Pubdate: Wed, 06 Feb 2008
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2008 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)

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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom