Civil asset forfeiture is the legal procedure for seizing your assets without the tedious requirement of convicting you, the hapless property owner, of a criminal offence. If it were anyone but government officials doing the stealing, this would be called theft. Because it’s government, their lawyers call it a ‘victimless prosecution’ where the property, not the property … [Read more...]
Phil Hewkin’s Cartoon Says It All…
Phil Hewkin is an artist and a gun owner. He believes, as I do, that owning private property should not land you in prison, nor should it cost you your life savings or your family home. All three of those things happened to Ontario gunsmith Bruce Montague. Well, to be precise, the last of the three, the theft of the Montague family home using Ontario's Proceeds of Crime Act, … [Read more...]
Donna Montague Speaks Out on Criminal Case Against Her Husband
My name is Donna Montague. I am married to former Ontario gunsmith Bruce Montague. I have had Enough! I am thoroughly disgusted! It is bad enough that the news media reports inflammatory positions about Bruce without verifying their data ….. but the “JUDICIARY” is doing it too. Now that the trial is over I can speak. The search of our home: First off, there … [Read more...]
Bruce Montague’s Response to Forfeiture Order
By now you must all be aware of the ruling we received from the appeal court of Ontario a couple of days ago. I am not really surprised that we lost but I am surprised that they decided to increase my punishment by also stealing my ammunition. As bad as this ruling is, our lawyers at the CCF (Canadian Constitution Foundation) found some encouraging aspects to it. There are a … [Read more...]
Gunsmith Bruce Montague, Dr. Henry Morgentaler and Abortion Law
That may seem an odd title but it will make sense shortly. The Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in R. v. Montague, 2014 ONCA 439, in which the government's desire to seize Bruce Montague's complete firearms and ammunition collection came to its unjust conclusion. Ontario's Court of Appeal heard arguments for and against the forfeiture of over $100,000 of … [Read more...]
Will You Write a Lettter of Support for Bruce Montague, his firearm collection and family home?
I received an interesting email the other day from Pastor Jim Butler of the Free Grace Baptist Church, located in Chilliwack, BC. He drafted a letter to Ontario Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) and the Ontario Attorney General and wanted my input on that letter before sending it. You can download and read that letter … [Read more...]
Bruce Montague Appeals Firearm Destruction Order
Bruce Montague, the Ontario gunsmith who challenged the constitutionality of Canada's Firearms Act, is appealing the destruction order for over $100,000 of his firearms. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) seized Montague's entire firearm collection back in 2004 when he was arrested and charged with violating Canada's Firearms Act. Bruce Montague and several other men defied … [Read more...]
Registration Leads to Confiscation and much worse… Just ask Ontario Gunsmith Bruce Montague
Sun News Commentator Brian Lilley did an excellent segment on how registration leads to confiscation in his January 8, 2013 installment of his show Byline. In that segment Lilley described the insanity of Ian Thomson being forced to defend himself against criminal charges for the so-called “crime” of defending his life against 4 men trying to kill him. He went on to … [Read more...]
The ongoing abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws
When policing devolves from solving crimes to seeing how much private property police can seize from citizens there is something very wrong with the focus of our nation, yet under civil forfeiture laws this is precisely what’s happening across Canada and the United States. Like most laws, civil asset forfeiture has, at its heart, good intentions. As the saying goes, … [Read more...]
Geert Wilders and Bruce Montague: Sometimes the Cost Paid for our Rights and Freedoms is too high
As you no doubt recall, Katey Montague decided to take a step back from political activism because she felt the cost was simply too high for her to continue. After watching her father endure 7 years of trials that ended in a prison sentence and the impending seizure of the Montague family home by the Ontario government who can blame her for not wanting the same fate for … [Read more...]
Maurice Corriveau: Gun Owner Licensing and Firearm Registration System a proven failure. Again.
A case coming out of Noelville, Ontario, is once again proving the utter uselessness of Canada’s entire “gun control” system. On March 18, 2011 Maurice Corriveau was arrested and charged with three counts of unauthorized possession of a firearm after police searched his home. By his own admittance he had tried to apply for a firearms license but when his application was … [Read more...]
Toronto cops beat the crap out of a guy, lie in court and get sentenced to house arrest?
Beat the crap out of a guy, lie about your actions in court, and because you're a cop, you get nothing but house arrest? [Sarcasm Mode ON] Thank God there's no double-standard in sentencing police versus us ordinary folks! Toronto Police Service constable Edward Ing and Toronto Police Service constable John Cruz beat the crap out of Richard Moore because he heckled them … [Read more...]
Police are treated differently than the rest of us when they break the law
To those who say the law is applied equally to citizens and police, I've only got one word: Bullshit. I'll cite the case of Chilliwack RCMP constable Matt Wright this time to make my point. RCMP Constable Wright, according to the Ottawa Citizen article on his case, is a former military man. Generally speaking, military men comprehend honour, integrity and right from … [Read more...]
Bruce Montague released on Parole
As amazing as it sounds, it’s true. After no word from the parole hearing last week, it’s a great relief (moreso for Bruce and Donna Montague, I’m sure!) to hear that he has actually been granted parole. He arrived back to his Dryden, Ontario home last night, and was greeted by his wife Donna, and son Michael. Michael’s schedule had allowed him to come home for his Dad’s … [Read more...]
Canada’s Firearms Act is a Success!!! NOT.
It's a classic case, really. "A Toronto man" who already has two separate lifetime firearms prohibitions against him gets arrested. Again. With a handgun. His first firearms prohibition came in 2009 after he was caught with a loaded .357 magnum handgun the year prior. His second lifetime firearms prohibition came after he was sentenced to, get this, three years … [Read more...]
