MINISTER TO ARGUE POT IS A GIFT FROM GOD, MUST BE LEGAL

A minister from Edmonton will argue in a Winnipeg court that marijuana is a
gift from God so it can't be illegal.

Edward Jay Robin Belanger -- who spells his name with hyphens and dashes in
the style of the so-called Truth Language -- is a minister in the Church of
Ecumenical Redemption International, the Assembly of the Universe and the
Edmonton Grove of the Church of Reformed Druids.

While not a lawyer, he is representing a Winnipeg man and his 16-year-old
son who have both been charged with possession of marijuana and possession
for the purpose of trafficking. They were arrested in March when police
found 555 grams of marijuana in their home, along with a
cannabis-extraction operation with which they're alleged to have made weed oil.

While their Friday court date was simply to set pre-trial dates, Belanger
kept insisting provincial court Judge Lynn Stannard state whether she's
taken an active oath of allegiance.

"You must be made aware we cannot recognize the authority of the court
unless it will acknowledge whether it bears an active oath of allegiance to
the Queen," Belanger said. "I am hereby commanded as a servant of the Lord
to state before the court it has no allegiance, the court has no authority ..."

Stannard kept trying to draw Belanger back to the matter at hand, setting
dates, and threatened to call in sheriff's officers if he wasn't quiet. She
and the federal Crown attorney ultimately set dates without the man's
co-operation.

In an interview yesterday, Belanger said the King James Bible is the
supreme law.

"If something is man's law and does not agree with God's law, God's law
takes precedence," he said, adding that in Genesis, God gives man all
seed-bearing plants, which would include marijuana and therefore the plant
cannot be illegal. "If it's God's gift, who can take it away? If it's God
against man, which law will prevail? I'll fight all the way to the Supreme
Court if I have to."

Belanger and his clients are the latest in a procession of non-lawyers
facing off against Crown attorneys recently.

And it's a trend that has had Queen's Bench Associate Chief Justice Jeffrey
Oliphant question how the system deals with those who represent themselves.

In an interview with the Free Press in May, Oliphant said they create
additional stress on an already strained system. He suggested creating
pamphlets or educational videos, posting information about appropriate
court conduct and how a person can receive legal advice.