Pubdate: Fri, 27 Apr 2012
Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Hamilton Spectator
Contact:  http://www.thespec.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/181
Author: Daniel Nolan

POT ADVOCATE WALTER TUCKER DIES AT 79

Hamiltonians might have laughed at the antics of Walter Tucker over 
the years as he pushed and argued that marijuana was a religious 
sacrament in the church he founded in the 1960s.

But don't dare think he was a fool.

Over the past three decades, he gained a reputation as a self-taught 
lawyer who defended himself and church members in the courts, mostly 
on drug charges. He was a well-known figure in the courts along with 
his cohort Michael Baldasaro, a former mayoral candidate.

Tucker had victories, and his share of defeats, including jail time. 
He wasn't hesitant, however, to stand up in court and question legal 
formalities. He once told a provincial court judge he had no 
jurisdiction to hear a charge under the federal Narcotic Control Act 
and asked to have his 1989 trial for obstructing a peace officer 
videotaped like the Patricia Starr inquiry in Toronto.

Sometimes judges lost their patience - one called him "cheeky" - but 
generally they treated him with respect. In 1982, he was successful 
in having an obstructing police conviction overturned and got the 
judge to rule a second trial was not appropriate in the face of a 
request by the Crown.

Tucker, a founder of the Hamilton-based Church of the Universe, died 
of heart failure around 5 p.m. Thursday at Hamilton General Hospital. 
He was 79.

His death was reported in a statement released by the church shortly 
after 7 p.m. Tucker called himself a reverend in the church and 
Baldasaro is known as a brother.

"Reverend Tucker would have been pleased that he just fell asleep, 
quietly with no pain," the church said. "He recently told us he would 
be happy to pass away, anytime, because he loved what he had 
accomplished in life and lived a peaceful and contented existence 
among loving friends and family. He will be greatly missed."

Church officials could not be reached for further comment.

Tucker's knowledge of the law likely came through his background. 
Born in the Mennonite farming town of Rosthern, Sask. - about 65 
kilometres north of Saskatoon - Walter Austin Tucker was one of nine 
children and the first son born to Walter Adam Tucker. His father 
worked as both a lawyer and a judge, but is probably best known for 
serving as MP for Rosthern for 11 years starting in the mid-1930s. 
Later, he led the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, serving as opposition 
leader. Tucker's siblings included three lawyers (one brother was a 
Crown attorney in Saskatoon).

Tucker even tried to follow his father's footsteps. He ran as an 
independent in Hamilton West in the 1988 federal election and as a 
Libertarian in Wellington County.

Tucker was always good copy for local media. He sought publicity for 
his cause - sometimes with outrageous stunts - and got coverage. He 
was on hand when Baldasaro announced his candidacy for the leadership 
of the federal Conservative party in 1998, and in 1988 he laid 
charges against Prime Minister Brian Mulroney for failing to protect 
the rights of his church.

Tucker arrived in Hamilton in the early 1960s after a stint as a 
mechanic in the Canadian army and serving time in the Stoney Mountain 
Penitentiary in Manitoba. He confessed to a judge in 1988 he had been 
"an unmanageable young man."

He married and raised a family on Proctor Boulevard and worked as an 
electrician. But society was in flux. He split from his wife and 
moved into an abandoned quarry in Puslinch, called Clearwater Abbey, 
and founded the Church of the Universe. He later led a court 
challenge to retain ownership from a quarry company and the Hamilton 
Conservation Authority, but was not successful.

The church did have its brushes with violence. In 1994, church member 
Daniel Morgan was murdered in Tucker's old apartment on Wentworth 
Street North, and a church member killed his roommate in Burlington 
in 1991. In 1975, a burnt body was found at Clearwater Abbey by 
Tucker and his son. He was believed to be the victim of bikers who 
frequented Clearwater at the time.

Tucker said in 1994 he might meet a violent end, but he also believed 
he could avoid what happened to "Brother Daniel."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom