For the first time in Canada, a self-proclaimed “Freeman on the Land” has been charged after a “paper terrorism” incident.
Edmonton police announced Wednesday they have charged 45-year-old Allen Boisjoli of Vegreville with intimidation of a justice system participant.
In May 2015, police said Boisjoli was stopped by a community peace officer in Beaver County and given a speeding ticket.
WATCH: Police accuse man of ‘paper terrorism’. Reid Fiest reports.
On May 25, 2015, Boisjoli is alleged to have started a “paper terrorism” campaign against the peace officer and the justice system, by attempting to lay a lien against the officer’s personal property worth $225,000.
EPS Det. Rae Gerrard said the “harassment” of the officer lasted for three months.
“Mr. Boisjoli has been involved in this kind of behaviour for several years so it’s not unusual for him to engage in this kind of paper terrorism,” Gerrard said.
The following video was posted to YouTube by Allen-Nelson of the Boisjoli family.
Gerrard described paper terrorism as a situation where a person floods the court system with false documents in an attempt to have the charge against them dropped.
“They use a plethora of documents, which really mean absolutely nothing – they’re just cutting and pasting from all over the internet from laws all over the world – they put them together into hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents and flood the courts with this just in an effort to overwhelm the courts and confuse people and really have people give up on prosecutions. Or, intimidate the people involved to drop the prosecution completely.”
The Freeman-on-the-Land movement rejects the authority of government institutions, and espouses the rights of “sovereign citizens.”
The investigation, which included several jurisdiction, wrapped up on Aug. 27, 2016 and Boisjoli was arrested and charged.
“He’s been investigated before for this same charge and he was actually charged with intimidation and I believe he served a 13-month sentence for that in 2013,” Gerrard said.
Edmonton police said this is the first time in Canada that law enforcement officials have laid a paper terrorism-related charge against a person claiming to be a Freeman on the Land.
“I think we’ve tolerated the Freeman and the sovereign citizens to a certain extent and now that level of tolerance has come to an end,” Gerrard said.
“We want to make it clear that if people are going to continue engaging in this kind of behaviour then we will robustly investigate and bring them to court.”
Gerrard said Boisjoli has yet to pay the speeding ticket.
Boisjoli’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 7, 2016. Gerrard said Boisjoli’s trial will likely start in March 2017.
Court records show Allen Nelson Boisjoli has past convictions for offences including intimidation or attempt to intimidate by threats and assault or intent to resist arrest. He was convicted of those offences in 2013 and given a 10-year firearms ban in addition to being sentenced to 10-and-a-half months in jail and three years of probation.
Boisjoli has also been previously convicted of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and possession of stolen property. He has also faced harassment charges in the past but those charges were later withdrawn.
Beaver County is located southeast of Edmonton.
With a file from The Canadian Press.
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