Haldimand "Local Councillor Charged"
lThe following was taken from Haldimand "Vote Deferred Again", that I posted back in August of 2007. I can't believe that this actually took almost "5 months". What the hell is wrong with our system. If that had been you or I, we would have been charged on the spot. I can only hope that the "Crown" and the "Court" do the right thing. It is called "Justice".
We stayed in the council chambers for about 10 minutes talking, we then proceeded outside, to discuss what we were going to do next. Once outside we noticed Councillor Sloat just outside the side door on his cell phone. Merlyn Kinrade and Jeff Parkinson left the group to go and speak with councillor Sloat. We all stood there watching, I was little concerned about the body language of Councillor Sloat, and then all of a sudden Jeff starting walking towards us and Merlyn and Councillor Sloat went inside the building.
This is what happened, (Jeff Parkinson quote’s) "Buck Sloat suddenly grabbed my shoulder with one hand and ripped my digital recorder aggressively out of my pocket with the other proceeding to drop it on the concrete below".
I would like to at this time send a my personal apology to Jeff on behalf of the residents of Haldimand County. Councillor Sloat was out of line when he assaulted Jeff, and I would hope that Councillor Sloat publicly gives Jeff an apology on Monday August 13th, 2007. If he refuses, I would then expect that Mayor Trainer will need to send her apology on behalf of herself and Council!
This incident is currently being investigated by the O.P.P., I will update you when I know the outcome.
If Councillor Sloat is charged with assault, and found guilty, he will be forced to leave his post as a Municipal Councillor, and will be unable to run for council for "6" years!
The following is a post from Jeff's site today. This will update you on what has transpired since August of 2007! Kudo's to Jeff for his tenacity, not many would have gone through what Jeff has the last five months!
Haldimand Councillor Charged with Assault
by Jeff Parkinson;
After much effort by myself and Merlyn Kinrade, a Justice of the Peace has signed a criminal charge of assault against Haldimand council member Buck Sloat, and he will have to appear at the Cayuga court house on February 6, 2008 at 9am to answer to the charge.
The foundation of the law and order that we are fighting to see upheld clearly states that Mr. Sloat is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, so please consider all statements below to be alleged until such time as they are proven.
The circumstances are somewhat unique as the OPP refused to lay this charge and I had to go to court personally to get it done.
On August 7, 2007 I attended a council meeting at the municipal building in Cayuga to hear the outcome of a resolution by Council to monitor the correspondence of Mayor Marie Trainer. During the lunch break, Merlyn Kinrade and I noticed Mr. Sloat standing on the back steps of the building and decided to go talk to him to see if he could tell us anything about the resolution before council.
A short time into a conversation between me, Mr. Sloat, and Mr. Kinrade, Mr. Sloat became upset, grabbed me by the shoulder, pulled the digital recorder from my pocket where it had been clearly visible the entire time, and dropped it to the concrete below.
After lunch Mr. Kinrade and I attended the OPP station in Cayuga to file a complaint of assault. Constable Andrusyk agreed to take our statements after spending considerable time trying to council me not to proceed with a criminal complaint and assured me that the matter would be investigated thoroughly. He suggested that I would hear from him within a week with the outcome.
Two weeks later I phoned the OPP station as I had not heard anything and I was told that Constable Andrusyk was on duty and would be paged to call me. He called me late the following afternoon and informed me "Basically we’ve reviewed the statements and everything, we’ve spoken with Mr. Sloat and at this time there is not enough grounds to lay any charges".
Around this time I learned that a person can see a Justice of the Peace at the Courthouse and do what is called swearing a private information which is basically filing a charge for such things as assault or theft as a private citizen.
I attended court several times as there were various delays not the least of which was my inability to attend due to a head injury suffered in December, and today myself and Mr. Kinrade told a Justice of the Peace what happened at which time he issued process for the charge which means Mr. Sloat has now been charged by the court with assault, and will receive a summons to appear at a later date.
The entire procedure was handled with the utmost professionalism by the Court system and both a crown and Justice of the Peace were brought in from another jurisdiction to hear the complaint to ensure total impartiality for both Mr. Sloat and myself.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Court as the Justice informed me that the Crown may at their discretion simply dismiss the charge at a later date, and the Crown who attended these hearings was opposed to it as she stated "it’s not enough of an assault for the crown to be interested in pursuing", but after reading from the Criminal Code of Canada, the Justice clearly stated that this falls under the definition of assault and issued the charge.
I asked the crown if I could speak with her after the hearing to enquire about her opposition and her answer was simply "No".
