ELABORATE GROW-OP DEFENCE ONE TO REMEMBER

The award for most extraordinary defence in a Saskatchewan criminal
case, if there was such a thing, goes to Lawrence Hubert Agecoutay,
one of six men on trial in Regina for allegedly running the province's
biggest marijuana grow-op.

Testifying in his own defence, Agecoutay said he was told by the
Creator to grow the 6,000 marijuana plants seized in a raid two years
ago by RCMP from multiple greenhouses on the Pasqua First Nation near
Fort Qu'Appelle. Police estimate the harvest would have been worth
more than $2 million wholesale had they not intervened. You have to
wonder who, exactly, benefits from this loss to the local economy. As
is usual with marijuana cases, there are no victims on the witness
list.

Agecoutay does not dispute that he set up the operation. He did so, he
says, on instructions received through a sacred medicine bundle that
he describes as a "telephone to the Creator." It was, he says, the
answer to his prayer for medicine for his people. As his ancestors
once did with the buffalo, he meant to use all parts of the marijuana
plant. The leaves were to be pulverized for use as medicine to treat
diabetes and cancer, while the fibre was to be processed into clothing
and fuel. Agecoutay says the plants were not marijuana anyway, but
hemp, distinguished by insignificant levels of the psychotropic agent.
Hemp is a legal crop, widely grown, but usually by farmers, in fields,
outdoors. Police say it tested as marijuana.

There is also a difference in value. Notes found at the scene,
purportedly written by one or more of the accused, appear to forecast
annual profits between $6 million and $9 million. Using these figures,
a placemat woven from that kind of hemp would sell for about $200 an
ounce.

Be that as it may, Agecoutay as much as argues he can grow whatever he
wants. He claims to be chief and spiritual leader of his own sovereign
nation. As such, he makes his own laws on his own territory. Among his
legislative initiatives, for example, is the sale over the Internet of
memberships in his First Nation for $10,500. The fee is justified by
Agecoutay's claim that members are exempt from Canadian taxes. Three
of his co-accused are tax deniers from out of province who met
Agecoutay through his website. The other two are Agecoutay's brothers,
all three residing on the reserve. Apparently there is some
jurisdictional overlap between the Pasqua First Nation and Agecoutay's
First Nation.

Another unusual feature in this case is the age of the accused.
They're in their 50s or late 40s. This is an age when most people
implicated in the drug trade are thinking about retiring. Indications
are that this was their first crop.

To recap, then, Agecoutay argues he was growing legal hemp, not
marijuana, and even if it was marijuana, it was for legal, medicinal
use, and even if it wasn't for legal use as medicine, he is not
subject to Canadian law, and even if he is subject to Canadian law,
he's not responsible because the Creator told him to do it.

"When the Creator tells me to do something, I cannot refuse," he
testified.

This remarkable claim is not entirely unsubstantiated. Two days before
the raid, another of the accused cancelled delivery of $15,000 worth
of greenhouse equipment and tried to get his money back. Federal tax
authorities swooped in and seized the money instead. We are left to
wonder, however, how a suspect could have known before the raid that
the equipment would no longer be required. It's almost as if the
Creator tipped him off.

I'm reminded of another criminal case against another First Nations
man. The accused in that case refused to be sworn in on the Bible. He
insisted instead on a taking a traditional, First Nations oath. This
was quite a few years ago when hardly anyone had heard of such a
thing. Even so, the court could not have been more accommodating. This
meant finding an elder qualified and equipped to perform a traditional
pipe ceremony and also an eagle feather for the accused to hold while
he testified. The eagle feather was especially problematic. Where do
you find an eagle feather?

In due course, all was arranged and the court reconvened. The ceremony
that ensued was as elaborate as it was solemn. There was praying,
smoking, more praying, passing of the feather and so on. All waited
patiently. When the accused was finally satisfied and composed and
ready to testify, he took the stand and lied his head off.

Of course, I'm not suggesting Agecoutay is lying. I just hate to think
the Creator would set him up to be busted.