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Revitalizing the
archives
From 1998 until
2002, injusticebusters was in the throes of an identity crisis.
What was it? What were we doing? We grappled with editorial policy
at the same time we were learning the nuts and bolts of building
and posting a website. Once we had a secure, paid site I had
full editorial control, although I talked regularly to Richard
Klassen who was forced to move his family several times and did
not always have access to the internet.
I began following
other threads to stories of police and prosecutorial misconduct
and the site took on another facet to its character: a newsclipping
scrapbook where stories could live longer than they would in
print form. I also began picking up other stories of wrongfully
convicted people. It was an explosion. By 2003 there were over
700 pages. I also had contact with several other people (Don
Smith, Leon Walchuk, Monique Turenne, the Vopnis) and kept these
stories going.
When Richard
Klassen began to make progress in bringing his civil claim to
court, the government and police defendants alleged he was breaking
the rules of court by publishing discovery material on the internet.
This claim
was absolutely false. However, rather than risk being thrown
out of his civil claim, Klassen undertook before Judge Mona Dovall
to sever all ties with the website.
Now that some
of the dust has settled, I have been going back through the material
we had posted in the early days. In the spirit of keeping the
scrapbook alive, I have been reformatting and placing links.
The original material remains intact. I hope the information,
which chronicles our struggle is useful to you.
The identity
crisis is over. We know who we are --Sheila Steele, March
28, 2005
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QB 271 Pre
civil trial
back. . .continued
Doval Fiat page 2
[25]
The defendants' are of
the view that it is clear and obvious that Richard Klassen has
blatantly defied the order of January 30, 2001, and thus his
action should be struck or at least stayed at this time.
[26] Richard's position, however,
is that his civil claim should not be struck or stayed by the
Court as it is his belief that he has not contravened in any
manner the order of this Court of January 30, 2001.
[27] Although Richard Klassen's
consistent reason for disseminating whatever documentation he
has in the past to whomever he has was he believed that crimes
had been committed in the past by the defendants and the public
had the right to know about those crimes, that was not the reason
he gave the Court in chambers on February 14, 2002, for distributing
the information and documents he had to non-parties to this litigation.
[28] The reason he gave the
Court for providing to non-parties the information or documentation
he had was that he was not prohibited from doing so pursuant
to the terms of the order of January 30, 2001, as it was his
opinion that the only documentation or information he was restrained
from publishing in any fashion to non-parties pursuant to the
order of January 30, 2001, were the actual transcripts of the
examinations for discovery and any document listed in any
of the parties' statements as to documents in this action [emphasis
mine].
[29] He argued that there was
absolutely no evidence before the Court that he has provided
to any non-parties to this litigation any of the documents listed
in any of the parties' statement as to documents or transcripts
of the examinations for discovery. Thus there was no evidence
that he had contravened the order of January 30, 2001.
[30] Richard Klassen argued
that while certain information had been posted on the Internet
by someone other than himself, describing his experiences at
his examination for discovery, there was absolutely no evidence
before the Court that any information obtained by him during
the discovery process had been reproduced or published in any
fashion by him to anyone including the media. In support of his
position was filed the affidavit of Sheila Steele in which she
swore that she was the only one who had the ode to the injusticebusters
website and that Richard Klassen had never posted any writings
to the site using her code and that Richard Klassen did not have
one of his own. Sheila Steele acknowledged that it was her that
expressed her own opinion on the website from time to time.
[31] The Court is in total
disagreement with Richard Klassen's understanding and interpretation
of the scope of this Court's order of January 30, 2001. Not only
were the parties and their counsel enjoined and restrained from
publishing, in any fashion, the trnscripts of the examinations
for discovery in this action, any documents listed in any statement
as to documents of any party to the action or any excerpts of
such documents, the parties and their counsel were enjoined and
restrained from publishing in any fashion any information
from such examinations or such documents, except to the extent
that use is required for the proper conduct of this action. [Emphasis
mine}
[32] The Court is absolutely
amazed that counsel for the remaining plaintiffs, Robert J. Borden,
would be of the opinion that Richard Klassen's interpretation
of this Court's order of January 30, 2001, was correct.
[33] Having determined that
Richard Klassen's apparent understanding of the January 0, 2001,
order was erroneous and as a reult of that misunderstanding or
any other reason Richard Klassen had been providing information
and documentation concerning the civil action to non-parties
to the litigation in contravention of the January 30, 2001, what
is the appropriate remedy to be given by this Court? Should Richard
Klassen's action be struck or stayed?