Regardless of the outcome of this charge, it’s nice to know as a Canadian that when the Police fail us, we do have other options at our disposal to pursue justice.
Jeff Parkinson
Caledonia Wakeup Call
Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality
Jeff@CaledoniaWakeupCall.com
http://caledoniawakeupcall.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/haldimand-councilor-charged-with-assault/
The OPP should be ashamed of themselves that they didn't lay an assault charge on Sloat back in August when this actually happened!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Donna that most people would have given up.
A paid elected public official should not act in this manner, no excuses on Sloat's part is acceptable!
Councilor Sloat will get what he deserves. He is not above the law, in fact he should learn how to control his temper. I have seen him in action.
ReplyDeleteWe should refuse to pay this man, he has been nothing but a mayor wannabee and his main goal has always been to undermine and try and destroy the Mayor. It is time to say goodbye to Mr. Sloat not Councilor Sloat!
I think it is time that Sloat step down as a councilor in Haldimand County.
ReplyDeleteIn the past he accused the Mayor of "harassing" an employee of Haldimand County, and wanted her to step down as Mayor of Haldimand County, and that investigation was an internal one, never saw the light of court or an official charge.
It is time that Counilor Sloat do as he requested the Mayor to do, step down, and be done with it. We are growing very tired with the antics of our elected officials here in Haldimand.
Councillor Sloat was clearly provoked by this group. He felt under attack and that's obviously why the police dismissed this as a non-assault.
ReplyDeleteYou can't keep going around intimidating people in their face and expect the person to just stand there and not protect themselves.He was provoked and that's how I'm sure the crown will see this.
I expect that this will be withdrawn by the crown as it should be.
Perhaps Parkinson should stay home in the future and quit agitating.
He and a few others are becoming pests and public nuisances and are costing taxpayers good money after bad.
I agree with all the above.
ReplyDeleteIf the crown even thinks of dismissing this charge, it would prove that things are not quite right here. My feeling is that this charge will go ahead, as it should.
Thanks for your comments. I would like to make a comment on the following statement;
ReplyDelete"Councillor Sloat was clearly provoked by this group. He felt under attack and that's obviously why the police dismissed this as a non-assault."
I was there that day and witnessed the body language of councilor Sloat. In now way was Merlyn or Jeff intimidating Sloat, they were simply asking him some questions during the lunch break. This was all recorded as well, and the police have this recording as it was put into evidence. I just happened to turn away for a moment when Jeff starting walking towards us, so I did not personally witness the assault.
Councilor Sloat is an "elected official" and is paid by the hard working residents of this county, this in no way gives him the right if he feels intimidated by someone to assault them.
The law is the law, and it states in the criminal code that an individual has the right to "protect" themselves if they fear that they are in immediate danger of being harmed. And this was not the case.
Regardless, an indivdual is "innocent" until "proven" guilty. I only hope that the crown allows this to proceed as it should, and let the "Judge" make the ultimate decision. We have seen in the past that council has themselves been "Judge and Jury", this is not the time for this. It is time that the Law is upheld in this County.
Wow, I have just looked up the word "assault" and this is what it said
ReplyDeleteDefinition: A violent onset or attack with physical means, as blows, weapons, etc.; an onslaught; the rush or charge of an attacking force; onset; as, to make assault upon a man, a house, or a town.
I am just a regular person in the community and I have no contact or knowledge of the people involved.
I clearly want to see if I understand what I am reading.
As I read above, it mentions that the whole thing was recorded, does that mean Mr.Parkinson was recording this conversation without the permission of Mr. Sloat? What would that be called and what charges should be laid for that? (I'd be ticked if it were me being recorded and not know about it, and yes, I'd probably grab it too!)
If things were fine when the two people approached Mr. Sloat and then the recorder was taken and thrown to the ground, are you saying there was nothing said to provoke Mr. Sloat to do this? As mentioned, I don't know who this man is, does he 'blow' up like that often?
I guess I would just like to ask if all the facts are in as we have only heard the people's voices and comments of the ones charging Mr. Sloat with this crime.
Assault?????? I would question that too.
Thanks for your comments, you have made some very good points. The following is what is assualt under the criminal code as opposed to the dictionary meaning of "assault".;
ReplyDeleteCriminal Code of Canada
Assault Sections
265. (1) A person commits an assault when
(a) without the consent of another person, he applies force intentionally to that other person, directly or indirectly;
(b) he attempts or threatens, by an act or a gesture, to apply force to another person, if he has, or causes that other person to believe on reasonable grounds that he has, present ability to effect his purpose
266. Every one who commits an assault is guilty of
(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or
(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction
As far as recording conversations, this was a three way conversation and Jeff never hid the fact that his recorder was in his pocket, this is not illegal. What is illegal is to record a telephone conversation without first letting the indivdual know that you are taping them.
