Asking Montreal Deputy Mayoress Sue Montgomery Tough Questions About Her Complicity In Unitarian Universalist Clergy Abuse Cover-Up Efforts Is NOT Harassment
But don't take *my* word for it U*Us. . .
Take the word of Canadian Journalists FOR Freedom Of Expression aka CJFE, as freely and very publicly expressed in this brand spanking new CJFE alert arising out of the recent arrest of Radio Canada journalist Antoine Trépanier on criminal harassment charges by the Gatineau police (SPVG).
Specifically these words from the CJFE Alert that I have added some additional hyperlinks to:
This is not the first concerning use of criminal harassment in Quebec in recent months. A Montreal area activist blogger Robin Edgar is facing a criminal harassment charge with a trial date set in late 2018. Edgar provided CJFE with court papers which reference repeated political demonstrations, public interactions and contentious questions he posed to Montreal’s Deputy Mayor Sue Montgomery. When asked directly by CJFE whether Edgar had ever given Montgomery a specific reason to fear for her safety, she stated that she had no such fears.
“Under the criminal code, criminal harassment is defined as behavior which causes the victim to fear for their safety. What we’ve seen now twice in Quebec is an attempt to use that portion of the criminal code to shield complainants from tough questions or uncomfortable or inconvenient interactions,” said CJFE Executive Director Duncan Pike.
“Journalists need to be able to do their jobs, which means asking tough questions. People have a right to challenge community leaders. Part of doing that is allowing journalists to do their jobs. The law is intended to protect victims of domestic abuse, stalking or other serious criminal behavior. Using it as a way to discourage or silence speech, advocacy or public interest journalism is deeply troubling.”
Here is the full typo-corrected text of the comment that I just posted in response to this CJFE alert:
Another way of saying “activist blogger” is “citizen journalist”, and in several phone calls I did warn CJFE staff that, if former Montreal Gazette “Justice Reporter”, Montreal Unitarian clergy abuse enabler, and Valérie Plante’s recently appointed Deputy Mayor(ess) of Montreal could get away with abusing her power and authority as mayor of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Deputy Mayor(ess) of Montréal by having me arrested and charged with criminal harassment, in a deeply misguided and UNethical misuse of Canada’s criminal harassment law that was-is clearly intended to silence a vocal critic, that similar abusive misuses of Canada’s criminal harassment law could be used against professional journalists, and now it has actually happened. . . I can’t help but wonder if Yvonne Dubé got the idea to have Radio Canada journalist Antoine Trépanier arrested for alleged criminal harassment as a direct result of reading comparatively uncritical reports about me arrest for alleged criminal harassment of Sue Montgomery in La Presse and the Journal de Montréal etc.
I am very confident that I will be acquitted of the highly questionable criminal harassment charge that a Montréal Crown Prosecutor saw fit to bring against me (assuming that this dubious, if not completely bogus, criminal harassment charge is not dropped before the September 10th trial date) when the Crown Prosecutor is unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Montreal’s Deputy Mayor Sue Montgomery actually has “reasonable grounds” to fear for her safety. I firmly believed that it will be a miscarriage of justice if I am found guilty by a Québec court judge and I will most certainly appeal a guilty verdict. I was somewhat surprised that the Crown Prosecutor decided to file the charge, in light of the rather flimsy evidence against me that the SPVM provided to the Crown, but I would actually like this charge to go to trial so that I can further expose not only Sue Montgomery’s complicity in Unitarian Universalist clergy abuse cover-up efforts, but also the SPVM incompetence that resulted in my arrest at Montréal city hall as I waited to ask Valérie Plante a question about how to go about filing a formal ethics complaint against her “less than honest” clergy abuse enabling, and indeed power abusing, Deputy Mayor Sue Montgomery. I hope to finally be able to ask Val Plante that question at an upcoming Montréal city council meeting, now that my lawyer was able to get my court imposed conditions clarified and modified in such a way that expressly allows me to attend city council meetings that are open to the public in Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Montréal proper.
“When asked directly by CJFE whether Edgar had ever given Montgomery a specific reason to fear for her safety, she stated that she had no such fears.”
