Strange crime that has made Canada one of the more elderly women in the country

Angele Grenier defends free trade maple syrup, maple syrup, a sweetener common in countries in the US and Canada


At first glance, Angele Grenier, a Canadian middle-aged and red hair, seems not a criminal, but Canadian authorities want to see her behind bars. Angele is investigated for smuggling. But what exactly she was negotiating? Drugs? Weapons?

Not at all. The Canadian was selling "maple syrup" (maple syrup or maple syrup), a sweet liquid widely consumed in the United States and Canada during the breakfast.

Mafia

For decades, Angele and her husband produced maple syrup on his farm in the village of Sainte-Clotilde-de-Beauce, located 100 kilometers south of Quebec City.

Every spring, the pair pierced the trees and picking the sweet sap that flowed them, the raw material of the product. The viscous liquid is then boiled to produce syrup. All without preservatives.

It is a common practice throughout Quebec, whose 7300 maple syrup producers ─ many of them family-owned farms ─ account for 70% of global supply, a deal estimated at 600 million Canadian dollars (R $ 1.7 billion).

The problem is that Angele and other "rebels" as they are known, can not sell the syrup freely. Instead, since 1990, they are required to deliver most of its production to Syrup Producers Federation of Quebec Maple (known by the acronym FPAQ).

Supported by court decisions, the FPAQ holds the sales monopoly of maple syrup produced in the province, including the export of the product. The entity also determines the price paid to producers, as well as charge a 12% fee on sales exceeding 500 ml of syrup.

As a result, producers are only allowed independently to sell a small amount of product, people visiting the farms or to local markets. Still, they also have to pay commission to FPAQ.

The measures are criticized producers such as Angele.

"We are not masters of our own syrup," says Angele, who calls the federation "mafia".

To get around the ban, in recent years, Angele and her husband have been selling the syrup on the border with the neighboring province of New Brunswick.

In what looks like a Hollywood movie, they carry the syrup barrels in a truck as quickly as possible and then leave for the border in the dead of night.

The couple is breaking the law, but say they are fighting for the right to sell your syrup by price ─ ─ and customers of their own choosing. Since then, FPAQ officials and police have been to Angele house several times, and she can be arrested if he continues to refuse to hand over their production.

The entity also fined him 500 000 Canadian dollars (US $ 1.4 million). Angele appealed the decision in court and says he will not back down. "We want our freedom back," said Angele.

'North Korea'

Paul Roullard, deputy director of FPAQ, defends the entity. "People who say that our practices are totalitarian should see what happens in China, North Korea or Africa."

Roullard also points out that the FPAQ not grant powers and all its provisions were agreed by "100% of the delegates representing producers of Quebec."


In the 90s, when the federation expanded its powers, maple syrup producers in Quebec they supported the initiative because prices were low, around $ 2 (R $ 7.75) per 1l.

In contrast, FPAQ promised to disclose the best product and negotiated prices with buyers. The contract went right: demand and prices doubled.

In 2004, the federation intervened again to help its members when a boom in production resulted in a high stock syrup.

To solve this problem, members supported the decision to impose production quotas to producers, which are still in force today. Any syrup produced above the quota given farm is intended for the federation reserves. The intituito is to maintain stable production level when there is a weak season.

Currently, about 15% of all the syrup produced by a producer goes to these reserves, and payment is made only years later.

The FPAQ says most of its associates continues to support its policies, Raymond Gagne, whose family has been producing syrup for generations.

"The federation is an excellent system, thanks to her we know how much our production worth before producing it. Prices are stable and increase every year."

'Communist'

Nevertheless, the "rebels" continue to complain about what they consider the hand weight of the federation on its production. One is Daniel Gaudreau, producer City Scotstwon in southern Québec.

He says that in 2014 the FPAQ accused of selling more than its quota and therefore confiscated all their production. This year, he says, the federation came to put private security guards on your property, and now is suing for more than 225,000 Canadian dollars (US $ 636,000).

"The situation is completely ridiculous. Only a few of us dare to fight the federation because they built a system based on fear, and have more financial resources than us."

Benoit Girouard, president of the union Union Paysanne, which brings together the maple syrup producers, says the FPAQ needs to loosen its rules and methods.

"The federation can not continue to be as coercive," he says. "The system is totalitarian and communist. Producers do not have room to work and that's why most of them decide to cheat."