Your point about all the facts is also very important, and that is why it should be up to the Justice System, mainly a Judge to here all the evidence and facts and make a decision. In fact it was a Justice of the Peace that laid the charge and said this falls under the Criminal Code.
IMO the Justice of the Peace did the right thing, it is the Law.
ReplyDeleteWe can all have our opinions on what is assault and what is not assault, the important thing to remember is that in Canada we have the Criminal Code for just this reason, to protect us!
If each individual officer for example used his personal opinion on whether any charge should be laid is just as dangerours. Especially after all the accusations from people in Caledonia about two tiered justice, if this is dismissed by the Crown IMO this is just another piece of proof that certain people in Haldimand are above the Law.
This must be up to a Judge to decide, if this is thrown out by the crown what next?
Thanks for your comment, well said.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how sometimes the Law is good for one and not the other. What I mean is that if you are not well liked you are just taking up court time, or being petty. Again I can not stress the fact enough that we do have a Criminal Code in Canada that needs to be taken seriously.
If a person does not like a section of the Criminal Code, you have the rights and freedoms as a Canadian to lobby for change.
Just to clarify, Canada operates on the 'one party consent' rule with respect to recording telephone conversations. Any party to a telephone conversation can record without the consent or knowledge of the other parties.
ReplyDeleteMark Vandermaas, Editor
VoiceofCanada
If Mr. Sloat didn't want to be video taped: he should have spoke up with his concern: not acted on it!
ReplyDeleteHow many of us in Caledonia wanted to be video taped by the Natives and put on the world web??? It happened didn't it: example by Mr.Timmer!!
Being a councillor he should have some ideal how the criminal system works!!
Jim Smith
Hi Jim, thanks for your comment, I hope you are well.
ReplyDeleteI would like to clear up a point that you made. Jeff had a "digital tape recorder" in his pocket, he was not video taping councilor Sloat.
You are quite correct in saying that councilor Sloat should be aware of how the Justice System works.
A council member's job is on most days a very stressing and difficult job, but an important quality that a good council member must have is patience and respect for his/her fellow man.
I don't think there are many people out there that call council members on a regular basis and say "hey" you are doing a great job! I am sure that most of their calls are from frustrated angry residents looking for answers to their questions.
The day that this incident took place, the residents that were at council were pressuring council to change their position on the motion that was finally passed regarding the Mayor's e-mail and correspondence.
All council members were under pressure for "3" days as we kept coming back to council asking to be heard, and again we were ignored and denied the right to speak!
This is no excuse for any Council Member to react in this way towards a member of the public.
It is simply "Not Acceptable Behaviour".
ls Buck Sloat a native and thats why he wasen't charged?
ReplyDeleteMy prediction on the outcome of this endeavour:
ReplyDelete1) Councilor Sloat or his legal representative (likely gonna be the Municipal Council - heck, they provided services for Marie when she tesitfied recently, so why not Sloat? ) will have the OPP officers subpoenaed who took the statements of Mr. Kinrade and Mr. Parkinson after the initial complaint was filed.
2) Mr. Parkinson and Mr. Kinrade will do their best to represent the situation.
3) The allegations against Councilor Sloat will be dropped by the crown.
4) Councilor Sloat will counter sue for court costs, if he has any.
Perhaps we should all let the process unfold before hanging anyone. Undoubtedly there will be a 'victory parade' in Caledonia if Parkinson and Kinrade succeed, and a public lynching of Sloat dictating the Canadian Court system if they don't. One only has to look at the post above asking if Buck Sloat is native...for crying out loud people - it was a tape recorder that got injured here - and maybe some feelings and an ego or two.
Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the comment about whether Sloat is native or not is just plain "immature" in my opinion, and I say that as I "feel" in "my opinion". But regardless of how I feel, that poster obviously feels different than I do, and we all have the "right to our own opinions".
As we all have our own opinions, and we condemn or condone an issue, that is where it is dangerous. Can you imagine if "you" were being "judged" by someone who was not so fond of You?
That is why we have a "justice system" in place.
If you read again the criminal code posted above, some are interpreting the "law" in their own minds.
I still believe that the Crown should not drop this charge. This needs to be dealt with in the "Court"!
As some of you that read my blog live in Caledonia, and some of you have been charged with offenses recently, what message would the "Crown" be sending if this charge was dropped?
My belief stil is "One Law for ALL"