Pubdate: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2001 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Author: Kim Guttormson 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth