The mother was repeatedly subjecting her daughter to medical examinations and procedures ‘to diagnose ailments that she did not have’
A woman with Métis roots whose 10-year-old daughter was placed in the permanent care of Alberta Child and Family Services (CFS) because she kept taking her to the doctor to diagnose ailments the little girl didn’t have has lost her bid to get the child back using pseudo-legal arguments.
The mom, identified only as MD in a recent decision out of Calgary’s Court of King’s Bench, wanted the judge to fine Alberta $100 million for each year she was separated from her daughter.
“MD applies for a writ of habeas corpus seeking the return of her daughter, CD, who was removed from her care by Children and Family Services in late 2020,” Justice Colin Feasby said in a written decision.
But the “appropriateness” of the daughter’s removal was confirmed in a 17-day trial last year, Feasby said.
The mom didn’t have any new evidence to support her case and relied on an order from the Alliance of Indigenous Nations Tribunal “that purports to direct the return of CD and impose a penalty of $100 million for each year that CD was wrongfully separated from MD,” said the judge.
“MD, with the aid of Spirit Warrior (aka Glenn Bogue), advances an array of pseudo-legal arguments that reject the authority of this court and the legitimacy of the Canadian state.”
The mom’s case “is without merit and a collateral attack on the trial decision of the Alberta Court of Justice,” the judge said in his Sept. 25 decision.
He dismissed her habeus corpus application, often used by people who feel that they are being wrongfully detained.
The mom “provided no evidence or argument that gives any basis for questioning the comprehensive findings” of the Calgary family court judge who placed her daughter in care, Feasby said.
MD, with the aid of Spirit Warrior, advances an array of pseudo-legal arguments that reject the authority of this court and the legitimacy of the Canadian state
In that decision, Justice Nick D’Souza “concluded that MD posed a serious and ongoing risk to CD’s wellbeing and that CD should not be returned to MD,” Feasby said. “His decision stands unless and until it is overturned on appeal. There is nothing before the court on this application that suggests that the apprehension of CD was improper or illegal.”
The mother was repeatedly subjecting her daughter to medical examinations and procedures “to diagnose ailments that she did not have,” according to the decision. “MD explained in oral arguments that CFS accused her of ‘Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy’ (now called Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another).”
D’Souza heard the mother “was heavily engaged in seeking out more and more invasive medical interventions. The results of these interventions was that CD did not have any of the illnesses or diseases that MD claimed she had. MD was not willing to accept any of these diagnoses.”
The judge called the order from the Alliance of Indigenous Nations Tribunal that the mom relied on “a fabrication designed to mislead the court and intimidate or defraud the Government of Alberta.”
The alliance “is not recognized by the Government of Canada or by any court in Canada as having the power and authority to issue legally binding orders,” Feasby said, noting it “appears to have been formed for the purpose of abusing court processes under the guise of asserting Indigenous rights.”
Spirit Warrior, who dubs himself the alliance’s attorney general, has used its orders in other Canadian proceedings without success, said the judge, noting that seeking to enforce such an order may constitute the crime of fabricating evidence.
Feasby directed his clerk to send a copy of his decision to Alberta’s attorney general “so that he may assess whether further action is appropriate or refer the matter to law enforcement authorities for investigation.”
The judge called Spirit Warrior “a pseudo-legal guru,” noting he is “intelligent, charismatic, and seems to believe the arguments that he advances.”
Those qualities “make him attractive to desperate litigants like MD,” Feasby said. “I am also mindful that Spirit Warrior’s pseudo-legal activities may be rooted in mental illness as the Law Society of Ontario tribunal found prior to suspending him. With that said, he cannot be allowed to continue to waste public resources and inflict his distorted understanding of the law on courts, the public, and unwitting litigants. Accordingly, Spirit Warrior is not permitted to act as MD’s Indigenous litigation representative in this proceeding.”
The mom’s conduct “in this case is also problematic,” said the judge.
“She repeated many of Spirit Warrior’s pseudo-legal arguments, made accusations that Calgary judges are corrupt (in her view the ones in Edmonton are not), and explained that the Alberta Government was out to get her. Amongst other things, she believes that government agents burned her house down.”
Her “conspiratorial thinking and adoption of pseudo-legal arguments is understandable given the trauma that she experienced in losing her child,” said the judge.
“As with Spirit Warrior, I do not question MD’s sincerity. But that does not mean that she has licence to waste public resources making frivolous applications and appeals. MD had her day in court – 17 days, in fact. And she has the right to pursue the appeal process all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. But she does not have the right to persistently command the resources of this court on a priority basis to make meritless and abusive applications and appeals.”
The little girl now lives with her mother’s half-brother and his wife. The court has heard “that she is happy where she is and does not wish to return to MD.”
Justice D’Souza “concluded that CD requires ongoing intervention and that it would be unsafe to return her to the care of MD,” Feasby said. “He found … that ‘CD would be immediately subjected to more medical interventions and procedures to validate MD’s concerns, if returned to MD.’”
The mom didn’t present any evidence that Child and Family Services or Justice D’Souza acted contrary to the little girl’s best interests, Feasby said.
“Without expressing any view on the merits of the pending appeal of Justice D’Souza’s decision, I observe that his emphasis on CD’s safety, well-being, needs, preferences, and stability are all consistent with the best interests of the child standard and best interests of Indigenous child standard,” Feasby said.
Spirit Warrior explained that the Alliance of Indigenous Nations “is an international organization comprised of non-UN member sovereign states and that its tribunal is analogous to other international tribunals such as the International Criminal Court,” said the judge.
“Spirit Warrior, however, refused to explain to the court who the members of the AIN Tribunal who signed the AIN Order were or how they came to be AIN Tribunal members. To his way of thinking, those questions are irrelevant because the court is obliged to enforce the AIN Order without inquiring as to the process by which it was obtained.”
Feasby said he was not “provided with any evidence whatsoever to establish that these entities are legally recognized bodies with any lawful authority. Further, I have not been provided with any evidence that they are associated with any recognized indigenous group or community. There is no evidence before me that they exist in any capacity. Further, I can find no evidence that they exist other than a website…. It appears to me that these entities are similar to other similar entities which have been relied on to challenge the jurisdiction of various courts in the country using pseudo-legal type arguments. In any event, the Alliance of Indigenous Nations and/or the Alliance of Indigenous Nations Tribunal, if they even exist, have no jurisdiction or authority over this court and any orders purported to be issued by these entities will not be recognized in this proceeding.”
The mother in this case has “commenced many applications and appeals that have been dismissed or abandoned,” Feasby said.
“The number of MD’s applications and appeals, together with MD’s conduct in the present case, suggest that she is abusing her right to access Alberta courts.”
He requested a different judge be tapped “to determine whether MD should be subject to a vexatious litigant order.”
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