Ontario’s Attorney General’s Office Angry about public scrutiny in home seizure case
Crown Counsel James McKeachie is very annoyed with the Montague family for making public the letter he wrote to them where he spelled out his intention to take their family home using Ontario's Civil Remedies Act. They posted his letter on the website about their legal challenge to Canada's Firearms Act, www.BruceMontague.ca. McKeachie's letter, dated the day the Supreme … [Read more...]
Ontario’s Attorney General’s Office Angry about public scrutiny in home seizure case, Part 4 of 4
And what happens to all the money and property seized? Well, of the $13.4 million seized in Ontario since 2003, only $1.2 million has been turned over as compensation to "victims of unlawful activity", whatever that phrase means. Almost half of it, $5.7 million has been handed back to law enforcement agencies in the form of grants. Five times as much money is given … [Read more...]
Ontario’s Attorney General’s Office Angry about public scrutiny in home seizure case, Part 3 of 4
Donna Montague was not impressed. "At every stage of this process, whenever we've 'negotiated' with them, we've been railroaded," she said. "The search warrants were illegal. They said that for our Constitutional challenge to go forward we had to drop our challenge of them. After they arrested Bruce, did the first search and were holding Bruce in jail, they threatened … [Read more...]
Ontario’s Attorney General’s Office Angry about public scrutiny in home seizure case, Part 2 of 4
McKeachie, and through him the Attorney General's office as a whole, was being forced to answer for his actions to the public. He doesn't like that at all. Why should the Ontario Attorney General's office or McKeachie personally be upset about public scrutiny of this case? Openness and transparency should be the hallmark of government. After all, the Attorney General … [Read more...]
Ontario’s Attorney General’s Office Angry about public scrutiny in home seizure case, Part 1 of 4
Crown Counsel James McKeachie is very annoyed with the Montague family for making public the letter he wrote to them where he spelled out his intention to take their family home using Ontario's Civil Remedies Act. They posted his letter on the website about their legal challenge to Canada's Firearms Act, www.BruceMontague.ca. McKeachie's letter, dated the day the Supreme … [Read more...]
Yukon Puts Proceeds of Crime Act on Hold Indefinitely
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. … [Read more...]
Donna Montague’s Thanksgiving
I had a long talk with Donna Montague on Thanksgiving. We covered a lot of ground in our almost 2-hour conversation. Toward the end I asked her if she'd write me a note on what exactly she's grateful for this Thanksgiving, as we hadn't actually gotten around to that particular topic. I think her answer to me might surprise you, given everything that's happened to the … [Read more...]
Word of Montague Home Seizure by Ontario Gov’t Spreads
Bad news travels fast. So the old saying goes, I think. It's certainly true in the case of the Ontario government's intention of stealing the Montague family home while hiding behind the Civil Remedies Act's forfeiture clause for "proceeds of crime". I found a link to the case on some Canadian firearm chat boards, as well as on blogs across the country. My prayer is … [Read more...]
Donna Montague Needs Your Help
Donna Montague asks supporters of her family to write to the Ontario Attorney General and ask that the forfeiture proceeding against their family home be dropped. September 30, 2010 Dear Supporters; Refer to this page for current instructions on writing to Bruce. http://www.brucemontague.ca/html/0407.html Last Thursday, Sept 23rd , I received a letter from the Ontario … [Read more...]
Crown Proceeds with Forfeiture Hearing on Montague Home
Ontario Crown Counsel is moving forward with their attempted theft of the Montague family home. Using the civil forfeiture provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act, senior counsel James McKeachie sent the following letter to the Montagues on September 17th. 17 September 2010 I am writing you to you directly because I understand from our previous communications that you … [Read more...]
Donna Montague and the Possible Seizure of her Home by the Ontario Government
I had a long talk with Donna Montague last night, and so far, the news is good, if by good news you mean no news. So far there is no word from the Ontario Attorney General's office regarding their forfeiture application for the Montague family home under Ontario's Proceeds of Crime Act. "This is all so unbelievable. These proceedings have revealed a parliamentary and … [Read more...]
Bruce Montague and the Canadian Bar Association
Joe Gingrich, one of the members of Bruce Montague's Case Management Team, has been digging into the Canadian Bar Association in his effort to find evidence of legal bias towards gun owners. In an article released recently, he paints a pretty strong picture for that bias. You can read the entire thing over at my other site diarmani.com. The article is titled: It's NOT … [Read more...]
Bruce Montague’s Constitutional Challenge Rejected by Supreme Court of Canada
Today the Supreme Court of Canada announced they will not hear Bruce Montague's appeal. This does not mean the Montague's legal troubles are over, however. Still outstanding is the Ontario Provincial Government's threat to take the Montague family home under Ontario's Proceeds of Crime Act. They were "kind" enough, in their letter threatening the house seizure, to allow … [Read more...]
The Long Gun Registry Debate
by Phil Hewkin All the hyperbole and rhetoric, deception and corruption aside, from one guy who actually is not too lazy to read what the law states in the "Criminal code of Canada", all I can say, is, if YOU haven't taken the time to read these laws, "the Firearms Act" and, the section called, "Firearms and other weapons" as I have, PLEASE kindly SHUT the HELL UP! My own … [Read more...]
Jack Layton “under fire”
Jack Layton is under a lot of heat to get his members of parliament in line with party policy. Unfortunately for Jack, those rural riding members want to actually get re-elected. Most won their seats by less than 2,000 votes, some substantially less, so listening to their constituents when it comes to "gun control" means the difference between getting elected or being forced … [Read more...]