In Canadian first, Edmonton police charge Freeman on the Land with ‘paper terrorism’ in speeding ticket dispute
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/ca...aper-terrorism
EDMONTON — Paper terrorists will no longer be tolerated.
In a precedent-setting move against a self-proclaimed Freeman on the Land, a 45-year-old man has been charged with intimidation of a justice system participant by filing a deluge of documents in court.
The charges against Allen Boisjoli of Vegreville stem from a speeding ticket issued by a community peace officer outside Edmonton in May 2015.
Boisjoli filmed the incident, posted to YouTube, and then launched a campaign of legal filings against the officer. He attempted to file a lien against the officer in Edmonton courts, claiming that the officer was liable for $225,000 for detaining him and issuing the ticket.
Edmonton Det. Rae Gerrard said Tuesday the “paper terrorism” tactics allegedly used by Boisjoli are typical of the Freeman on the Land.
“They use a plethora of documents, which really mean absolutely nothing,” Gerrard said. “ They’re just cutting and pasting from all over the Internet, from all over the world. They put them together in hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents and flood the courts with this, just in an effort to overwhelm the courts and confuse people.
What makes this charge “precedent setting,” Gerrard said, is that this is the first time police in Canada have been able to pin a charge to a Freeman based on the practice of trying to overwhelm and intimidate the legal system with filings.
Gerrard said Boisjolis was arrested and charged on Aug. 27. He said so far Boisjolis has not “accepted” the charge, and has not retained a lawyer.
Boisjoli’s next court appearance is set for Nov. 7.
In October 2015, a top Alberta judge targeted the Freemen on the Land movement — and Boisjoli — in a decision declaring him to be a “vexatious litigant.”
The lengthy and scathing decision by Court of Queen’s Bench Associate Chief Justice John Rooke restricts Boisjoli from filing or continuing actions in all Alberta courts.
“The restrictions this court places on Boisjoli’s ability to access Alberta courts are unusual and strict, but Boisjoli’s history and his current attempt to misuse court procedure to further a criminal enterprise warrant this intervention,” said Rooke in the written decision.
According to the decision, Boisjoli tried to enter a default judgment using his own forms, rather than the standard court-supplied ones, while attempting to get out of paying a speeding ticket by claiming the province and the peace officer who issued the ticket owed him a debt.
In his documents, Boisjoli claimed the officer owed him $225,000, which included $100,000 for the “unauthorized use of copyrighted property (presumably Boisjoli’s name)” and $5,000 for one hour of unlawful detainment.
Rooke goes on to describe Boisjoli’s pseudo-legal attempt to get a default judgment as “rubbish” and “spurious” and called the letters he sent as part of his scheme as “nothing more than an irrelevant monologue shouted at a brick wall.”