[34] There is certainly a strong
argument that as Richard Klassen has already been given one break
by this Court in his action not being struck in January, 2001,
and that as he knew all along that he was contravening an order
of this Court in providing the information to non-parties, this
Court should have no hesitation in striking his action. The Court,
however, must be cautious especially in a situation where there
isuncertainty in the evidence presently before it as to what
information was actually provided by Richard Klassen and the
actual source of the information given by Richard Klassen.
[35] The difficulty the Court
has in determining this application is linking what has been
put on the Internet or spoken of by Richard Klassen with the
media or D.A. McKillop, Q.C. with any statement or document as
either listed in any parties' statement as to documents or any
specific document or information arising from the examinations
for discovery on the materials presently before the Court.
[36] As an example, the defendants'
argued that a handwritten note dated June 1991 attached to the
brief of Richard Klassen dated February 10, 2002, was obtained
from Sonia Hanson, Matthew Miazga and Richard Quinney's statement
as to documents dated May 31, 1995, labelled as document no.
119. The Court has a copy of the Sonia Hanson, Matthew Miazga
and Richard Quinney statement as to documents dated May 31, 1995,
however, the Court was not provided with a copy of the actual
document no. 119 entitled "A file folder labelled "Carol's
notes" together with its contents". There is thus no
evidence before the Court on this application that the handwritten
note attached to Richard Klassen's brief came from document no
119 as listed in the Sonia Hanson, Matthew Miazga and Richard
Quinney statement as to documents dated May 31, 1995, or that
it arose out of the discovery process.
[37] The Court's dilemma in
not making such a match stems in part from the insufficiency
in some respects of the defendants' present statement as to documents
prepared seven years ago and in particular the documents not
all having been properly numbered. Descriptions such as "a
file folder labelled x with its contents" or "a collection
of Saskatoon City Police occurrence reports" are not sufficient
especially in a case such as this and do not comply in all likelihood
with Rule 212(4) of the Saskatchewan Queen's Bench Rules.
This problem will be addressed further later in this fiat.
[38] Having considered all
the evidence before the Court at this time there is no doubt
that Richard Klassen has provided documentation and information
during the pre-trial state of this litigation to third parties
despite the order of this Court of January 30, 2001, and contrary
to the law. He says that he did so as he believed he had the
right to do so for two reasons. First, to show that a crime had
apparently been committed. Second, as the documents were not
listed in any parties' statement as to documents. At this stage
of the litigation without leave of the Court Richard Klassen
had no right whatsoever toprovide non-parties with any information
or documentation no matter what his excuse is. In doing so he
was acting in contravention of a specific order and the law.
Richard Klassen must learn that he, as a self-represented litigant,
must follow and comply with the laws and orders of this Court.
There is no room for vigilante justice within our judicial system.
Hopefully this is crystal clear to Richard Klassen at this time
and that he will change his ways. As stated by Baynton J. in
Halstead v. Anderson et al. (1993), 115 Sask. R. 257 (Q.B.)
at para 39:
| . . .Vigilante
justice is repugnant to the rule of law. It would be unfair,
inequitable, and an abuse of the court, to allow a party to unlawfully
pursue his claim in the streets and alleys while concurrently
pursuing it through the judicial system. |
[39] Having said all that,
this Court rightly or wrongly in providing him with every benefit
of the doubt is once again prepared to give Richard Klassen one
last chance and is not prepared to strike or stay his action
at this time.
[40] However, that is not to
say that the Court will be as lenient the next time. Assuming
that Richard Klassen has now got it straight once and for all
that:
NO DOCUMENTATION OR INFORMATION
WHATSOEVER OBTAINED BY HIN DURING THE DISCOVERY STAGE OF THE
LITIGATION, WITHOUT AN ORDER OF THIS COURT, CAN BE RELEASED TO
ANY NON-PARTIES BY HIM.
[41] Any future contraventions
of either the order of January 30, 2001, or this order of the
Court shall be immediately brought to the attention of myself
to be dealt with appropriately. The Court will have no hesitation
in striking or staying the action of Richard Klassen upon the
appropriate evidence being put before me that he has once again
flaunted an order of this Court. In that regard, there are matters
that have to be attended to by all of the parties to this litigation
immediately to ensure that this litigation proceeds in as orderly
a fashion as possible. The Court will outline those when addressing
the plaintiffs' moton for a better and more descriptive statement
as to documents which may go a long way in preventing Richard
Klassen from providing in the future information or at least
documentation arising out of the discovery process to non-parties.
back. . .continued
A year later: Feb.
19, 2003 | Popowich | Holgate
| Miazga | Mitchell
| Terry Hinz | The
$10M+ Lawsuit | Klassens await
day in court | The Gerald
Morris case traces some of the branches of corruption in
the Saskatchewan legal community | Background
to the case | Saskatchewan
Court of Appeals role in covering malice |
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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
Truth suppress'd, whether
by courts or crooks, will find an avenue to be told. Sheila Steele, injusticebusters.com
If you hold the mouth
of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage. Somali proverb
Truth crushed to earth
will rise again. --William Cullen Bryant
- Publisher : Sheila
Steele
- Co-founder: Richard Klassen
Got something
to say about this or any other stories on this site? Go to injusticebustersblog Participate!
