Murder And The Queen
The Law Society of Upper Canada Tribunal Hearing Division has concluded that an attorney is incapacitated from practice
The Lawyer asked that he be referred to as Spirit Warrior during the course of the proceedings, a request that the panel and the participants at the hearing honoured. He also asked to conduct a brief (five minute) spiritual ceremony at the outset of the hearing. The panel permitted him to conduct his ceremony but did not require any others present to participate.
During the course of the hearing, the Lawyer made a motion arguing that the Law Society Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to hear this application and seeking to have counsel and the panel removed on the basis that Toronto is on unceded land. We held that this motion had been heard and ruled on both by the Chair and a previous panel of the Tribunal and those rulings would not be revisited. The Lawyer then made a motion that I remove myself as chair of this panel. We ruled that there were no grounds for granting his request, denied it and continued with the hearing.
The evidence
The Lawyer was called to the bar in 1985. He was administratively suspended from 1987 through to 2015 for non-payment of annual fees. From February 2015 to April 2017, he practised law as a sole practitioner, with a brief intervening period of administrative suspension for non-payment of insurance.
In March 2017, the Law Society brought a motion seeking an interlocutory suspension of the Lawyer’s licence. On April 12, 2017, an interim interlocutory suspension was ordered. On April 16, 2019, the interim interlocutory suspension was replaced by an interlocutory suspension. The Lawyer has been continuously suspended from practicing law since April 12, 2017.
Ms. Oliphant gave evidence about the steps she had taken to investigate a number of complaints received by the Law Society concerning the Lawyer. Specifically, she reviewed her affidavit which laid out the details of cases where, in advocating for his clients, the Lawyer had advanced unconventional, irrelevant and highly unusual theories such as one involving the Queen of England’s legitimacy as a monarch for reasons relating to “the illegitimacy of Edward IV, her conviction for murder via the Canadian eye witnesses in a common law court and her oath to the pope to obtain Vatican gold to back her illegal fiat currency banks.”
The Law Society subsequently brought a motion to have the Lawyer assessed by a psychiatrist, which was granted. Dr. Klassen, a forensic psychiatrist, met with the Lawyer, reviewed materials provided to him by the Law Society and by the Lawyer, conducted an assessment and provided his opinion to the Law Society. He gave evidence to the panel in support of his report.
Dr. Klassen testified that the most probable and likely diagnosis is that the Lawyer suffers from a delusional disorder, persecutory and grandiose subtypes.
Dr. Klassen described the Lawyer as a bright and compelling individual who is intelligent, has been quite driven and has a positive self-concept. Following an event in his 40s, perhaps linked to the illness of one of his children, the Lawyer experienced a change or evolution of thinking that has resulted in his current presentation. He displays idiosyncratic perspectives on a broad range of topics including the origins of humankind, cellular and human physiology, weight loss, energy, female sexuality and worldwide political and banking systems.
Dr. Klassen indicated that the Lawyer is not suffering from intellectual deficits or that he cannot learn. He did say, however, that he observed three areas or “buckets” of focus:
• somewhat grandiose thinking that manifests itself in the Lawyer making solemn pronouncements about a number of topics including the origins of humankind;
• conspiratorial ideas about interconnectedness of disparate world political and banking institutions; and
• a focus on Indigenous peoples and their causes.
For example, without training or research, the Lawyer has taken strong positions on scientific or quasi-scientific matters such as undigested food causing cancer. He has also advanced the theory that aliens from another galaxy travelled to our planet and set up laboratories to grow grain. Without rigorous scientific methods or peer review and the narrow filter through which these theories are being processed, the resulting confirmation bias on display in the self-published books outlining the Lawyer’s theories is, in Dr. Klassen’s view, severe.
The theme that emerged from his evidence is that the Lawyer experiences a strong sense of duty and has come to view himself as a rescuer and the hero of the various stories he is telling: the cancer story, the Indigenous story, the human origin story and the banking story. For example, he speaks of suing the Vatican for the amount of the world debt to alleviate the suffering of Indigenous peoples.
Dr. Klassen gave evidence that people experiencing delusional disorder rarely get treatment and the condition, if treated with low dose antipsychotic medication, can result in reduced emotion or drive to act, but with the ideas or cognitive framework in the background left intact. He explained that the condition waxes and wanes and, as a result, he is not optimistic about treatment and prognosis going forward and believes that the Lawyer will have continued challenges with conformity. Furthermore, his opinion is that the Lawyer completely lacks insight into his condition and is very committed to his path.
The Lawyer testified at length about his life experiences and world view. He introduced a number of documents into the record that he believed explained some of the sources of his ideas and research. He expressed the view that he is free to write what he likes in his books, which he maintains are well-researched. He describes himself as a “world leading expert on the knights templar” and claims he has lived “in perfect health and perfect weight for the last 20 years” as a result of his research.
The Lawyer gave evidence about some cases that he had argued where he had obtained positive results for his clients. He also called as a witness a former client whom he had represented in a child protection matter.
Disposition
Even if we accept that the Lawyer’s illness did not, or would not, manifest itself in all cases, the possibility that the Lawyer may be able to meet some of his obligations some of the time is not sufficient reason for us to conclude that the public interest would be protected by determining that he has the capacity to continue to practise law. This is bolstered by the Lawyer’s conduct during proceedings before this Tribunal, such as:
• his pronouncement that he is a Métis individual who is to be “free of the rules”;
• his insistence that the Tribunal lacks jurisdiction and that the laws of equity and something called the “Law of Ma’at” be applied in proceedings before it; and
• his motion seeking that a finding of violation of the “indigenous privacy laws of Kinakwii” be made in respect of investigation counsel for the Law Society and that a finding of “treason” be made against counsel representing the Law Society in these proceedings.
We find that the medical evidence establishes that the Lawyer does not have the capacity to meet his obligations as a licensee. The actions outlined above are clearly related to his illness. Accordingly, we find that the Lawyer was, and continues to be, incapacitated within the meaning of s. 37(1) of the Act.
(Mike Frisch)