Five people accused of conspiring to smuggle tobacco, and defrauding Ottawa of nearly 40 million, were acquitted before their trial even took place. Pronounced before Christmas, this acquittal comes on the heels of a decision by the Superior Court having recognized, in 2023, the acquired, constitutional and historical rights of the Mohawks in matters of the tobacco trade.
Published at 9:00 a.m.
According to the evidence gathered during the investigation, conducted by investigators from the Accès Tabac program of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) and described in a summary of the facts filed as part of a motion debated in court, Logan Kane , Frederick Francis Leblanc, Christina Williams, Tehoriwathe Beauvais and Cody Raven Jacobs were allegedly involved, at different levels and in different roles, in 16 tobacco imports by semi-trailer trucks between February and October 2021.
More than 31,000 pounds of tobacco were imported each time, authorities estimate.
By calculating the applicable taxes on these quantities, at the time the imports took place, the amounts not paid in taxes to the federal government under the Excise Act amounted to more than 37 million, they concluded.
False statements
According to the evidence, suspects, who had no permit to import tobacco from the United States, used the services of a carrier who made false declarations to customs.
Logan Kane would, according to the police, have directed operations from the Six Nations reserve, in Ontario, and would have been seen regularly on the Kahnawake reserve, on the South Shore of Montreal.
The tobacco was allegedly ordered from the American company Can Star International Inc. at a price of approximately CAN$115,000 for each load.
Two of the accused are alleged customers who purchased the imported tobacco even though they did not have a permit authorizing them to produce cigarettes in Canada.
-Several truckers allegedly participated in transporting the tobacco from Detroit, where the tobacco was stored. It was then delivered to an unknown location in Kahnawake, but two of the accused would have previously accompanied the truckers to a meeting point near the reserve.
River Judgment
This evidence has never undergone the test of the courts, because the lawyers of the accused presented a motion for acquittal under a decision rendered by Judge Sophie Bourque, of the Superior Court, in 2023. Judge Daniel Royer accepted the conclusions of his colleague, and acquitted the accused.
In the fall of 2023, after more than three years of proceedings, 50 witnesses and the drafting of a decision spread over a period of a year and a half, Judge Bourque rendered a 365-page judgment and acquitted two Mohawks from Kahnawake accused of tobacco smuggling and defrauding governments.
In her extensive decision, the magistrate analyzed the traditions, 10 treaties concluded between the Mohawks and the British between 1664 and 1760 (the “chain of alliance”), oral agreements, alliances and exchanges made or carried out between the Six Nations and the first Europeans to arrive in Canada.
“The chain of alliance is an unextinguished treaty. The court finds that there is conclusive evidence in the record that the tobacco business in which Plaintiffs participated improves the economic well-being and quality of life of the community as a whole,” the judge wrote in her decision.
“The facts show that a large portion of the community views the tobacco trade as the best path to economic self-determination, and it is. The Court therefore concludes that the plaintiffs have demonstrated, on a weighted basis, that their participation in the tobacco trade industry of the Mohawks of Kahnawake is protected by their ancestral right to fully pursue their economic development,” continued Judge Sophie Bourque. , now retired.
The prosecution appealed this decision rendered by Judge Bourque, and is considering the idea of doing the same with that of Judge Royer.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.
Related News :