Canadian 鈥楩reeman鈥� Leader Arrested After Skipping Hearings
The in Canada has underscored the recent rise of the 鈥渟overeign citizens鈥� movement north of the border, as well as law-enforcement authorities鈥� concerns about that development.
Dean Clifford, a self-described 鈥渃ontractor from Winnipeg鈥� who tours Canada giving lectures to paying audiences on how to avoid paying taxes by declaring oneself a 鈥淔reeman on the Land,鈥� was arrested by Canadian authorities on Nov. 24 at a hotel in Hamilton, Ontario, shortly after giving one of his talks. He was charged with failing to show up for court hearings regarding his July 19 arrest for alleged traffic violations, and remains under arrest today.
Clifford is well known in the Canadian movement of sovereign citizens, which is composed of antigovernment activists who generally believe they do not have to follow most tax and criminal laws (many sovereigns, in both the United States and Canada, refer to themselves as 鈥渇reemen.鈥�) His videos, featuring Clifford holding forth on various means by which ordinary people can 鈥渄ivest鈥� themselves of government control and taxation, are popular among followers in both Canada and the United States, where has long been associated with right-wing extremists and antigovernment violence.
Clifford鈥檚 physical appearance has shifted strikingly over the five years or so during which he has risen to prominence as a movement leader. Initially, he was a short-haired, somewhat grizzled man in an ordinary T-shirt holding forth on matters of law. Then he grew his hair long, and for a while last summer he promoted an image as a kind of hippie sage dispensing antigovernment wisdom. More recently, he has taken on the appearance of Hugh Jackman鈥檚 fictional movie superhero, the Wolverine (minus the claws), with pronounced mutton-chop sideburns and spiky hair.
Clifford鈥檚 image makeovers reflect the chameleon-like nature of the sovereign citizens movement in Canada. Befitting its origins in the United States as an outgrowth of the far-right ideology of the Posse Comitatus movement of the 1970s and 鈥�80s, the U.S. movement has attracted a large number of white supremacists and other far-right figures. Notable among these was the Freemen movement in Montana, whose leader, LeRoy Schweitzer, was fond of promoting tactics identical to those now used by Canada鈥檚 Freemen to a variety of rural audiences before his eventual arrest in 1996.
But while many of those factions initially helped promote the Freemen and related sovereign citizen organizers in Canada, in recent years opposed to the federal government, including some environmentalists and First Nations people. In British Columbia, a sovereign citizens outfit calling itself the 鈥淪overeign Squamish Government鈥� claims to distribute its own license plates, much as a number of sovereign groups have done in the United States.
The tactics, however, remain the same: Declare yourself a 鈥淔reeman on the Land鈥� and thereby nullify government control of your life, including your obligation to pay taxes or obey law officers. If these authorities attempt to intervene, you can file a blizzard of pseudo-legal documents with local officials, including liens against them for millions of dollars, and then write checks based on those liens.
and B.C. Notaries have also issued bulletins to their members warning that these schemes have been gaining popularity. They estimate that there could be as many as 30,000 Freeman followers in Canada. (The Southern Poverty Law Center, which publishes this blog, estimates there could be as many as 10 times that number of adherents in the United States.)
A report by noted that adherents of the Freeman movement in Canada hail from both the far right and the far left, warning, 聽聽鈥淔reeman members now constitute a major policing problem in several provinces and have occasionally engaged in acts of violence against the police.鈥�
Solicitor General and Justice Minister Jonathon Denis in September that he鈥檚 running out of patience with the sovereign citizens. 鈥淚鈥檝e completely had it with these people using our court resources,鈥� Denis said. 鈥淲e anticipate we鈥檒l be sitting down with both of our department officials within the week and sit with the police and I鈥檓 consulting with my department to see what, if anything, we can do to improve this file.鈥�
Allan Wachowich, a retired Chief Justice of the Court of Queen鈥檚 Bench of Alberta who had been involved in dealing with similar extremists in the 1990s, told the same reporter that he had watched the movement migrate north to Canada from Montana, and that now those earlier seeds were taking root.
鈥淚t surprises me, there鈥檚 not one or two of them, but a group of them. In a free and democratic society, we have rules and you have to abide by them. All of a sudden, you get these types of individuals, with America鈥檚 influence because of what you see in Montana, and they鈥檝e reactivated in Canada.鈥�
Dean Clifford is closely associated with another Freeman 鈥済uru鈥� named Robert Menard, who also gives lectures strikingly similar to those given by Schweitzer and his fellow Montana Freemen in the 1990s. Menard has been outspoken in Clifford鈥檚 defense since he was arrested.
Clifford鈥檚 cause has also been adopted by American sovereign citizen activists and their allies. The Daily Paul, a 鈥渃onstitutionalist鈥� website (not affiliated with the libertarian politicians Ron or Rand Paul), ran a news story for its readers describing Clifford鈥檚 arrest as a 鈥渒idnapping.鈥�
Several seminar-goers witnessed Clifford鈥檚 arrest, and some recorded it. On , some of them can be heard verbally accosting the arresting officers in typical sovereign citizen fashion: accusing the police of 鈥渁bducting鈥� Clifford, demanding they 鈥渟how proof of warrant,鈥� and asking for the officers鈥� badge numbers.
Now Clifford鈥檚 supporters at his website are claiming that the arrest was invalid because the officers declined to cooperate withthem. They are also setting up fundraisers: You can buy a 鈥淔ree Dean鈥� coffee mug for $19.95.
In the meantime, Clifford has remained in touch with his followers through an "authorized representative," who reports that Clifford told him, "It's a game of tennis. They've thrown everything they have at me, and now it's my turn to serve."
