Disclosure still redacted in anti-masker case
Mitchell Noel Albert, 25, of Kintore, tells court he won’t argue his rights were violated under Charter of Rights and Freedoms “because it’s a Communist document”
A Kintore man’s updated disclosure package from police was still heavily redacted, and a judge adjourned his trial and noted it would open with an application on that issue.
Mitchell Noel Albert, 25, of Kintore, near Perth-Andover, was scheduled to stand trial Aug. 1 on charges of obstruction of Fredericton police Cpl. Frederic Loiseau on Jan. 22, 2022, and a failure to attend provincial court April 22, 2022.
His trials on those counts were originally scheduled for June, but they were adjourned so he could seek additional disclosure.
He’d noted that 50 of the 70 pages of his copy of the Crown file, prepared by the Fredericton Police Force, were redacted, and he needed access to that information to prepare his defence and to learn who he should subpoena as witnesses.
At that time, a prosecutor, after reviewing what Albert had been provided, agreed many of the redactions weren’t merited.
The matter was set over to July 17 for an update on the disclosure issue, and last week, court heard the police force hadn’t provided the updated file as yet.
Albert sought again to have his trials adjourned at that time, but Judge Scott Brittain felt it was premature and gave the Crown and police another week to provide the unredacted material.
As such, Albert was back before the provincial court Tuesday, and he informed Judge Cameron Gunn he hadn’t received the updated package as yet. However, he noted the Crown’s office called him late last week to say it was available, but he hadn’t had a chance to retrieve it before his court appearance.
Gunn took a brief recess to allow the defendant to get the disclosure from the Crown’s office, but after he did so, court heard the matter was no further along.
“So I still have close to 50 pages of redactions,” Albert said, noting there were also a handful of blank pages in the new disclosure package.
He said the prosecutor who appeared on the case last month told him there should only have been about three pages of redactions.
Gunn said he was going to grant Albert’s request for another delay of the trials, but he said at this point, he wasn’t empowered under the law to compel the Crown to do anything more or to intervene.
That could only be done by a superior court judge, namely one in the Court of King’s Bench, or by the trial judge in provincial court once the matter proceeds.
Gunn set the trials over to Oct. 10, and he noted on the file that the case would open with the defence’s application for relief on the disclosure issue by arguing Albert’s rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms were violated.
“I’m not using the Charter because it’s a Communist document,” the defendant said, noting instead he plans to rely on the Canadian Bill of Rights from the 1960s, which predates the Charter.
The judge said he’d note on the court file that Albert objected to making Charter arguments, but he warned him he might not get the relief he’s seeking if he disregards the Charter, which guides courts on such issues.
“I encourage you to rethink that, but it’s up to you,” Gunn said.
The obstruction charge against Albert flowed from his participation in a protest against government-mandated COVID-19 restrictions held at Fredericton city hall Jan. 22, 2022.
He was supposed to appear in provincial court April 22, 2022, to answer to that charge, but he wasn’t allowed into the courtroom because he refused to wear a facemask. That conflict with Judge Kenneth Oliver that day led to the no-show allegation.
Albert, who’s been active in protests against pandemic precautions and is part of a sovereign citizen movement, also filed a small-claim action against Oliver in conjunction with fellow protester Sean Patrick Kenney.
That small claim was dismissed because judges are immune from lawsuits over their actions on the bench, and the pair appealed that dismissal to the Court of King’s Bench.
That court also dismissed their case, and Albert has since filed notice seeking leave to appeal it to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal.
That leave application has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
Lololololololol. They walk among us.
Am I the only one with a feeling of déjà-vu?