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Recent correstpondence (in
pdf format): Letter to B.C. Attorney-General
| Response page 1 | Response
page 2 | Regional Crown Counsel Jennifer Power spells out
the Crown's position -- and defends it! Page 1
| 2 | Poirier
explains his position | Gord
MacDougall letter to the editor
Update, March, 2005:
Fred Poirier's claim will now proceed!
Last year Fred filed a suit
against the local Community Futures Development Corporation claiming
malicious prosecution. They managed to get the first judge to
dismiss the case by lying and manipulating the paper work. The
three actual charges were malicious prosecution, false accusation
and interfering with economic interest of his company. He then
appealed that judge's decision to the provincial court of appeal.
The three judges set aside the Justice Lander dismissal. They
also reinstated all of the above claims/charges. In addition
they ordered Community Futures to pay of Fred's costs relating
to the appeal they also commented that it was about time someone
stepped up to the plate and looked in to these organizations.
The suit will now proceed. (Scroll to bottom of the page for
picture)
"Secret
Commission" case has been heard in B.C. Appeal court
Transcript of oral judgment
More documentation:
A reply after seven months
of waiting
Fred Poirier: He's
mad as hell and he's not going to take it!
When Fred Poirier and David
Love applied for a grant from a government funding agency, they
didn't expect to be arrested and faced with charges generally
reserved for war time traitors. Their reputations were defamed
in the community where they live. They were charged with bribing
public officials, not a popular tag to have attached to you if
you are trying to do business in the community.
They were vindicated by
a judge but that is not enough for Poirier who is getting ready
to sue for malicious prosecution.
The judgment,, which is
short, to the point and sweet
The judgment: Page 1
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Judge throws out secret
commission charge
Mark Allan and Gazette staff,
North Island Gazette, Decenber 12, 2001
Two North Island men have won
the latest battle in an ongoing war with the Community Futures
Development Corporation of Mount Waddington.
Judge Brian Saunderson ruled
Friday in the Port Hardy courtroom to dismiss a charge of accepting
a secret commission against Fred Poirier of Hyde Creek and David
Love of Port MacNeill.
After Crown counsel David Fitzsimmons
of Campbell River finished presenting his case Thursday, defence
lawyer Tony Managh moved Friday to have the charge thrown out.
The Calgary attorney alleged
the Crown had not presented enough evidence to support the accusation.
The charge was based on an allegation the pair threatened to
expose irregularities by Community Futures of Mount Waddington
(CFMW) if Development Corporation manager Steven Evans if he
did not help Love to get a loan from CFMW.
Evans testified Thursday in
a continuation of a trial by judge, which began several months
ago in Port Hardy.
Without admitting there was
extortion, Managh argued the allegation was much closer to that
criminal charge than to accepting a secret commission, a charge
that is rarely used.
"Criminal law can't be
strained to fit square pegs into round holes," Managh argued.
An essential element in accepting
a secret commission is secrecy, noted Managh, who argued that
Poirier and Love instead sought to publicize what they felt were
Community Futures irregularities.
The judge agreed in spite of
Fitzsimmon's attempt to counter Managh's reasoning. Saunderson
said he could find no evidence that Love and Poirier profited
from their dealings with Evans.
"There's only about a
one-percent chance that this type of evidence will be successful,"
Managh said after the ruling.
"It basically means the
Crown didn't have a case from Day One.
"I never did anything
wrong," Poirier insisted after learning the charges had
been dropped. "The day I do something wrong, they can charge
me."
Poirier contends the Development
Corporation funded out-of-work fisherman to compete with his
Port MacNeill sawmill, putting him out of business.
Love sought a loan from Community
Futures so he could turn some wood from Poirier's company Twin
Peak Contracting into marketable products.
Love said he regrets not getting
to present a defence because he would have liked to clear his
name.
An undertaking by Poirier and
Love to avoid Community Futures offices and functions has been
lifted.
Poirier, Love cleared
Midcoast Beacon, December
12, 2001
PORT HARDY - After two and
a half days of Crown testimony and defence cross-examination,
judge Brian Saunderson threw out bribery charges against Fred
Poirier and David Love, December 7 in provincial court here.
"The Crown failed to provide
convincing evidence on two parts of the charge . . .case dismissed,"
said the judge at about noon on Friday, December 7.
The ruling is the latest chapter
in a war of words which has been waged by Poirier and Love against
the Community Futures Development Corporation of Mt. Waddington
for almost two years. For Poirier and Love, and their lawyer,
Anthony Managh, it was a day of vindication.
"I never did anything
wrong, so they should not have charged me," said Poirier
outside the courtroom. Her said that Commuity Futures directors
created the problems and then fired former executive director
Wayne Evans when he tried to deal with them.
Love expanded on that statement.
"I feel vindicated that we have won without even having
to present our defence," he said. "The judge saw through
the falseness of the allegations."
Managh was somewhat surprised
that the no evidence motion succeeded. "This type of motion
is only successful about one per cent of the time, which shows
just how weak their case was," he said outside court.
Poirier and Love were charged
in the summer of 2000, under a section of the criminal code that
carries a penalty of up to five years in jail for anyone who
"corruptly offers reward, advantage or benefits to an agent
in return for showing favour, or forbearing to show disfavour,
to any person with relation to the affairs or business of his
principal."
During the first day of the
trial on June 6, 2001, former Community Futures executive (article
is clipped at this point) Lorier Cedar Products. If he did that,
Evans said, Poirier and Love offered to help him keep his job.
Evans did recommend the loan,
but it was not approved by the board. Instead, he was "laid
off."
Two other Crown witnesses testified
during the trial when it resumed on December 6. Community Futures
business analyst Kris Johnson and Community Futures administrative
assistant Barbara Dunbar. Neither testimony was presented prominently
in Managh's motion for a dismissal.
One of Managh's winning arguments
centred around the word "corruptly" in the charge.
Quoting a Supreme Court precedent, Managh argued that "corruptly"
translates into "secrecy" in this case.
"That's the key . . .
there must be secrecy," he said. "There is no evidence
. . . that anything was done, offered, accepted or given secretly.
In fact the evidence of the Crown witnesses is the opposite of
that."
During cross-examination, Managh
asked Evans if he had kept anything secret from the board. Evans
replied that Poirier and Love had urged him to take the matter
to his board.
Managh's other winning point
was made by arguing the Crown had not proven that Evans was offered
a benefit. According to the Supreme Court case quoted, that's
a prerequisite for a bribery charge, said the defence lawyer.
Senior Crown counsel David
Fitzsimmons from Campbell River disagreed with the importance
of the precedent cited by Managh. "Each case turns on its
own facts," he said.
"What Mr. Love and Mr.
Poirier offered Mr. Evans is set out in the transcript,"
Fitzsimmons said. "If they did get the money they were going
to ensure his employment. Mr. Love and Mr. Poirier weren't acting
as amateur journalists, they weren't acting as whistle blowers,
they were trying to get a place at the trough."
The judge pointed to the Crown's
evidence and said the actions of Love and Poirier were anything
but secret, as they took their case to CBC Radio, federal government
officials and the local newspaper.
As well, Saunderson said offering
Evans a job he already had didn't qualify as a benefit. "Mr.
Evans already had the benefit, the job," he said.
Fred to the right of Kris Johnsen,
Business analyst, no longer of community futures of mount waddington
and Cathy Denham, then manager and now General manager of community
futures.
This all started of the legal
ownership of said logging equipment that is in storage in the
background.
Miss Cathy Denham always claimed
she did not know the story behind this piece of equipment that
they stole from Fred.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
