Appeal #2 Submitted

I finally finished drafting my Notice of Appeal #2, or more correctly, it finished me.  Now the ball is in the court of Chicken Farmers of Ontario, and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Appeals Tribunal.

The Tribunal said the only issue I was allowed to bring up was the small flock regulation.  Today, the average small flock in Ontario is just 57 birds.  That 57 birds will feed one family for a year.  Few small flockers bother growing for their neighbours anymore.  Too many regulations, and at 300 birds maximum, it isn't worth the effort to try and run it as a business for most sane people.

This appeal is about freedom for small flockers.  We want our freedom from CFO, but will settle for 2,000 birds per year limit.

Here are the files:

Notice of Appeal      98 pages, 816 kB, Adobe Acrobat X pdf

Affidavit of Glenn Black      5 pages, 592 kB, Adobe Acrobat X pdf

Notice of Constitutional Questions      6 pages, 26 kB, Adobe Acrobat X pdf

I had 60 days to re-draft all of this.  I invested the first bit of that time to decompress, assess if I was ready to try again, and get some personal stuff done that had been abandoned in favor of this project.

I had limited time, knowledge, and budget, so others may have been able to have done a better job, but I tried my best.  Now we have to wait to see what happens next.

Thanks to all of you that reviewed the previous drafts, and made suggestions to help.  I even received a few links for case law that were included in the final version.

Have a tall cold one on me.  I know I will!

Documents

The following documents have been sent or received during the discussions between Small Flock Poultry Farmers and the various government officials and agencies:

1. 2012/01/06, G. Black --> OMAFRA, Email on problems with Meat Regulations
2. 2012/01/26, G. Black --> Hon. Gerry Ritz, Min. Ag. & Agri-Foods, Canada
3. 2012/02/13, G.Black --> OMAFRA, did you get email of 2012/01/06?
4. 2012/02/16, OMAFRA --> G.Black, Response to G.Black's email of 2012/01/06
5. 2012/02/20, G.Black --> OMAFRA, Response to OMAFRA letter of 2012/02/16
6. 2012/03/27, OMAFRA --> G.Black, Response to G.Black letter of 2012/02/20
7. 2012/04/18, G.Black --> OMAFRA, Response to OMAFRA letter of 2012/03/27
8. 2012/05/18, OMAFRA --> G.Black, Response to G.Black letter of 2012/04/18
9. 2012/05/22, G.Black --> OMAFRA, Response to OMAFRA letter of 2012/05/18
10. 2012/05/22, G.Black --> MICA (new local abattoir), will you please process my poultry? NO!
11. 2012/05/22, G.Black -->BurtFarms (local private abattoir), will you please process my poultry? NO!
12. 2012/05/22, G.Black -->CFO, asking for assistance to Small Flock Chicken Farmers
13. 2012/06/01, Risk Assessment Farm Gate Meat Sales
14. 2013/02/21, G.Black --> CFO, Complaint Small Flock Exemption, CFO Policies
    
    2013/03/09 Addendum: In Document 14 above (2013/02/21), at Section 9.m, I declare that I live in a food desert.  In the description of this local condition, I failed to mention a butcher shop that is about 5 km from the centre of our hamlet.  This butcher shop, Papa's Meats, sells meats, cheese,  locally caught whitefish, and a limited supply of canned goods, breads, and dairy products.  Unfortunately, they don't normally carry any fruits or vegetables (neither fresh nor frozen).  On page 2 of Document #15 below (2013/02/22), I made a similar statement about living in a food desert, and again failed to mention this same butcher shop.  My thanks to Joan at Papa's Meats for suggesting this clarification.
15. 2013/02/22, G.Black -->OMAF + Premier, Request change to Meat Regulations
16. 2013/02/25, CFO --> G.Black, Thanks for info, will consider sometime in future
17. 2013/02/25, G.Black --> CFO, Response to CFO letter 13/02/25, request immediate hearing
18. 2013/02/25, Petition for Improving Meat Regulations, Small Flock Quota Exemption Limits
19. 2013/03/01, CFO --> G.Black, Hearing request will be raised at next CFO Board meeting
20. 2013/03/07 G.Black --> CFC, Request evidence of compliance to Fed-Prov. Chicken agreement
21. 2013/03/21  CFO -->G.Black, Request for CFO Board hearing of complaint denied
22. 2013/03/25   SFPFC --> Public flyer on $10.8 Billion Fascist Chicken 
23. 2013/04/03 Chicken Full Disclosure Form for Traceability & Consumer's Benefit 
24. Mar. 26, 2013 G.Black --> FPMC to intercede on my behalf with my complaint against CFOO
25. May 23, 2013 FPMC -->G.Black refuses to intercede with CFO, refers me to OMAF Tribunal
26. June 6, 2013 G.Black--> OMAF Tribunal, asking for information on how to proceed with complaint.