HUGE GROW-OP ABOUT MEDICINE, NOT MONEY: ACCUSED

REGINA (SNN) -- Clutching a sacred bundle in his arms, one of the
accused at the centre of a history-making grow-op told a jury that he
is a traditional tribal chief of Turtle Island and was directed by
the Creator to grow the plants for medicine.

"When the Creator tells me to do something, I cannot refuse,"
Lawrence Hubert Agecoutay testified in his own defence.

The Regina man, who turned 52 on Christmas Day, told the court he is
Kitchi O-Stew Ka-Nee-Ka-Na-Go-Shick Ogimow-Wacon Ka-Nee-Ka-Neet, "and
also known as Lawrence Agecoutay." He explained that his name, in the
Soto language, means grand, biggest, head, spiritual chief, the
leader -- "the one who always walks first."

On Tuesday, he led off the defence at the drug trial for himself and
five other men. Agecoutay, his brothers Robert Stanley Agecoutay, 48,
and Joseph Clayton Agecoutay, 47, as well as Chester Fernand Girard,
59, Nelson Edward Northwood, 58, and Jack Allan Northwood, 55, are
charged with illegally producing marijuana and possessing the drug
for the purpose of trafficking.

All but Nelson Northwood had also faced a weapons charge, but the
judge directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict on that
Tuesday. Robert Agecoutay remains charged with possessing a
prohibited weapon -- a sawed-off shotgun -- and Girard alone is also
charged with forcible entry of a house.

During the first 10 days of the trial, Crown witnesses described a
massive marijuana grow operation, concentrated in six large
greenhouses and four smaller plots on the Pasqua First Nation by the
homes of Robert and Joseph Agecoutay. Had the 6,000 plants -- the
largest grow-op ever busted in Saskatchewan -- reached maturity, they
carried a value between $2 million to $7.5 million, depending how
they were packaged and sold, according to an RCMP expert.

But Lawrence Agecoutay said the site was not about making money, but
making people better.

His lawyer Rod Simaluk waived his opening address, and instead
immediately called on Agecoutay to testify. The accused said he
belongs to the Soto nation, but is also a band member of the Pasqua
First Nation, the reserve "put on top of us." He called himself the
seventh generation, international, traditional, inherent and
spiritual chief for the Anishnabe federation of sovereign nations,
which isn't bound by "the visitors' law."

He explained that his sacred bundle holds a pipe, one of four passed
down to him from his ancestors and making him the equivalent of a
high priest. He described the multicoloured bundle and its contents
as a "telephone to the Creator."

Becoming emotional, Agecoutay told how his grandparents died of
cancer and his parents of diabetes. During their illnesses, he prayed
to the Creator for medicine. At some point, he was in B.C., found a
plant, and brought it back to the elders, who called it "a first step."

"I asked the Creator to . . . send me the people that I need to get
this medicine to the people." Agecoutay believed those prayers were
answered when he met Girard through an Anishnabe website, on which
Agecoutay posted his views and copies of the laws he believed
supported his position.

Girard had the expertise to grow the plants. Agecoutay also met B.C.
resident Nelson Northwood through the website, which advertised
adoptions into the Anishnabe Nation for a price. Nelson Northwood
paid $10,500 for adoption, he said. Once they understood the
medicinal purpose of the operation, Nelson Northwood and Girard
provided money for it, Agecoutay testified.

Shown a document found inside his house, with figures that the Crown
suggests show a planned three-way split of a $3-million profit from
the sale of pot, Agecoutay said he received the paper from Nelson but
only glanced at it.

"This was not about money," he added.

Agecoutay's cross-examination was to continue today.