A gavel sits on the desk of the clerk during a House of Commons Committee on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022. A Provincial Court judge in Prince Rupert, B.C. has sentenced a 46-year-old man to a year in jail for contempt of court, finding the man tried to circumvent the justice system with "pseudo-legal" and frivolous arguments. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
PRINCE RUPERT – A provincial court judge in Prince Rupert, B.C., has sentenced a 46-year-old man to a year in jail for contempt of court, ruling he tried to circumvent the justice system with “pseudo-legal” and “stupid” arguments.
Judge David Paterson says in a ruling his issued this week that he sentenced Prince Rupert resident Cameron Hardy to a year in jail, in part to deter others from subjecting the court to the theory known as “organized pseudo-legal commercial arguments.”
Paterson’s ruling says Hardy, who was facing a charge of resisting arrest in 2021, considers himself a “freeman,” meaning he won’t accept that courts have jurisdiction over him and falsely believes Canadian law doesn’t apply to him.
The ruling says Hardy, who represented himself, was charged with contempt for refusing to recognize the court’s legitimacy or to follow the court’s orders and take part in the trial process.
The decision says Hardy deliberately tried to thwart the trial process, but Paterson says he didn’t order a psychiatric assessment because he found Hardy to be intelligent, but an “anti-government ideologist.”
Paterson’s ruling says Hardy’s legal arguments could be harmful to the justice system by turning routine matters into time-consuming exercises, and “his arguments were not merely legally false but often just plain stupid.”
“Hardy’s defence was vexatious and frivolous. He had no hope of success; thus, logically, his only purpose was to frustrate the court and waste government resources.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2023.
