• Home
  • About
    • About Christopher di Armani
    • Disclosure Statement
    • Code of Ethics
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Gun Laws 101
  • FPO Violators
  • Store
  • Donate
  • Hire Me

Christopher di Armani.com

In Praise of Individual Rights and Freedoms

  • Top 25
  • Big Brother
    • Access To Information
    • Bureaucratic Incompetence
    • Bureaucrat’s Rule #1
    • Censorship
    • Feeding at the Government Trough
    • Lemonade Freedom
  • Common Sense
    • Expressions of Gratitude
    • Good Samaritans
    • Good Stuff
    • In Memoriam — Remembering our Heros
    • Life
    • Personal Responsibility
    • Politically Correct Madness
  • Courts
    • Abusive Prosecutions
    • Civil Forfeiture
    • Human Rights Tribunals
    • Judicial Corruption
    • Justice Denied
    • Justice System Abuses
    • Police Sentencing Double-Standards
    • Prosecutorial Misconduct
    • SLAPP Lawsuits
  • Crime
    • Abuse of Trust
    • Canadian Mass Murders
    • Firearm Prohibition Orders
    • Human Depravity
    • Immigration Issues
    • Racism
    • Restraining Orders
    • Sexual Predators
    • Violent Criminals
    • Wrongful Convictions
  • Guns
    • Concealed Carry
    • Dial 9-1-1 and Die
    • Firearms Act
    • Fun Gun Stuff
    • Gun Control
    • Gun-Free Zones
    • Gun Politics
    • Gun Registration
    • Negligent Discharges
    • Target Shooting Competitions
  • Islam
    • Canadian Islamic Disgraces
    • Islamic Terrorism
    • Radical Islam
    • Sharia Law
    • The Religion Of Peace
  • Police
    • Abuse of Police Authority
    • Filming Police
    • Great Police Officers
    • Officer Down
    • Police Brutality
    • Police Corruption
    • Police Misconduct
    • RCMP Accountability
    • RCMP Hall of Shame
    • Warrantless Searches
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Ethics in Politics
    • Political Antics
    • Political Corruption
    • Social Justice
    • Stupid Human Tricks
    • Union Bay Improvement District
  • Rights
    • Charter of Rights and Freedoms
    • Constitutional Violations
    • Freedom of Assembly
    • Freedom of Religion
    • Freedom of Speech
    • Property Rights
    • Privacy Rights
    • Self-Defense
    • Unreasonable Search and Seizure

Yukon Puts Proceeds of Crime Act on Hold Indefinitely

Published November 1, 2010 by Christopher di Armani Filed Under: Property Rights


Justice Minister Marian Horne, during the debate on the budget last week, told the Yukon Assembly the government will not move forward with their proposed Civil Forfeitures Act until the public has been “consulted”.

It’s a shocking move for a government to take, given the optics of “getting tough with criminals” looks so good.  Standing up for law and order and all that.  But what lies beneath the surface of civil forfeiture laws should make every single citizen, Yukoner or not, shudder with fear.

You do not have to be arrested for a crime for the government to take your property.

You do not have to be charged with a crime for the government to take your property.

You do not have to be convicted of a crime for the government to take your property.

All that has to happen is a policeman (or woman) has to make the claim that your property MAY have been obtained through an unnamed criminal act.

Period.

No arrest.  No charges.  No trial.  No conviction.

The government doesn’t have to actually PROVE you did anything.  It only has to show “on a balance of probabilities” that you COULD have done something.

You are left with having to prove a negative, that you’re innocent, which in this case is impossible.  Can you really *prove* you never received any money through the proceeds of crime?  Remember, it doesn’t matter that you’ve never been charged with anything.  That’s not relevant.

It’s a complete end-run around your constitutional rights and freedoms.

All the government has to do is sue you for your property.  Often, the end result is the same.  You’ve lost everything you own, either by them taking it, or by your having to pay lawyers your life savings to defend against it.

Hardly the practice of an honest society with any regard for the Rights and Freedoms of its citizens.

That the government of Yukon has actually decided NOT to implement the Civil Forfeitures Act gives me hope for the people of the Yukon Territory, and for the territory itself.

It’s laudable to say that “criminals should not be allowed to profit from crime”.  I think we can all agree with that statement.

