Out of the Gate for 08

Happy New Year everyone!

On rare occasion, I have to appear in court so I was up at a small provincial court in Canmore (just outside Banff) last Thursday. A blizzard occurred on the way up which caused me to arrive later than my scheduled time. Since I had to speak to the Crown prosecutor (their version of District Attorney) before I could address the judge, I had to wait until the next adjournment, which took about two hours. This may have been one of the most entertaining two hours I've ever spent. The stream of humanity that passed through the system that morning...!

To begin with, all defendants have to step up to a speaker stand to communicate with the judge such that all conversations are clearly communicated to a packed courtroom full of persons who literally have nothing better to do that to hear the little drama unfolding at the front. So first come the traffic cases which one would expect to be fairly uninteresting even though these are the more serious cases - routine tickets being paid through the mail. The first three or four individuals discovered to thier dismay that going 40km over the speed limit included a 14 day suspension of license. The judge asked each, "how did you arrive today?" "I drove" "Well then you have a problem!" since they had to surrender their licenses right there and then to the court clerk. Some frantic cell phone calls ensued. Next came a fairly indigent First Nations (Canadian for Indian) who was late because he had hitchhiked up to Canmore. It turned out that he did own a very old car which he and a friend had been cruising around in absent insurance. The judge fined him $2700. He grunted something incomprehensible and turned to leave when the judge looked up and noticed that this probably represented a significant component of his yearly earnings. She called him back and explained the various ways in which such a penalty could be worked off. That one was rather sad. There then followed three or four persons who to thier joy discovered that the ticketing mountie had incorrectly written 2007 rather than 2008 on their ticket. The judge explained that due to this error their ticket would be "quashed" meaning thrown out. They all but danced out of the courtroom. Seeing this, the next fellow strode up to the stand and confidently pointed out that his name had been mispelled on his ticket. The judge merely shrugged and said, "just a typo, proceed." He was dumbfounded to discover that a date typo is apparently treated quite differently than a name. He slouched back to his chair while we all scratched our heads on the logic. Sorrow to joy to sorrow - a roller coaster of emotion. The next defendant was a confused looking Moslem girl with extremely limited English who looked alarmed when the prosecutor announced that a guilty plea had been worked out with her father. "No guilty no guilty" she said anxiously. It turned out that her Father was not in attendance. The judge tried to explain the legal definition and consequences of a guilty plea (acceptance of responsibility, immediate fine) versus a not guilty plea (non-acceptance - trial date set) but that didn't appear to mollify the young lady so the matter was remanded to later date when the father could be made to answer for his plea bargain strategy. The next man, a fairly large and rough looking individual, indicated through gestures that he could not speak. This startled the Madam Prosecutor who had had several conversations with him by phone that week. He persisted with his gesticulations (apparently cutting ones hand through the air vigorously while shaking ones head is the international signal for "not guilty"). The judge tried to set a couple of trial dates, none of which seemed to satisfy the man so she finally imposed a May 1 date. He was unhappy with this and employed another universal gesture - holding his nose as though assaulted by a noxious odor and stomped towards the door. Three or four steps along, the judge halted him in his tracks with a very loud command to halt and proceeded to given him a very stern lecture on the immediate consequences of dishonoring the court. He nodded petulantly and continued his glowering exit. Two more defendants with very sad stories about how suspension of license would make it impossible to travel to, in the one case, her classroom full of special needs students and, in the other case, medical school classes so the judge imposed a higher fine and did not suspend. The medical student after hearing the amount of the higher fine decided that he could somehow make due and amended his request. A number of other types paraded through the system, droopy pants, nose rings, Armani suits, whatever.

We then proceeded to the non-traffic violations which I won't recite except for the case of one poor girl who flounced in with her mother in tow - both very stylishly dressed. We the enraptured audience quickly surmised fromt he initial reading of charges that the girl had been arrested on a warrant for failure to appear at a prior summons. She protested that she had never recieved a summons. The prosecutor provided evidence that the summons had been served on her mother, though the mother also protested that she had seen no sign of the alleged summons. We were all wondering what heinous act this girl had committed to have been arrested and not appeared and were astounded when the judge said, "now I understand this matter began with your having been caught walking an unregistered dog."!! "But your worship" she wailed (they actually say that here instead of "your honor"- no doubt an old British conceit) "it wasn't my dog!". "Well whose dog was it?" "I was taking care of a friend's dog for a couple of weeks". We collectively assumed that the matter would be over but the judge coolly explained that under Bylaw 14.2c(a)(1) the definition of "owner" included those "fostering said animal for a defined period of time" thus the girl was subject to the usual fine of $150 and walked out in a daze. We the audience filed away this useful bit of knowledge that a bit of investigation and due diligence was in order the next time we were asked to assist a friend with his or her pet!

I would highly recommend that when you have a free morning, you take advantage of the fact that admission to public courts is free of charge.