This alone should be enough to introduce reasonable doubt that should ensure my acquittal, but there is other evidence that Sue Montgomery does not genuinely fear for her personal safety, even though she claimed to in her five page saga of a police report. Based on how Montreal Unitarian clergy abuse enabler Sue Montgomery has reacted to my peaceful public protests against her complicity in Unitarian Universalist clergy abuse cover-up efforts, and my few “contentious questions” posed to her during and following Montreal’s municipal elections, I have no reason to believe that she genuinely fears for her personal safety in terms of fearing that I might physically assault her. I have a long track record of non-violence. The only thing Sue Montgomery fears for is her reputation, and I believe that Sue has only further damaged her reputation as a self-described “human rights defender” by attempting to misuse Canada’s criminal harassment law in her misguided efforts to prevent me from asking more “tough questions” about her complicity in, and even personal involvement in. . . Unitarian Universalist clergy abuse cover-up, and related misuse of SPVM power, at city council meetings.
As CJFE knows, and as The Gazette’s court reporter Paul Cherry effectively confirms in his shamefully biased reporting on my arrest that CJFE links to, The Gazette’s “Justice Reporter” Sue Montgomery somehow persuaded her employer to have Montreal media lawyer Mark Bantey have me served with a cease and desist demand letter (falsely) accusing me of making “libellous statements” about Sue’s complicity in Unitarian Universalist clergy abuse cover-up efforts on December 4th of 2014. Funny how Paul Cherry neglected aka FAILed to mention that Sue Montgomery’s, and indeed The Gazette’s. . . dubious libel accusations against me have “not been proven in court” as newspapers normally do when libel accusations are not substantiated in a court of law. . . The Gazette’s and Sue Montgomery’s BS libel accusation against me will never be proven in court because they are demonstrably false, and I believe Mark Bantey knew this even before writing his worthless cease and desist demand letter that was never acted upon after I demolished his claims in my initial response to it.
I look forward to similarly discrediting the highly questionable “evidence” that is contained in Sue Montgomery’s five page police report which actually contains certain statements that may be used to introduce proverbial “reasonable doubt”. Doh!
Although I am not a professional journalist, I can be reasonably described as a “citizen journalist” or, as this CJFE statement puts it, an “activist blogger”. I remind CJFE and all professional journalists that the outcome of my trial, assuming it goes ahead, has serious implications for the ability of professional journalists to do their jobs, and call upon Canadian journalists who value freedom of expression to speak out against this disturbing misuse of Canada’s criminal harassment law as Sue Montgomery’s way of discouraging and-or silencing speech, advocacy, and indeed public interest citizen journalism.
Take the word of Canadian Journalists FOR Freedom Of Expression aka CJFE, as freely and very publicly expressed in this brand spanking new CJFE alert arising out of the recent arrest of Radio Canada journalist Antoine Trépanier on criminal harassment charges by the Gatineau police (SPVG).
Specifically these words from the CJFE Alert that I have added some additional hyperlinks to:
This is not the first concerning use of criminal harassment in Quebec in recent months. A Montreal area activist blogger Robin Edgar is facing a criminal harassment charge with a trial date set in late 2018. Edgar provided CJFE with court papers which reference repeated political demonstrations, public interactions and contentious questions he posed to Montreal’s Deputy Mayor Sue Montgomery. When asked directly by CJFE whether Edgar had ever given Montgomery a specific reason to fear for her safety, she stated that she had no such fears.
“Under the criminal code, criminal harassment is defined as behavior which causes the victim to fear for their safety. What we’ve seen now twice in Quebec is an attempt to use that portion of the criminal code to shield complainants from tough questions or uncomfortable or inconvenient interactions,” said CJFE Executive Director Duncan Pike.
“Journalists need to be able to do their jobs, which means asking tough questions. People have a right to challenge community leaders. Part of doing that is allowing journalists to do their jobs. The law is intended to protect victims of domestic abuse, stalking or other serious criminal behavior. Using it as a way to discourage or silence speech, advocacy or public interest journalism is deeply troubling.”
Here is the full typo-corrected text of the comment that I just posted in response to this CJFE alert:
Another way of saying “activist blogger” is “citizen journalist”, and in several phone calls I did warn CJFE staff that, if former Montreal Gazette “Justice Reporter”, Montreal Unitarian clergy abuse enabler, and Valérie Plante’s recently appointed Deputy Mayor(ess) of Montreal could get away with abusing her power and authority as mayor of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Deputy Mayor(ess) of Montréal by having me arrested and charged with criminal harassment, in a deeply misguided and UNethical misuse of Canada’s criminal harassment law that was-is clearly intended to silence a vocal critic, that similar abusive misuses of Canada’s criminal harassment law could be used against professional journalists, and now it has actually happened. . . I can’t help but wonder if Yvonne Dubé got the idea to have Radio Canada journalist Antoine Trépanier arrested for alleged criminal harassment as a direct result of reading comparatively uncritical reports about me arrest for alleged criminal harassment of Sue Montgomery in La Presse and the Journal de Montréal etc.
