hard-working, honorable, and peaceful man who is advocating for our rights to choose what we eat—a cause that shouldn’t need to exist or require activists.

Michael Schmidt began a hunger strike on September 29 to continue his efforts towards engaging a “constructive dialogue about the issue of non-pasteurized milk in Ontario and Canada.”

Last year, Schmidt was charged with selling and distributing raw milk. It is illegal in Canada to sell or distribute raw milk. It is however legal to consume raw milk from your own cows. Schmidt and the raw milk consumers had a cowshare arrangement where the consumers own the animals and Schmidt cared for them.  In turn, the consumers were provided with the milk from their own animals. Schmidt was found innocent of those charges. However, recently, the decision was reversed and Schmidt was found guilty.

On October 18, Schmidt sent a letter to Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario. You can read it at The Bovine or The Complete Patient.

For the Michael Schmidt Solidarity Raw Milk Fast, a group will be assembling in front of the office of Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario. They are asking for people to express solidarity with Michael’s fast by consuming only raw milk for the 24 hours. If fasting is not possible, they ask that at some point in the day, you raise a glass of raw milk to salute Michael.

Additionally, concerned people of the US and Canada are being asked to write to Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario.
Dalton McGuinty, Premier
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A1
1-800-387-5559
Fax: 416-325-3745

If you’re on Facebook, you can join the Support Michael Schmidt group.

For a while, people were posting comments on Premier McGinty’s Facebook wall to take the meeting with Michael Schmidt. At first, McGuinty’s people were deleting comments, now they’ve disabled commenting.

There are numerous places to get the back story as well as other ways to get involved:

• Amanda at Traditional Foods has an excellent summary of the facts.
• Food Renegade has a post with specific actions you can take.
• Cheese Slave also has a post with specific actions you can take.
• Hartke has a particularly moving and insightful post.
• Midlife Farmwife also has a particularly moving post.

In Michael’s own words (as posted over at The Bovine):

I have been fighting since 1994 for the right of men, women and children in Canada to be able to make the simplest and most important of all choices -what they eat.

Thank you Michael.