DOES ANYONE KNOW A GOOD INDIGENOUS LAWYER?
If I was living in the 15th or 16th Century I would be a prime candidate for debtor’s prison! I am publicly admitting that I am on the delinquent list of a public collection agency, now referred to as a credit recovery enterprise. I have been pursued for the past four years for an alleged $37.43 debt that I had incurred. I am totally committed to fighting this charge up to the Canadian Supreme Court if necessary. Let me explain.
In 2015, we sold our family home in Dalhousie with a closing date of October 31, 2015. A week earlier, I phoned all of the service companies - gas, electric, phone and internet and cancelled all services, effective October 31, 2015. A couple of months later, I received a bill for $37.43 from Direct Energy for energy service at the house from November 1 to about November 9, 2015. Of course, since I was no longer the owner of the serviced property, I contacted Direct Energy to explain that I was no longer responsible for the charge and would not be paying it. Naively, I thought that this rational explanation would suffice. I wasn’t going to pay someone else’s electricity bill! In reality, I was contacted at least three more times by different Direct Energy reps and I re-explained the situation. Follow up letters continued to harass me.
A year of so later, Direct Energy gave up the ghost and turned the collection of my massive “debt” over to a collection agency. I think I was chased either by “Broken Kneecaps Collections” or “Eastwood’s Make My Day” Agency. Regardless, I have stood my ground, answered my phone cautiously, and checked my mail with rubber gloves in order to not leave any fingerprints. But finally my spirits soared to new heights when I recently read a report in the 2019 Canadian Federal Budget about a situation similar to mine!
Apparently, over the past many decades, various indigenous groups have been fighting the Canadian government over a plethora of land title rights and numerous treaty misunderstandings. These claims have been run through every level of our fine Canadian judicial system for years and years. Not surprisingly, our First Nations people have accrued a serious expense for their legal wrangling. It has been recently examined and their collective legal debt was in the neighbourhood of $1.4 BILLION! And I have been worried about my supposed $37.43 negligence!
Surprisingly, our current Liberal government addressed the issue in the March 2019 Federal Budget. The federal government announced it will be forgiving the $1.4 billion in loans to Indigenous groups who have taken on debt to negotiate comprehensive claims and treaties. Given that the very same government in 2018 wrote off a $2.6 BILLION loan to Chrysler, their generous discarding of a paltry $1.4 billion debt by our First Nations residents should not have come as any surprise.
And inadvertently, our wonderful elected representatives have provided me with the solution to my $37.43 dilemma! I am hot on the trail of an indigenous lawyer to handle my case! I will now be able to relax and no longer fear being incarcerated because I know I will be in good hands! Does anyone know a good First Nations barrister? They never seem to lose a case! If they can fleece our government for $1.4 billion, helping me write off my measly $37.43 should be cakewalk!
I know one. How about Jodi????
ReplyDeleteI have a little legal (strictly I think the term is para-legal) experience with a similar case.
ReplyDeleteThe phone company didn't disconnect the phone in the flat we were vacating on the date we instructed them too. Several months later an Iranian flatmate advised Telecom had sent debt collectors because calls had been made to Iran, and the bill had accumulated. All calls were after the date we'd instructed the phone company to end the contract and disconnect the phone.
So Iranian dressed as an Iranian and I, dressed in suit and tie, went to the phone company. 'Good morning, my client, Mr Parvaiz, would like to speak with a supervisor.
Eventually a supervisor came, I referred to my client Mr Parvaiz, throughout the discussion, when he spoke, I said, 'Mr Parvaiz, you are paying me to represent you, please let me do that' I referred to contract law etc., and when that didn't get a result, I raised it up to talk about harassment of refugees, human rights, and if necessary, I will discuss this case with my brother who works with Televsion New Zealand. I asked supervisor to confirm the spelling of his name, for our firm's records.
The bill was over $1000. But eventually the supervisor agreed that Mr Parvaiz and his associates (flatmates) ceased to be bound by contract on tbe date they'd instructed the company to disconnect.
Case dismissed.