I am very confident that I will be acquitted of the highly questionable criminal harassment charge that a Montréal Crown Prosecutor saw fit to bring against me (assuming that this dubious, if not completely bogus, criminal harassment charge is not dropped before the September 10th trial date) when the Crown Prosecutor is unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Montreal’s Deputy Mayor Sue Montgomery actually has “reasonable grounds” to fear for her safety. I firmly believed that it will be a miscarriage of justice if I am found guilty by a Québec court judge and I will most certainly appeal a guilty verdict. I was somewhat surprised that the Crown Prosecutor decided to file the charge, in light of the rather flimsy evidence against me that the SPVM provided to the Crown, but I would actually like this charge to go to trial so that I can further expose not only Sue Montgomery’s complicity in Unitarian Universalist clergy abuse cover-up efforts, but also the SPVM incompetence that resulted in my arrest at Montréal city hall as I waited to ask Valérie Plante a question about how to go about filing a formal ethics complaint against her “less than honest” clergy abuse enabling, and indeed power abusing, Deputy Mayor Sue Montgomery. I hope to finally be able to ask Val Plante that question at an upcoming Montréal city council meeting, now that my lawyer was able to get my court imposed conditions clarified and modified in such a way that expressly allows me to attend city council meetings that are open to the public in Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Montréal proper.
“When asked directly by CJFE whether Edgar had ever given Montgomery a specific reason to fear for her safety, she stated that she had no such fears.”
This alone should be enough to introduce reasonable doubt that should ensure my acquittal, but there is other evidence that Sue Montgomery does not genuinely fear for her personal safety, even though she claimed to in her five page saga of a police report. Based on how Montreal Unitarian clergy abuse enabler Sue Montgomery has reacted to my peaceful public protests against her complicity in Unitarian Universalist clergy abuse cover-up efforts, and my few “contentious questions” posed to her during and following Montreal’s municipal elections, I have no reason to believe that she genuinely fears for her personal safety in terms of fearing that I might physically assault her. I have a long track record of non-violence. The only thing Sue Montgomery fears for is her reputation, and I believe that Sue has only further damaged her reputation as a self-described “human rights defender” by attempting to misuse Canada’s criminal harassment law in her misguided efforts to prevent me from asking more “tough questions” about her complicity in, and even personal involvement in. . . Unitarian Universalist clergy abuse cover-up, and related misuse of SPVM power, at city council meetings.
As CJFE knows, and as The Gazette’s court reporter Paul Cherry effectively confirms in his shamefully biased reporting on my arrest that CJFE links to, The Gazette’s “Justice Reporter” Sue Montgomery somehow persuaded her employer to have Montreal media lawyer Mark Bantey have me served with a cease and desist demand letter (falsely) accusing me of making “libellous statements” about Sue’s complicity in Unitarian Universalist clergy abuse cover-up efforts on December 4th of 2014. Funny how Paul Cherry neglected aka FAILed to mention that Sue Montgomery’s, and indeed The Gazette’s. . . dubious libel accusations against me have “not been proven in court” as newspapers normally do when libel accusations are not substantiated in a court of law. . . The Gazette’s and Sue Montgomery’s BS libel accusation against me will never be proven in court because they are demonstrably false, and I believe Mark Bantey knew this even before writing his worthless cease and desist demand letter that was never acted upon after I demolished his claims in my initial response to it.
I look forward to similarly discrediting the highly questionable “evidence” that is contained in Sue Montgomery’s five page police report which actually contains certain statements that may be used to introduce proverbial “reasonable doubt”. Doh!
Although I am not a professional journalist, I can be reasonably described as a “citizen journalist” or, as this CJFE statement puts it, an “activist blogger”. I remind CJFE and all professional journalists that the outcome of my trial, assuming it goes ahead, has serious implications for the ability of professional journalists to do their jobs, and call upon Canadian journalists who value freedom of expression to speak out against this disturbing misuse of Canada’s criminal harassment law as Sue Montgomery’s way of discouraging and-or silencing speech, advocacy, and indeed public interest citizen journalism.
Comments