Brenda Larson
Apr 10, 2013 10:47 AMThis is what my pre-trial memorandum says (I sent in affidavit to correct mistakes of who we and the kids were, sent affidavit to CPS lawyer to answer to standing, contract and force and effect,-defaulted., and then also Notices of mistake for all of us.)
# 93. Their essence is that the Respondent seeks to deny the jurisdiction of the Minister of CS under the CFSA and that of this Honourable Court under the same and under the Family Court Act.
#94. Rather than engage in the Court proceedings and address the issues of child welfare risk, the Respondent has chosen to embark on a path of improper, non-legal process.
#95. The documentation, language and entirely unsupported �legal� propositions put forward by the Respondent are not entirely foreign to Canadian courts.
#96. Associate Chief Judge J.D. Rooke, of the Alberta Court of Queen�s Bench has recently provided a detailed, considered and careful discussion of this emergent and troubling phenomenon presenting in our Courts, the �OPCA Litigant�.
#97. The acronym stands for Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument (OPCA), and it presents in variants across North America, with stylistic differences but essentially the same core objectives � to obfuscate, to delay, to exhaust, and to defeat the proper adjudication of causes of action pursuant to the governing legislation and court rules.
#98. ACJ Rooke�s exposition is set out in Meads v Meads 2012 ABQB 571, a full copy of which is provided herewith.
#99. The documents filed in this matter by the Respondent arguably bear the hallmarks of the OPCA litigant.
#100. The careful elucidation of the Honourable ACJ Rooke sheds light on these documents filed by the Respondent (and on the numerous and similar unfiled documents which she has served on the child protection social workers, the Minister and the Minister�s solicitors.
#103. It is submitted that the unusual and �pseudolegal� language adopted by the respondent in the multitude of documents which she has forwarded to the Applicant Agency and its agents and counsel is not capable of sensible interpretation.
#104.Nor is it reasonably feasible to glean from within that language and those documents any evidence countering the evidence of child welfare risk which has been placed before the court by the applicant Agency.
#105. It is respectfully submitted on behalf of the Applicant Minister that this honourable court strike in their entirety the Respondents documents filed April 2, 2013.
#106. This is the approach suggested by ACJ Rooke, in the Meads decision, supra.
#107. This is the approach taken by Goodfellow, J. in Jabez Financial Serices v. Sponagle 2008 NSSC 112, which case is referenced by ACJ Rooke in Meads.
#108. In Jabez, supra, where the defendant was engaging in �OPCA� tactics, Goodfellow, J. concluded as follows: [18] It is clear that the defendants, through their solicitor, consented to the deadline of April 1 for compliance with professional undertakings given January 8, 2008 which not only remain outstanding by very clearly, from the direct response of the defendans, they have decided that they have the right to refuse complying with orders. The defendants in taking the various postions indicated in the material that they filed, clearly and overwhelmingly show wilful and deliberate ignoring of the process plus a clear and unequivocal intent to ignore the authority of the court and its order. As a consequence, the only conclusion on can come to is tha the plaintiffs are entitled to an order striking the defence with costs set in the amount of five hundred dollars ($500) payable forthwith.
#109. The case before the court here concerns child protection and the welfare of children who have been removed from the care of their parents because of substantial risk. (NOTICE NOT BECAUSE OF ACTUAL ABUSE)
#110. It is submitted that if these Respondents refuse to engage meaningfully and properly in the court proceeding and in services to address that risk, they frustrate the ability of the Applicant Minister and his Honourable Court to revisit the finding and the children�s placement in care.
#111. The Minister seeks continuation of the Order for Temporary Care and Custody and that the Respondents participate in a Psychological/Parental Capacity Assessment.
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Last Updated: Apr 10, 2013 10:47 AM
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