Massive Quebec CO fail

Papaclaude

Papaclaude

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To anyone here considering going to Quebec, please read the following.

Five years ago (yes, 5), I went to visit a friend in Quebec. It was on the eve of deer hunting opening. We decided to go to town to get some supplies - beer, rye and maple syrup. On the way there, my friend stopped at 2 fields that he thought might be coming up for sale. We pulled into the edge of the field, never got out of the truck. He explained to me where the properties started and ended, how much was hardwood, etc. One had belonged to his father, the other still belonged to his brother. I was thinking of possibly buying something in that area.

Anyhow, as we backed out of the second field (and we had only pulled into the driveway the length of a vehicle), the flashing lights come on. We are kept there for an hour. the truck is searched inside and out. We did not have a gun, a flashlight, a camera, pocket knife, or anything that remotely resembles hunting equipment. I was in slippers, due to a skin condition that makes it very painful to wear shoes or socks. Anyhow, 5 years later, he has to go to court to defend against a charge of jacklighting. Un-phoquing-believable. And no, there is nothing more to this story. We were not hunting, we were not jacklighting. The officers were real recti throughout. I can assure you that I will not spend another penny in that God-forsaken totalitarian plague on our country.
 
Papaclaude said:
To anyone here considering going to Quebec, please read the following.

Five years ago (yes, 5), I went to visit a friend in Quebec. It was on the eve of deer hunting opening. We decided to go to town to get some supplies - beer, rye and maple syrup. On the way there, my friend stopped at 2 fields that he thought might be coming up for sale. We pulled into the edge of the field, never got out of the truck. He explained to me where the properties started and ended, how much was hardwood, etc. One had belonged to his father, the other still belonged to his brother. I was thinking of possibly buying something in that area.

Anyhow, as we backed out of the second field (and we had only pulled into the driveway the length of a vehicle), the flashing lights come on. We are kept there for an hour. the truck is searched inside and out. We did not have a gun, a flashlight, a camera, pocket knife, or anything that remotely resembles hunting equipment. I was in slippers, due to a skin condition that makes it very painful to wear shoes or socks. Anyhow, 5 years later, he has to go to court to defend against a charge of jacklighting. Un-phoquing-believable. And no, there is nothing more to this story. We were not hunting, we were not jacklighting. The officers were real recti throughout. I can assure you that I will not spend another penny in that God-forsaken totalitarian plague on our country.
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Say no next time.
 
lucky72 said:
Papaclaude sorry to tell you, but i saw ignorant game warden in Ontario also.
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I have never seen any as bad as these 2 guys were. And also, given that the department would proceed with charges, and wait 5 years before going to court also says a lot about the system there.
 
Rick911 said:
Say no next time.
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Say no to what? You can be sure that when the time comes to buy a piece of property, it won't be in Quebec. Nor will I spend any of my hunting and fishing budget there. As long as they have their own LGR, I won't even buy any more guns from such good dealers as TradeEx, unless they set up offices outside Quebec. As far as visiting friends and relatives, I don't have a heck of a lot of choice, unless I want to distance myself from them.

This thing is just so wrong on so many points - how can any trial 5 years later be called a fair trial? I will be a witness to the defense, but I don't remember half the details of that night. How can they charge someone with hunting when we had no hunting paraphernalia, never even rolled down the window, never drove into the field, never got out of the truck.
 
Papaclaude said:
Say no to what? You can be sure that when the time comes to buy a piece of property, it won't be in Quebec. Nor will I spend any of my hunting and fishing budget there. As long as they have their own LGR, I won't even buy any more guns from such good dealers as TradeEx, unless they set up offices outside Quebec. As far as visiting friends and relatives, I don't have a heck of a lot of choice, unless I want to distance myself from them.

This thing is just so wrong on so many points - how can any trial 5 years later be called a fair trial? I will be a witness to the defense, but I don't remember half the details of that night. How can they charge someone with hunting when we had no hunting paraphernalia, never even rolled down the window, never drove into the field, never got out of the truck.
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Say no to the truck search. I bolded it in your OP.
 
Rick911 said:
Say no to the truck search. I bolded it in your OP.
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Sorry, I missed that. I guess we were naive like many people are. We weren't doing anything wrong, and we knew that they would not find anything incriminating. We had nothing to hide, so we figured they would search and let us be on our merry way.
 
no warrant no search..finito! oh,and you also tell him to mark that in his computer notes that you refused to be searched. (my cop buddy told me that one)
 
I have been from one end of this country to the other many times and I have lived in Québec (presently), Ontario and Nova Scotia. I can assure you that in my personal experience I have found the number of idiots (or whatever you want to call them) roughly proportional to the population of all the provinces.
 
Jesuswon said:
no warrant no search..finito!
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You are right, but in this case, I don't think the search had anything to do with the charges. It should, to anyone with half a brain, have indicated that we were not up to anything nefarious. I just have to wonder at the intelligence and integrity of these 2 guys. Sometimes, I wonder if it wasn't a shakedown. I mean, why else pursue things as aggressively as this? I'm just really thankful that we didn't use my vehicle that night. I have a sneaky feeling that if they had seen a vehicle with ON plates, it would still be impounded.
 
Papaclaude i would not be surprise that they send your friend a ticket and he never pay or attemp to contact them, so now it was send to court, don't forget that the court system in Quebec is very slow.
 
lucky72 said:
Papaclaude i would not be surprise that they send your friend a ticket and he never pay or attemp to contact them, so now it was send to court, don't forget that the court system in Quebec is very slow.
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They sent him something about a year ago. Not sure if it was a ticket or what, but he told them he would plead not guilty. But it has been almost 5 years (Nov. 2008).
 
Fall Guy said:
Not clear in your story, just when was your friend charged? And if it was 5 years ago, why the delay?

And saying 'No' to CO's, good luck with that.
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Not sure as to when he was actually "charged". They took down all the info, and said it would go to Quebec City (I think) and they would decide whether or not to proceed. I'm pretty sure nothing was issued that night. But again, it's been 5 years, so I could be out to lunch. That is what has me a bit worried about testifying. How can I swear to tell the truth when I'm not even sure I remember the truth?????
 
My wife and her girlfriend love to see deer in the wild and take pictures of them. They even drive on the back roads at night and use the car headlights to spot the deer in the field. She also loves me and when she sees a beautiful buck in a field she calls me on the cellphone to tell me about it. Since I am an avid hunter, I drive over to the specified field in order to check that buck. If it is a good looking specimen than my friend ‘Rambo’ and I take a quick shot, dump the deer in the back of the pick-up and away we go. My wife and her friend are really good spotters for our deer trade.
In the law a spotter is just as guilty as the poacher.

In your case it is presumption of poaching since you were using your headlights to spot the field the same as my wife and her girlfriend do for me.
 
Can I ask why you didn't just them them to =ucko==? This was the drivers family PRIVATE land correct - or has Marios made headlights illegal in rural areas?
 
Statute of limitations on provincial offences is 6 months. If it has taken him 5 years to go to court then either...

A) it has been adjourned repeatedly by crown and/or defence of which there are limited appeals as set by case law

B) your buddy never dealt with it and it went to warrant which he recently got picked up on which would have resulted in him getting a new court date (no jail generally on provincial fail to appear / first instance warrants)

Given the statute of limitations, he would by law have to have been charged 4.5 to 5 years ago. No sooner.

Missing some details...
 
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