Glen E. McGregor Profile picture
Feb 22, 2022 46 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Okay, I'm back in after multiple attempts. Crown Moiz Karimjee is continuing his cross of proposed surety Kerry Komix, asking about Facebook post in which she is listed as creator of a crypto donation platform "Tokens for Truckers."
Komix maintains she doesn't understand crypto. Karimjee says she was a partner in the fundraising, in order to avoid the government's reach on the money.
Komix says the fundraiser was to help truckers who lost work and needed money. (This was a Feb. 13 FB post advertising the crypto fundraiser.) "It was for a good thing. That's all I know," she says.
Karimjee asks about her annual income. She says she's not working but has money from other sources. She doesn't want to say. Karimjee asks the JoP to force her to answer. JoP Seymour says it is relevant because she wants to be surety and has to pay for ankle bracelet.
Komix says she is living off of an inheritance of $100,000 over several years, but doesn't receive social assistance.
"I have significant funds.... I have more coming," she says, but isn't comfortable discussing it. Says she has enough to cover expenses, plus equity in her house, which she owns outright. Expects to receive $50,000 this year.
The proposed ankle bracelet is $300 up front and $200 per month after, she says.
Karimjee asks if she is comfortable pledging full equity in her home, $105,000, as surety. "If need be," she says. Defence lawyer Cal Rosemond objects, says this "is getting really stale... she's pledging a humongous amount of money."
Cross-examination is over. Redirect from defence counsel and gets her to reaffirm that she would follow court instructions if she is made surety.
[Ten minute break before submissions.]
Crown Moiz Karimjee begins submissions, says there is a substantial chance of King re-offending, must be weighed against presumption of innocence.
Karimjee says average noise level in downtown was 80 dB, similar to an alarm clock. And that King intended to use the noise to get the federal government to negotiate. And he was mocking, laughing about it, and uses the words "art of war."
"Noise was a form a torture that was implemented on the citizens of Ottawa... with a sadistic laugh," Karimjee says. "This person does not care about the pain that it imposed on others. This person is not controllable by any court order."
"He's saying, lie to the police to achieve your objectives, use a fake hotel confirmation to get to the downtown core," Karimjee says.
"How can this court have any confidence that he's not going to do the same to you, Your Honour," he says.
"This was a clear, clear commission of a criminal offence," Karimjee says of the occupation. Going through case law here, says strength of the Crown's case is relevant to the bail consideration.
The Crown's main point: King encouraged protesters to lie to police and showed no regard for the suffering the noise of the protest caused, so he can't be trusted to adhere to bail conditions.
Karimjee says the surety, Kerry Komix, wasn't forthcoming about her involvement with the crypto fundraising. "She is part of the club that the ends justifies the means."
Karimjee reminds the court of the "this will end with bullets" video and mocks the surety, who said she hadn't seen it and thinks he's a loving person.
Karimjee repeats line he used in Lich bail hearing, that King's release would not be seen as the proper administration of justice.
Karimjee argues that pre-trial detention is warranted for serious crimes, not just violent crime, says there is overwhelming evidence of the seriousness of the occupation of Ottawa.
[My sense is we won't get a decision on King bail today, given amount of evidence presented. Justice of the Peace Andrew Seymour is good with deadlines, but I expect he'll want to take time to consider.]
Karimjee says King was a leader of the occupation, that he was paying $4,000 a day to truckers.
JoP Seymour asking about gravity of offences and potential sentencing. Each of the four counts carries a maximum of penalty of 2 years in jail. Karimjee suggests Crown would want consecutive sentences upon conviction.
Defence lawyer Cal Rosemond up on submissions, says court should militate towards release of King, even without a surety, but with one, overwhelmed the Crown's concerns.
Indeed, she says a detention would call justice into disrepute, given length of time before trial would be as long as two years, and possibly exceed the sentence if he were convicted.
* he says.
Rosemond says if King showed up in court tomorrow and pleaded guilty to every charge, he would spend less time in custody than if he was denied bail and was detained until trial. Also doubts Crown's consecutive sentence claim.
He'd spend more time in jail as an innocent man than as a guilty man, Rosemond argues, and that offends the administration of justice.
And he highlights the extents to which the proposed surety, Kerry Komix, said she would go to ensure bail conditions are observed.
She is "somebody who is quite frankly creating a jail cell in the community," he says of Komix's plan to bring King to her home in Alberta, which he notes is far from Ottawa.
"He's stuck on house arrest with Ms. Komix" in rural Alberta, and no chance of any noise disruption, Rosemond argues.
And he adds there is nothing "pernicious" about her beliefs about ending lockdowns, noting that the interim leader of the CPC and Joel Lightbound both feel the same way.
The bail plan would prevent King from communicating with others to arrange more protests, Rosemond says, and the surety would be looking over his shoulder.
That Komix is a light sleeper and has a dog who barks should scare King into not breaching conditions. "He's in place... that's better than a jail," Rosemond says.
Rosemond says that King might be able to get a cellphone in jail, as some accused do, and couldn't do whatever the Crown worries he might on Facebook. But chez Komix, no chance of that.
Rosemond says Komix held not unreasonable concerns about Ottawa Police conduct, refers to video of cop knocking phone out of someone's hand.
He describes Komix as thoughtful, notes that she agreed to raising the amount of the surety to $105,000 -- the value of her house -- but had to consider it first.
He accuses Karimjee of cherry-picking Pat King's past videos and media, including one in which he tells people to stop blowing the horns (the video in which laughs about the noise).
[Say what you like about each side's case, this is very good lawyering from the Crown and defence, as it should be when someone's liberty is at risk.]
Rosemond calls the racism King expressed disgusting, but that shouldn't be considered and irrelevant but reminds the court that Komix testified he has bi-racial step children.
If this were a case about King committing a crime against someone over their race, his racims would be a consideration, Rosemond says. He also floats the idea that King has some Indigenous heritage but admits there is no evidence of this before the court.
Rosemond says there is no evidence in King's adult criminal record of breaching conditions. "He'll follow every single one of Your Worship's conditions."
On King's laughing on video at sleepless Ottawans, Rosemond describes this as schadenfreude, but says that's not a crime and shouldn't be considered, either, even if it is mean-spirited.
"He's spent four long, cold, hard days in jail," with someone who might have COVID, Rosemond says, and that's probably longer than he would if he plead guilty.
[To be clear, he meant there is a risk of getting COVID in jail, not that there is/was a specific exposure.]

