On Friday, Oct 15 1999, at 10:30 AM at the Sherwood Park courthouse in the province of Alberta, Provincial Court Judge Maher was presiding over a hearing involving a man who had been charged with failing to comply with a demand to file an income tax return. Contrary to previous erroneous reports that he was charged with tax evasion, the accused was not charged with any counts of tax evasion.

During this and a previous court appearance, Judge Maher knowingly and willfully attempted to force the accused, who was unrepresented, to enter a plea to the charges before him without ever having been provided a copy of the charges against him, nor a copy of any other particulars. This was a direct violation of the accused's rights in this matter and contrary to several decisions of the SCC, in which the Court has emphatically stated that no plea is to be entered until all particulars have been provided.

As a result of this and other comments by the judge, it was our position that this judge was either:

a) incompetent and ignorant of the law which has been settled for years, or,

b) he had absolutely no respect for the rights and freedoms of the people appearing before him.

In either scenario, we felt a reasonable apprehension of bias and prejudice and therefore requested that the judge recuse himself from this case, which he refused to do, yelling at us that this was "my courtroom". This is typical of the attitude exhibited by many judges, especially those in Provincial Court. We then informed Judge Maher that this court belongs to the people, not to him.

After setting an adjournment date, Timothy Wishewan then placed the judge under citizen’s arrest. Immediately the judge began shaking so badly that he could not hold his own glass of water, knowing full well what he had done to us. As a result, he immediately left the courtroom.

Several criminal charges have now been laid against Judge Maher as well against numerous RCMP officers.

In an unprecedented action, Judge Maher has been charged with criminal contempt of court under common law. To my knowledge, this is the first time that a private individual has charged a judge in this manner. We have dozens of witnesses to testify as to what transpired in court that day as well we have requested a copy of the transcripts from the hearing.

Constable Dennis, who watched the proceedings, refused to comply with his lawful duties as a peace officer, to take Judge Maher into custody. Because of Constable Dennis' refusal to obey the law, approximately 3O plus people then began to leave the courtroom and go to the RCMP headquarters to lay complaints against the judge.

There were at least 3 or 4 police cars surrounding the courthouse, one of whom, driving erratically, cut off one of these people as they unlawfully pulled over Mr. Warwick and myself. Mr. Warwick was subsequently charged with driving under suspension for non-payment of fines, even though he had never been notified of such and has now filed an affidavit to this effect.

During this incident, Constable Dennis assaulted me and unlawfully placed me under arrest for my refusal to provide him with the keys to the car. I refused to give him the keys because we had numerous legal and confidential documents in the car, which I did not want the police to see, and they had no authority to see. Further, Constable Dennis did not need the keys in order to have the car towed, an action which we consider to be unlawful and amounting to theft.

As a result of this assault against me and another assault against me while in custody, including being threatened by Constable Dennis with being pepper sprayed and theft of my money, several charges have been laid against this officer.

Even though the RCMP have admitted that I personally was not involved in any incident in the courthouse, they unlawfully used extortion tactics on me on Friday afternoon. Detective Wilkinson threatened to hold me in custody, contrary to section 497 of the Criminal Code unless I signed an Undertaking agreeing not to go to any Provincial Court, unless on personal matters or directed by a judge.

This tactic was used unsuccessfully to try and ban me from the courthouses of Alberta in order to prevent me from exposing corruption and criminal activity by Revenue Canada, the police, our governments and the judiciary. Detective Wilkinson has admitted to me that I was not involved in anything at the courthouse in any manner but that they were trying to ban me because of actions taken by "my friends" in the courthouse at that time. The government has taken the incredible approach of trying to ban anyone who is exposing their corruption from the places where they commit this corruption.

Well, I am going to disappoint the RCMP and Detective Wilkinson, Revenue Canada and all others in this corrupt "Just-us" system. I have already been directed to appear on Mr. Main's behalf on Nov.17, 1999 and will appear on that date as required by law. Further, attempting to stop me from going into the courthouse will not stop the 40-50 people who are planning to be in attendance and I will file further criminal charges against the RCMP for obstruction of justice if they attempt to prevent me from attending court.

The charge of contempt of court against Judge Maher will now send a strong and clear message to every judge in Alberta, and indeed all of Canada, that the people will no longer put up with unlawful actions from the judiciary which deny us our fundamental rights and freedoms. The judiciary are the guardians of these rights and freedoms and any judge who aids and abets in the denial of them will be criminally charged.

It is also our concern, especially in light of other actions taken recently by the RCMP across Canada, that they are now trying to control the media in this province. It has come to our attention that an officer of the RCMP in the Sherwood Park Detachment had also instructed A-Channel Television News not to broadcast any video footage from this incident. The RCMP have no jurisdiction in controlling the media and ordering a supposed free and independent press not to show the public the truth. Such tactics clearly are not permissible in this country.

Lastly, I have written a strong letter of complaint to Chief Judge Wachowich demanding that Judge Maher be removed from this case, and indeed from the bench. Although we will be appearing on November 17, we will not be proceeding with the issue before the court if Judge Maher is in attendance. A motion has been filed in Queen's Bench to quash the unlawful Undertaking and a complaint has been filed with the RCMP over the actions of Judge Maher. It is our position that this matter be moved into Edmonton Law Courts before a judge who will provide us with a fair and impartial hearing and who knows the law and will keep it well.

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