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As Canada ambles along towards the day when its prisons will empty of people who did nothing more heinous than possess marijuana, the province of Ontario appears eager to fill its empty jail cells with individuals whose so-called crime was distributing raw milk.

On Jan. 5, 2018, Justice P. W. Sutherland of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice imposed an injunction in a case called Downing v. ARC. Downing is the provincial Milk Act Director, while ARC is an incorporated farm co-op that allegedly was distributing raw milk, but has now closed down its milk operation. In essence, the decision transformed an action that was previously a provincial regulatory offence punishable only by fines — distributing raw milk — into a federal crime punishable by up to two years in prison.

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As is often the case when raw milk makes headlines, the case involved farmer Michael Schmidt, who has campaigned for decades for the legal right to fill the niche market for unpasteurized milk and cheese. Schmidt originally owned the farm that was later transformed into the ARC co-op. However, the injunction granted by Sutherland affects not only Schmidt and the several family members and incorporated co-ops, including ARC, who were actually sued in the lawsuits, it also affects anyone who happens to have knowledge of the existence of this new injunction.