Steve Powless jailed for smoke shack… sort of

October 7, 2010 

By Jeff Parkinson 

Steven “boots” Powless went on trial in Cayuga this week for Mischief, Obstructing Police, and Failure to comply with court ordered bail restrictions stemming from his proprietorship of an illegal smoke shack on the private property of Ernie Palmer. Ultimately “boots” was sent to jail, but not for selling illegal smokes, or for resisting arrest. 

The manner in which this unfolded is peculiar in my view. It’s not the illegal smokes that got him jailed, but his contempt for the Canadian justice system. Here’s how it went down. 

Charges withdrawn against Michael Bryant

May 25, 2010

By Jeff Parkinson

When Michael Bryant was arrested last year in the death of 33 year old cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard, it seemed that all efforts were being made to ensure that his status as former attorney general would not fetch him special treatment. He was released without a bail hearing, but aside from that he appeared to face the same treatment that anyone else would expect when their actions result in death.

Bryant was charged with criminal negligence causing death, and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death after he apparently hit the gas to shake loose a cyclist who had grabbed his steering wheel. We don’t know why Sheppard grabbed the wheel, and we don’t know why Bryant hit the gas to shake him loose, but we do know that a man is dead, and nobody is being held accountable.

A special prosecutor from BC was appointed to handle the case, and by all appearances Bryant seemed destined to face the justice system on an even keel.

DCE to be handed to Six Nations

February 19, 2010

UPDATE: it’s been all of a few hours and emails are already coming in from people claiming this is just a rumor. Despite what they would like to think, the facts were verified by multiple sources who were at the meeting this morning.

By Jeff Parkinson

In a disgusting piece of news, Attorney General Chris Bentley met with members of Haldimand Council this morning to inform them that the Douglas Creek Estates will be given to Six Nations, and that Council had best go negotiate with Six Nations now if they want any chance at having a say in what becomes of the DCE.

The meeting took place this morning at a Tim Hortons in Brantford and involved Mayor Trainer, and several council members. The obvious plan being for the province to push Haldimand Council to negotiate a deal with Six Nations so that they can say “it wasn’t us, we’re just doing what the county wanted”. You can be sure the last thing they wanted was for this to be exposed to the public before McGuinty has had a chance to deflect the blame.

Al Sweeny exposes Crown in awesome CH newscast

February 3, 2010

By Jeff Parkinson

As everyone is aware by now, the McGuinty government had their crown employee Milan Rupic dismiss the criminal charge against fellow McGuinty employee Julian Fantino this morning. It’s no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention that a politically motivated dismissal was coming.

The media coverage has been so fast and furious on this case that even CANACE can’t keep up, but of the dozen or so newscasts I’ve seen today, one stood tall above the rest. In fact it might be the greatest segment of any newscast I have ever seen.

From the Globe & Mail

Christie Blatchford: McHale outfoxed the crown

An exercise in futility may be the most appropriate way to describe the crown’s efforts in Cayuga court yesterday.

Christie Blatchford of the Globe & Mail summed up the session quite nicely in her latest column stating: “The absurd exercise lends credence to speculation that the AG was planning to stay the charge against the OPP boss yesterday, but was outfoxed by Mr. McHale, who complained in writing last Wednesday that the earlier date wouldn’t allow him to prepare properly or present his evidence to the Crown.” If you have not yet done so I can not strongly enough recommend reading her column here.

After Gary McHale succeeded in having a criminal charge of attempting to influence a municipal official laid against Julian Fantino, the crown needed a plan to make the charge that they argued against in Superior court go away to appease the government who signs their pay cheques while still somehow appearing neutral to the public.

McHale making more legal history today

January 14, 2010 

In the midst of the frenzy of Fantino coverage, there is a case taking place inside a Toronto court room today that is of great significance but has slipped quietly under the radar of most.

In July of 2009, Gary McHale won an unprecedented order of mandamus which combined with my own truly reshaped the landscape of private prosecution in Canada. A brief history of the significance of both cases is in order.

McHale to prosecute Fantino?