- injusticebusters
court advice :
- How
to walk yourself through the justice system
-
- Why
you should dump your preliminary hearing (written
July 1998 and still valid)
Our activism
contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the
civil trial. (More Links provided below)
Index
to the stories on this website
This is not
regularly updated so if you are looking for a particular story
and you have a name or keyword, please use the site search engine(at
the bottom of the page) which IS regularly updated
Index to Saskatoon Police stories
This is a pretty good scrapbook
for the 1998-2002 period.
-
Pre
civil trial
-
- February
2002 hearings
- Dovall fiat 1 | 2 | 3 |
- Court
report
-
-
-
- The Klassen/Kvello
civil Trial
-
- StarPhoenix coverage
-
- September 8, 2003: Trial Begins
- September 09, 2003: Pamela Klassen Shetterly's
Testimony
- September 10, 2003: Anita Klassen
- September 11, 2003: Michelle Ross
- September 12, 2003: Sheila Verway
- September 16, 2003: Michael Ross
- September 18, 2003: Ellen Gunn
- September 19, 2003: Terry Hinz
- September 19, 2003:StarPhoenix editorial,
Terry Hinz
- September 20, 2003: Louis Dupuis
- September 27, 2003: Ron Schindell,
Jay Watson
- October 01, 2003: Case
- against the Klassens weak:
documents
- October 02, 2003: Judge asked to dismiss suit: No evidence of
malicious intent: lawyers
- October 2, 2003: Letter to the editor from former "Believe
the children" advocate
- October 03, 2003: Lawyer details evidence of malice
- October
04, 2003: Judge ponders
request to drop Klassen lawsuit
- October
27, 2003: Judge
Baynton's interim decision: Quinney dropped, the rest proceed
- October 27, 2003: Claim goes forward
- October 29, 2003: Brian Dueck
- October 30, 2003: Dueck
- October 31, 2003: Brian Dueck
- November 01, 2003: Matthew Miazga
- November 04, 2003: Matthew Miazga
- November 05, 2003: Matthew Miazga
- November 06, 2003: Sonja Hansen
injusticebusters' daily reports page 1
Final
judgment: Dec. 30, 2003
Post judgment publicity
- articles
and editorials from Jan 6-9
- Sabo's
apology
- Editorials: StarPhoenix, Leader Post and National
Post
- National
Post front page story, Jan. 10
- Sarah
Gibb's profile of Richard and Kari Klassen |
- Lives ruined by Jason Warick, Feb. 19
- April 15/04: Judge
Baynton warns defendants' lawyers not to delay damages trial
- Dueck
drops his appeal
- Full
transcript of Dueck's examinations for discovery which were part of the read-ins at
the civil trial
-
-
- Pre-sermonette Brash
Comment
-
- 1998
-
- Fall,
1998: Sask Sympatiko
strikes again
- 2001
-
- Muzzling
the media
-
-
- Sermonettes
2001
January: Legal Treachery to keep Dueck's lies safe
2002
March,
2002
-- Gay Bashing still a legal sport in Saskatoon -- Even when
it turns to murder
-
- 2003
-
- Feb. 1:
Where we stand
- Feb. 15, 2003:
Has Saskatchewan learned anything?
- March 1:
Connecting the dots
- March 23, 2003:
From Micro to Macro
- March 25, 2003:
About libel
and malice
- March 27: Gangs
of Saskatoon: the police and prison guards
- April 28, 2003: The
Naked Truth
- May 5: How
low will they go?
- May 15, 2003: Come
clean Calvert, Cline!
- May 30:
Still smearing Milgaard - defamation is alive and well on the
lawn of the Regina legislature and Precendent has been set as
we reclaim our institutions
- June
11, 2003: --Eric Cline
carries on a corrupt tradition
- Nov 7:
Courage -- the only reward is justice
- November 20:
Just following orders
- November 24:
Mayor Atchison, community policing and graffiti
- November
25: Michael Jackson
- November 30:
Corrupt officials must be severely punished: otherwise they just
keep on putting the administration of justice in disrepute!
- December 1: Christmas comes early for injustice warriors
- December 4: Wide open Saskatchewan?
- December 16: Crawling through the tunnel of justice
since 1991
- December 24: The Crown keeps right on breaking
the law
- December 30: Who will find justice under their tree?
-
- Links to more recent
sermonettes can be found on any of the above pages
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