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More from @glen_mcgregor

Jan 23
To hit Trump's new proposed target for military spending by NATO members of 5 per cent of GDP, Canada would need to spend $164 billion annually on defence, every year -- about 37% of the total fed govt. budget. (Source: my front-of-napkin math and PBO's GDP projections.)
(Per the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Canada's military spending will hit 1.58 per cent of GDP by 2029-30. )pbo-dpb.ca/en/publication…
(That PBO analysis projects Canadian GDP will hit $3.66 trillion by 2029-30, while govt. projections use lower $3.29 billion, making it slightly easier to hit 2 per cent NATO goal.)
Read 4 tweets
Apr 12, 2023
Freedom Convoy leader Tamara Lich is in court right now. Her lawyer Diane Magas notes she has filed a notice of abandonment of her abuse of process motion against Crown Moiz Karimjee.
There are several other procedural issues before the court, including a motion to sever charges against her from those against co-accused Chris Barber.
Lich, still subject to bail conditions, is participating via Zoom. She appears to be in a home office, sitting at a desk in front of a large map on the wall.
Read 5 tweets
Mar 11, 2023
Body cam video of complainant against Supreme Court judge Russell Brown. Brown calls his claims “demonstrably false.” But amazing how much more transparent the US justice system is, compared to Canada’s. The police sent us this video within hours of our request.
For better/worse, this is a cultural difference every Canadian journalist knows: Americans will speak to you at length, their media people help journalists not hinder them, and the public’s right to know trumps personal privacy, which in Canada often impedes oversight.
A compelling example can be found in federal courts. The US PACER system allows anyone to see federal court filings at a marginal cost. In Canada, there is zero online access to federal court docs and almost all provincial court docs (although BC is *slightly* better).
Read 9 tweets
Mar 10, 2023
Sophie Inc.: The prime minister’s wife, Sophie Grégoire, last year incorporated a communications company called Under Your Light Communications. 1/
It appears she set this up for the book she is writing on mental health and the revenues it reported, per her husband’s ethics declaration, are an advance on royalties. 2/ narcity.com/sophie-gregoir…
Grégoire has previously worked as a TV reporter and host. There is no prohibition on MPs’ spouses working, but the income must be reported to the federal ethics commissioner. PMO says she consulted with him about this and will continue to consult to ensure rules are followed. 3/
Read 5 tweets
Mar 9, 2023
Now that he's moved into Stornoway, CPC leader Pierre Poilievre lists his home in South Ottawa as a "rental property."
And probably not the best time to sell: ottawa.ctvnews.ca/average-ottawa…
Read 4 tweets
Feb 18, 2023
Apparently, this needs to be said: POEC Commissioner Paul Rouleau is *not* the brother-in-law of Pierre Trudeau's late older sister, Suzette. She was married to a Pierre Rouleau, a Montreal dentist. /1
Also, Paul S. Rouleau is *not* the son of a Paul C. Rouleau, a late Federal Court judge. POEC Paul's father was an Ottawa doctor who died when he, Paul, was 19. /2
POEC's Paul Rouleau did work briefly for then-Liberal prime minister John Turner. (Everyone who worked for him did so briefly, ahem.) Then he went on to a law career and was eventually elevated to the bench. /3
Read 10 tweets

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