UPDATE January 8 2010: A justice of the peace has officially signed the charge against Julian Fantino this afternoon and he will be summoned to Cayuga Court to face the criminal charge of influencing a municipal official which carries a maximum of 5 years in prison.

January 6, 2010

Remember when Michael Bryant killed a man in 2008 how the media and public were quite convinced that as the former Attorney General he would receive preferential treatment and would not be able to receive a trial that was in the best interest of justice?

Although Julian Fantino has never held any office with the prestige of Attorney General, he is every bit the public figure that Bryant was, and the same concerns should be on the minds of all of us now that he stands charged. Add to that the fact that our government has already taken numerous steps to cover up for Fantino and it’s very difficult to believe that the crown will be capable of treating Mr. Fantino in a way that’s in the best interest of the public.

Steps could certainly be taken to ensure that justice prevails in this case, but there would need to exist a will within the Ontario government to stop covering for their appointed enforcer of race based policing. They could simply stop interfering with the justice system, but that seems somewhat doubtful at this point. There is a very simple solution that not only ensures Fantino won’t receive special treatment, but takes that decision out of the hands of the McGuinty government in the eyes of the public.

Not in the best interest of the public to prosecute crime – Cayuga Crown

March 27, 2009

Crown Attorney David King stood in an Ontario Court of Justice on March 25, 2009 and proclaimed several things to the presiding Justice while refusing to prosecute a charge of Mischief against two Haldimand OPP officers.

#1 there is no reasonable prospect of convicting these officers based on the evidence.

#2 they were simply performing their lawful duty as police officers and keeping the peace by helping to build the fence.

#3 it is not in the best interest of the public to prosecute this case.

AK 47 shooter gets a big kiss from Cayuga Crown

October 21, 2008

In May of 2007, Caledonia Wakeup Call & Voice of Canada were the only sites to report to the public that a man armed with an AK 47 had threatened to kill someone at DCE just a few yards from the Notre Dame school yard, and then gone to the illegal smoke shack known as “the Hawk Shop” outside of town and filled it with bullets. The mainstream media has just now caught up by publishing that he was carrying a “military assault rifle”

The OPP watched Donald VanEvery, a convicted gun smuggler under court order not to possess firearms point a prohibited firearm at a woman holding a child while threatening to kill her and refused to intervene presumably because the armed maniac wasn’t “counselling mischief not committed”.

McHale returns to Caledonia

September 12, 2008

After 10 months in exile at the hands of a trumped up “counseling mischief not committed” charge by the OPP, Gary McHale returned to Caledonia today after a hearing with Judge Marshall and the crown, but while the absurd bail condition that he could not enter Caledonia was lifted, a new tougher set of conditions designed to obstruct his charter rights are now in place.

The hearing in which the conditions were hashed out took place in an in camera meeting (closed to the public), but before that happened, the crown stood up in open court and stated “Gary speaking to a group of people about a smoke shack is the same as Gary protesting at a smoke shack in terms of risk to public safety”

While most of us understand actions to speak louder than words, Mitch Hoffman apparently believes the opposite to be true when the words are coming from Gary McHale as most of his new restrictions revolve around the number of people he can speak with at any given time in Caledonia.

Cayuga Crown forces judicial review

August 23, 2008

Please note that this is not a CANACE release, and is the result of a decision made solely by the author (Jeff Parkinson) to share information that I believe the public should have.

This week I was at the Cayuga Courthouse when the Crown withdrew the criminal charges of Extortion, mischief and intimidation filed by Gary McHale against Floyd and Ruby Montour. Immediately the Crown then told the court the OPP were laying criminal charges against Floyd and Ruby for mischief.

Maybe Fantino wants to increase his stats on the number of natives charged by the OPP to back up his weak claims that race based policing doesn’t exist in Haldimand County. The OPP had a full year to lay these charges while Floyd and Ruby have been actively committing serious crimes in Hagersville, Caledonia, Cayuga and Brantford. However, the OPP was unable to lay the charges until after Gary McHale filed his – is anyone surprised?