Our local Cowshare is working hard to raise money for the legal fees incurred by Fraser Health’s attack on our right to access milk directly from our cows. One of our cowshare members, Noriko has been working really hard and set up a screening of the recently released film “Milk War” at the Rio theatre February 6th, 2010. Tickets are only $15 in advance or $20 at the door.

A Canadian David and Goliath story; “Milk War” is a story about Durham, Ontario organic dairy farmer Michael Schmidt’s battle to legalize the sale of unpasteurized milk. In defiance of the law Schmidt has supplied his neighbours with raw milk for over 20 years. On November 21st, 2006 Schmidt’s farm was raided by armed officers, his equipment was seized, all dairy products were destroyed and Michael was charged with 20 criminal offences for distributing unpasteurized milk.

When asked if he was willing to go to jail Michael said: “Whatever it takes to give people the freedom to choose healthy nutritious food”.

The screening is to raise the awareness of the various issues surrounding our food rights, to build community and to raise the fund for Real Milk Legal Defence Fund organized by Alice Jongerden.

Alice Jongerden herself will be there to talk about the various issues and experiences that she has had. Alice is the agister emerita of former Home On The Range cow share in Chilliwack, BC and the founder of Raw Milk Legal Defence Fund. At the epicenter of the raw milk controversy here in Vancouver, Alice, a mother of five, puts her own livelihood on the line to defend our food rights.

With the recent passing of the C-36 bill, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next year. I think that Michael Schmidt’s certification process will really make a difference as to where the raw milk movement goes from here.

Please email MilkWarTix@gmail.com to pre-purchase your ticket.

Please feel free to repost and share to facebook and twitter to help spread the word! This post is part of the Real Food Wednesdays bloghop over at Kelly The Kitchen Kop’s blog.