A guilty verdict handed down in a Dauphin, Man. courtroom Dec. 11 could sway the balance in a similar case involving 12 prairie farmers charged with illegally exporting grain to the United States.
Clayton Desrochers, a 23-year-old Baldur, Man. farmer, was convicted on two charges: Failing to report his barley exports in writing and unlawfully removing a vehicle from Canada Customs.
The charges stem from a March 15, 1996 border protest near the port of Lyleton, Man.
Desrochers faces similar charges for his role in a border protest three days earlier. In that matter, he’s being jointly tried with 11 other protesters in Minnedosa, Man.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Desrochers’ Dauphin conviction establishes a precedent that could play a role in determining the outcome of the Minnedosa trial, said the lawyer prosecuting the upcoming case.
“The judge gave very good reasons about what an exporter of grain is required to do and what obligation they’re under under the law and that should be very helpful,” said Chris Mainella.
“The reasons set a precedent and they are very clear and strong direction that you have to stop at customs and report by providing a wheat board licence.”
The joint trial was adjourned last week when the farmers asked for time to put together a constitutional argument to bring before the courts.
It is scheduled to reconvene March 16 in Minnedosa.
None of the farmers has legal representation. Some are arguing their own case and others are being represented by Andy Mc-Mechan, Dan Creighton and Gerald Blerot as agents of the court.
The anti-wheat board lobby Canadian Farm Enterprise Network said in a news release that the constitutional application will suggest the wheat board’s buy-back system for grain is “unconstitutional and infringes on the property rights of prairie farmers.”
Acting as an agent for Desrochers in the Dauphin trial, Andy McMechan, who was jailed in the fall of 1996 for failing to turn over seized vehicles to officials following his own anti-wheat board protest, told court there is no law in the Canada Customs Act stating the requirement to participate in the Canadian Wheat Board’s buy-back program.
McMechan said the B-13 form is no longer required and the minister of national revenue has not designated any other form for the purpose of exporting wheat or barley, the release said.
“Farmers wonder whether there is justice for them or if their rights must be denied for ulterior motives of the central Canadian government in Ottawa,” it said.
Desrochers is expected to be sentenced Jan. 15 in Dauphin.
