I just came from the court room and the verdcit should come out today. Here's what happened so far? Click read more -
All are invited, and highly encouraged, to help our friend and dedicated social justice activist and non-lawyer advocate for the poor, Vaughn Barnett, as he prepares to enter precarious territory on this January 17th. On that date, Vaughn will be in court ( DAY 5) to defend himself against the Law Society of New Brunswick. They will be attempting to have him charged with contempt of court for allegedly providing services that only lawyers are allowed to, a charge which could land him in jail. One of the documents the Law Society provided Vaughn with for this case was a previous case where someone was put in jail for 8 MONTHS! for contempt of court. Vaughn highly doubts that 8 months is likely at all, but a several weeks would not be an unlikely expectation.
The decision is likely to come out tomorrow afternoon. So far, things are looking somewhat bleak.
Vaughn is asking for as much moral support as possible, so please make it if you can, especially in the afternoon, but the morning would be great too if that's the only time that's possible.
*****This is a call to all supporters to show the as massive solidarity as we can muster in defense of a deeply dedicated, local social justice activist; all we need to do is attend his trial to show moral support and present to the judge and prosecuting lawyer(s) that Vaughn is not fighting his struggle alone, and will not be pushed around in silence. Anyone is allowed to attend the trial and be part of the audience; no special permission required. In Halifax recently, Halifax Coalition Against Poverty activist Cole Webber had 25 people come to support him in court for his political trial. Montreal activist Jaggi Singh recently had around 80 people show to support him in a case where he was facing charges for his participation in refugee solidarity activism*****
If Vaughn loses, he can end up in jail, or with fines or some other financial punishment for doing nothing more than trying to help poor people defend themselves. It should be noted that Vaughn lives on social assistance, so he can ill afford fines, thus would likely be forced to go to jail if fines are overly burdensome. Additionally, a loss for Vaughn would set a dangerous precedent that could make it very difficult for grassroots groups in Fredericton, and possibly throughout the province, to provide any sort of legalistic services in the future without challenges.
If you can make it, please arrive at the courthouse in downtown Fredericton (“Justice” building on the corner of Queen and Carlton ) at:
***9:00AM ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 11TH***
A group will be waiting at the entrance to the courthouse, and we shall go in together to show a collective solidarity with Vaughn. WE NEED AS LARGE AN ATTENDANCE AS POSSIBLE. Even attending for 30 minutes - 1 hour helps. Courtroom solidarity is effective if enough people show up to demonstrate a collective strength that will continue to show resilience. A large support group can send a strong message to the judge and prosecutor. Through such solidarity, an unavoidable impression is created that pushing around the one person on trial reequires trying to push around all the supporters as well
THE BACKGROUND:
The Law Society of NB, which grants status to all practicing lawyers in New Brunswick, has hounded Vaughn for several years, continually arriving in court to intercept him every time he has tried to assist someone by using his knowledge of the law. The interference has included attempting to have everything Vaughn submits before the court on someone else’s account thrown out. Most of the time, these cold acts of interference—leaving poor people defenseless—have been effective for the
Law Society. And all this takes place in the province with probably the worst availabilty of Legal Aid services compared with any other in the country, anccording to Vaughn.
Vaughn has made it clear that a strong motivation for the Law Society's continual interference with his work has been animosity towards his direct challenge of the legal profession in NB for their gross lack of services available to poor people and their excessively high legel fees. Another factor mobilizing their interference has been a strong bias against both Vaughn's socialist views and his support and use of various forms of civil disobediance.
Vaughn's work in Fredericton is valuable. Many poor people, over the years, have approached him (and his free services) in order to pursue their respective legal/political cases. He does not announce himself as a lawyer, but someone with legal training. He holds an LL.B. (law degree) from the University of Western Ontario (1994), which, along with his own personalized research over the years, provides him with knowledge that the average person does not have, such as how to write up any relevant legal documents and how to do effective legal research.
After receiving his law degree, he had the intention of pursuing a career as a lawyer; however, when he returned home to Fredericton , he could not find a lawyer to article (apprentice) with—a necessary step in becoming a lawyer. Vaughn's career was temporarily halted, but rather than waiting for an “ordinary” opportunity, he decided to fill in the gaping hole that he still occupies today: arming poor people with tools they do not possess, so they can better defend themselves, find out what other legal options are available or even help determine when is the time for engaging in protest actions (which he joins them in). On occasion, Vaughn has also been able to speak in the courtroom; these have been situations where any citizen could have stepped in. Essentially, he has made himself available to those who would otherwise be out in the cold pleading for pro bono services or left to defending themselves with no training in the complicated games of the courtroom.
Rather than being recognized for his services, Vaughn has been punished. A complaint by the Law Society several years ago resulted in a court order (issued by Justice Riordon) in November of 2000 that has since prohibited Vaughn from offering “lawyer-like services.” The order is classified as a “permanent injunction” against Vaughn providing any lawyer-like services. This has often prevented the Court from accepting legal paperwork Vaughn has prepared for those requesting his help. This has included notices of motion, notices of application, affidavits and other legal documents that ANY PERSON is technically allowed to do on her/his own if he/she possesses the know-how. My speculation is that the Law Society will be seeking to expand on the already ridiculously restrictive conditions on Vaughn, aiming to prevent him from engaging in ANY communication with the court on someone else’s or EVEN ON HIS OWN BEHALF.
Once again, the date of the trial is:
Thursday, January 11th, 9AM at the Courthouse in downttown Fredericton
Please support Vaughn in his struggle. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at asaf@citizenspress.org.
Sincerely and in solidarity
Asaf Rashid
(Along with Vaughn, one of the founding member of the Advocacy Collective, a justice-for-the poor, Fredericton-based collective that is currently in hibernation).
5 comments:
I hope that things work out for Mr Barnett as the poor need someone on the legal side of things to help them out. Legal Aid just does not cut it as legal aid is not as free as they way it is. I wish Mr Barnett all the best with this case.
I wish you all best in your lawsuit. But I can see what the law society is doing, they are simply protecting the law profession (just like the Teachers association, the Nurces association, the Engineers association, etc..). They make sure that people who seek advice get the best possible advice from trained qualified professionals that keep up with their professional training.
But on the same note I am not able to take a side on this issue because I don't have all the facts as there must be a reason that he was not able to find a lawer to do his training in order to become a registered lawer
It is a simple FACT that Vaughn was doing what any person is allowed to do, whether they have training or not. It is basic freedom of speech that if somebody comes to you and asks you how to do something then you can provide them with information. If a hospital refuses to treat you (as legal aid does, just ask charles), then people MUST be allowed to seek other courses of redress. As charles has often said, how many poor people are in jail just because they don't have representation? How bad is poverty REALLY in the province.
For those trying to grant the benefit of the doubt to the province, keep in mind this is a province that prosecuted Charles for taking pictures without any evidence whatsoever, and a a committee, most of whom were lawyers, drew up a bill that said Charles would be charged with 'assault' if he steps foot on legislature grounds, even if nobody else is around.
These acts are the main reason that many people acquiesced to having a federal government-somebody to keep an eye on provincial malfeasance. Yet the feds do nothing about this. This is simply government supported organized crime.
Are you saying that anyone can give legal advice for free or that anyone can charge for it? Are you saying Mr. Barnett does all his "legal" work for free?
Yes, because he's on social assistance, and those who he helps have no money, that is the point. The big point is that he makes himself available, sort of like a 'company'. So the Law Society sent a 'cease and desist', then went to the court to order him to stop. When he refused, that became 'contempt of court'. Somebody can jump in there if there's an error or to fill in the blanks.
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