Testify before Parliament
Go to Jail!

July 16, 2006 permalink

Waterloo Children's Aid is trying to get Aneurin Ellis committed to jail again. Last year the judge allowed Mr Ellis to avoid jail by issuing an apology, which he did. The current motion is is similar to a motion filed last year, just the last three attachments are new. The new reasons to jail Mr Ellis are that he testified before the Provincial Parliament, and that he sent an email with a link to Canada Court Watch.

For a few days, we will leave a photocopy of the case documents on the website. It is too big to leave indefinitely.

Addendum:

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July 17, 2006

Dalton McGuinty, Premier
Legislative Building
Queen's Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A1
email: Dalton.McGuinty@premier.gov.on.ca

Sent by email and Canada Post

Subject: Jail for Aneurin Ellis

Honorable Premier:

An Ontario man is under threat of jail for two acts, one being his testimony before a committee of the Ontario Legislature, including a question from Andrea Horwath.

This kind of action is a double whammy against democratic government, preventing aggrieved citizens from informing their representatives of their difficulties, and preventing conscientious public servants from learning of the problems of their constituents.

The man is Aneurin Ellis, and the agency seeking to have him jailed is the Children's Aid Society of the Region of Waterloo (CAS). While nominally private, it is in any practical sense an agency of the crown, since virtually all of its funding comes from appropriations, and legislation gives it powers resembling, or even superior to, the police. Mr Ellis was under court order not to criticize the CAS, and the motion is for violating that order. Jail is likely because his long battle with CAS leaves him unable to afford a lawyer.

If you concur that no one should be jailed for testifying before the provincial legislature, I suggest that you instruct your social service agencies to refrain from seeking to jail people on that account.

The court case number is C-1290-03 in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Kitchener, captioned Peter Ringrose and Duane Boles vs Aneurin Ellis, and the motion is scheduled to be heard on July 20, 2006. Mr Ringrose is the Executive Director of Waterloo Children's Aid. The testimony of Mr Ellis appears in the Hansard for December 6, 2005.

Yours truly, Robert T McQuaid 558 McMartin Road Mattawa Ontario P0H 1V0

phone:

705-744-6274

email:

rtmq@stn.net

copy:

Andrea Horwath MPP for Hamilton East Room 159 Main Legislative Building Toronto Ontario M7A 1A5 ahorwath-qp@ndp.on.ca

Addendum: At the hearing on July 20, Aneurin Ellis was granted a delay to prepare his case. The matter will be heard on August 31, 2006.