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MinkTrial Courthouse Rally

October 22, 2018 @ 8:00 am - 2:00 pm

I am facing 2 years in prison for filming animal cruelty and giving the footage to the OSPCA.

8am – Rally in front of the Oshawa Court House. Signs will be available. I am to appear in court for 9am and am not sure how long it will take thereafter. My lawyers have asked for a large presence at court that day to draw media attention to this important issue. Demonstrators are asked to rally outside and not attend inside the courtroom that day. This is my pre-trial court appearance. Even though I am being charged, we plan to use this trial as an opportunity to put the fur industry on trial (much like the #pigtrial did with the meat industry). This could be a catalyst for a fur farm ban! A team of experts is being assembled to coordinate a plan of action and this will become expensive. If you are able to, please donate to my legal defense fund below (thank you!).

Please donate to and share my legal defense fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/minktrial-legal-defence-fund

My legal defense team is being spearheaded by Gary Grill:
http://www.grillbarristers.com

Back Story:
In 2017, I spearheaded a campaign to ban fur farming in Ontario. We sent petitions to the Ontario Legislature, the Minister of Agriculture and other key politicians. Members of our group met with and lobbied MPP’s, and I helped organize dozens of protests at fur farms, fur auctions, and demonstrated against political leaders who support the fur trade.

As part of the campaign, I coordinated and executed a public inquiry into the fur industry. I used a video camera to record shocking animal cruelty at 5 mink factory farms across the province. I recorded dead and injured animals, toxic sludge pits emitting poison gas, cages covered in feces, and animals being fed maggot infested rotten food. The fact that these crimes were happening at 5 different farms exposed a culture of standardized animal neglect across the fur industry.

The videos were made public generating international media coverage and shone a big spotlight on this secretive industry. I then handed the footage over to the OSPCA in hopes they would take action to help these animals but unfortunately they have refused to act.

This past May I was arrested and charged with Break and Enter stemming from the footage recorded at the Christel Schwirtz Mink Farm near Oshawa, ON. No property was damaged and not even a door was opened to obtain the footage. This charge is a gross misuse of the law and an attempt by the industry and the government to silence and censor this information from the public. I have used my camera to open up the doors of these fur factories to the eyes of the world and now they want them slammed shut. I’m asking that you take a stand with me against animal cruelty and against censorship.

The public has a right to know what is happening to these animals. It is not a crime to film and report animal cruelty to the police.

https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/activist-faces-charges-after-posting-alleged-mink-farm-abuses

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/animal-activist-charged-in-mink-stink

Animals Being Fed Their Own Feces at Christel Schwirtz Mink Farm (video):
https://youtu.be/9KFheUw0HVw

Watch PETA’s expose on my investigation:
https://investigations.peta.org/fur-farm-horrors/

More info at www.endfurfarming.com

Note: Please check the Facebook event page for updates.