But the sad consequence of these laws is that good, decent people are losing everything because some bureaucrat has decided to make an example out of them.

Take the case of Bruce and Donna Montague of Dryden, Ontario.

Bruce Montague spent two years traveling across Canada trying to get arrested so he could challenge Canada’s Firearms Act in court.  Under Canadian law, the only way you have “standing” to challenge a law is to break it.

Stupid, but that’s the way the system is set up.

So Bruce Montague refused to renew his firearms license.  He spent the next six years of his life in the court system attempting to win his case.  He lost both his constitutional challenge of the Firearms Act, as well as his criminal trial, and was sentenced to 18 months in Prison.

The Ontario Attorney General’s office is now, under the Ontario Civil Remedies Act, attempting to take everything the Montague family owns: their home, their 160-acre property and all of their personal possessions by claiming they somehow profited by Bruce’s defiance of the Firearms Act.

They purchased the land with money Donna Montague received from an inheritance when her father passed away.  They hand-build their log home from the ground up.  They’ve got the receipts to prove it all.  But it doesn’t matter.

The facts are entirely beside the point.

The government doesn’t have to PROVE that the Montague family received a dime illegally.  All it has to do is show that they *might* have.

Is that really the kind of law Yukoners want?

I sure hope not.

Author

  • Christopher di Armani
    Christopher di Armani

    Christopher di Armani is a freedom-loving Amazon bestselling author and current events commentator from Lytton, BC, Canada, who strives to awaken the passion for liberty inside every human being.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Tags: Bruce Montague, Civil Forfeitures Act, Civil Remedies Act, Donna Montague, Firearms Act, Justice Minister Marian Horne, Marian Horne

Did you find value in this article?

If you found this article useful or it contained valuable information and you want to thank me, the best way is to buy me a coffee or two.

1. Send an Interac eTransfer to author @ christopherdiarmani.net (remove spaces)

2. Send via PayPal using this link: https://www.paypal.me/ThatLibertyGuy

3. Use your credit card in my online store to support me with a one-time donation, a monthly recurring donation, or an annual donation. See these links for all the details about the thank-you gifts I offer my supporters.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to my commentaries

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Latest Tweets

Follow @ThatLibertyGuy

Christopher di Armani 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
@ThatLibertyGuy

  • New comment: Canadian Gun Laws: A Primer for People Who Don’t Know Much About Gun Laws christopherdiarmani.com/15213/guns/can…
    about 3 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • New comment: Blake Harvey’s Murder Proves We Don’t Value Children’s Lives christopherdiarmani.com/17398/police/g…
    about 3 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • New comment: All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing christopherdiarmani.com/8275/human-rig…
    about 3 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • New comment: Paul Rogan Passes: The End of an Era christopherdiarmani.com/18908/common-s…
    about 3 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • New comment: RCMP Sergeant Douglas Smith appeals conditional discharge for illegal handgun christopherdiarmani.com/2439/police/ab…
    about 3 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite

Most Popular This Week

  • All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing
  • How did Live-Streaming Rape Become a ‘Thing’?
  • Yvon Mercier: From RCMP Depot Trainer to Double-Murderer
  • OPP Sergeant Jamie Gillespie Pleads Guilty to attempting to intercept private communications
  • Officer Down: LAPD Officer Fernando Arroyos
  • Why the Flood of Firearm Registration Certificates in My Mailbox?
  • OPP Sgt. Mike Dolderman’s Sexual Assault Trial Delayed Again

Most Popular This Month

  • All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing
  • How did Live-Streaming Rape Become a ‘Thing’?
  • Dale Merle Nelson’s 1970 Murder Spree in Creston, British Columbia
  • Yvon Mercier: From RCMP Depot Trainer to Double-Murderer
  • RCMP Sergeant Douglas Smith appeals conditional discharge for illegal handgun
  • Florida Police arrest a 12-year-old for farting. Have they lost their minds?
  • Why the Flood of Firearm Registration Certificates in My Mailbox?

© 2004–2023 ChristopherDiArmani.com | All Rights Reserved

Close

Buy me a cup of coffee

A ridiculous amount of coffee was consumed in the process of writing these articles. If you enjoy my work, please buy me a coffee or two to keep me going!