Well folks, just when we thought we lived in a free society, we have the R.C.M.P. to tell us otherwise. On friday, Sept. 19, 1997 a press conference was held at the R.C.M.P. 'D' Division in Winnipeg. The essence of this press conference was that the R.C.M.P. have decided, with a directive from the Justice Department, that the only equipment which is legal in Canada is that which is used to pick up ExpressVu and Star Choice. In fact, they even went so far as to categorize any signals other than those two as "illegal signals". As a basis for their announcement, they made reference to the civil suit in Ontario.

Well, once I was made aware of this press conference, I decided I better attend. So myself, and some other local dealers, attended. I allowed the R.C.M.P. to conclude their presentation before I confronted them with the glaring problems they have in maintaining their position. (See, I am a nice guy after all.....I could have interrupted them if I wanted to be rude.) Finally, after listening to this propaganda for what felt like an eternity, I could not stay silent any longer. "Sir...", I began "...isn't it true that the decision you are referring to was in fact a civil case?" Of course, you can't ever get a straight answer from a cop. "It was a Federal Court of Canada Decision" was the response. "Yes, " I said, "But it was the result of a civil action isn't it?" No response, of course. Now I was really getting mad. "Sir, how can you stand here and tell us this is illegal when Justice Kennedy of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, in a written decision delivered in March of '97, concluded that in the absence of a lawful distributor of the signal in question, there can be offence?". Sgt Gerry Jennings very plainly stated "We're not here to discuss that."

Can you believe that? This public servant, who is paid by MY tax dollars, is going to stand here and mislead the general public as to the legality of my industry? Needless to say, my outspokenness did not go unnoticed by the press. I was immediately inundated with reporters asking me questions and taking photos and video. And, I came prepared with documentation in hand, including extra copies for the press. In my opinion, their press conference completely backfired. The coverage was not as one-sided as they had hoped. In fact, most of the headlines I read and heard went something along the lines of "Satellite dealers crash R.C.M.P. press conference and vow to fight back". Had we not showed up, the resulting headlines would have no doubt been completely damaging to the industry. At least we lessened the affect to some degree.

It also seemed more than coincidence that the ExpressVu dealer seminar was being held the same day as the R.C.M.P. press conference.

As a prelude to this event, a "seizure" of sorts had taken place at the Emerson, Manitoba border crossing. A local wholesaler, who was importing his regular shipment of DSS systems, was asked after being cleared by customs if he minded waiting for the R.C.M.P. When they showed up, they advised him that they wished to examine the units further. His assumption was that they were looking for pirated access cards, and once they determined that the cards were not pirated, they would return the equipment. Well, after the press conference it was quite clear this was not the case. Unfortunately, this individual was not interested in taking the R.C.M.P. to task, and apparently was simply going by whatever they told him. This sort of bothers me a bit, since this person has made a living from this industry for many years, yet he is not prepared to stand up and fight for it. As I understand it, his systems are being returned to him on the condition that they be exported.

In any event, the time was right to tell the R.C.M.P. to put up, or shut up. Arrangements were made to pick up some systems, and import them into Canada through the Emerson crossing. I had prepaid for the 35 systems (without access cards), and had the customs handled by a professional broker. We rented a truck, and headed for the border.

I waited on the Canadian side, in a car, while an employee drove across to the U.S. to pick up the systems in the truck. Once back across the border, I met the truck at Canada Customs, with paperwork in hand. The big stall had begun.

The customs officer, as soon as he noticed what the merchandise was (I made no attempt to mislead Customs in any way as to what I was importing), told us to have a seat, implying we might be there for a while. He disappeared into a back room, while we watched numerous other trucks roll in and out, getting their paperwork stamped, and load counted and checked without delay. After quite an extended delay, the officer emerged from the back room and began to process our paperwork. He asked us to pull the truck up so he could inspect it. By this time, I noticed an R.C.M.P. car had arrived, and an officer was mulling around the customs office. After inspecting the load, the customs officer advised us of a minor technicality in the paperwork, and sent us back to our customs broker.

The broker corrected the paperwork and we returned to customs. The customs officer stamped our paperwork, and declared that we had been cleared. But, he said, we couldn't leave yet because "someone" wanted to talk to us. I asked him if we were cleared or not. He replied, yes, we were cleared, but we couldn't leave, as someone wanted to talk to us. I took my stamped copy of the customs documentation, and immediately left the customs office and attempted to contact my attorney by cell-phone, to see if we could legally leave customs, since we were cleared.

By the time I even approached the truck, an R.C.M.P. officer was there and advised me that he was seizing the truck and contents. I asked if he had a warrant, he replied that he did not, and that he didn't need one. I advised him that there was nothing illegal on the truck as far as I was concerned, and I would not consent to a search. I was concerned, however, about having the truck seized and having to pay huge rental bills for it. It was negotiated with the officer that while I was not consenting to the search or seizure, I would cooperate to the extent of allowing them to unload the equipment, so that I could return the truck to the rental agency. Once it was clear they were willing to allow this, we asked if they would be agreeable to allow us to transport the equipment to Winnipeg, with police escort.

The officer from Emerson was not interested in this, but decided the final call would be up to Corporal Struck, of Commercial Crime, who happened to be en route at the time. He advised us that if we wanted to wait, we could. When he arrived, Struck seemed fairly receptive to the idea of escorting us to Winnipeg, with one hesitancy. He asked me, "So, when we get back to Winnipeg, I suppose all the media is going to be there, huh?" I replied, "No, I haven't called the media at all. But I should warn you, I do have a cell-phone." (half-jokingly...) He responded, "Well, don't forget I have a radio too....".

So we were en-route to Winnipeg, in our little convoy. I was driving in my car, followed by the truck, followed by Cpl. Struck in his umarked car, and an Emerson member in a marked car. Needless to say, it was no secret what I was doing that day, and concerned associates were calling on the cell-phone to find out what has happening. Somehow (surprise!) the media was alerted and were very interested. We weren't even in Winnipeg yet, and CBC news was calling me on the cell-phone, trying to find out where we were, and how long until we arrived in Winnipeg.

Waiting for us in the parking lot at R.C.M.P. headquarters were the three major television networks, cameras in hand. As we pulled up and parked, Cpl. Struck seemed quite reluctant to get out of his vehicle, as the media interviewed me 20 feet away.

Finally, the truck was backed up to be unloaded, as the media gathered on the loading dock, cameras rolling. I stood on one side of the truck, opposite the media, as Cpl. Struck (wearing a suit!), and the uniformed officer from Emerson, proceeded to unload the truck. As each piece of equipment passed by me, I would recite the price. "...$330 U.S. Dollars.....$330 U.S. Dollars....$200 U.S. Dollars..... $330 U.S. Dollars.... Duties and Taxes Paid....." This went on for about the first six or eight systems, then Cpl. Struck pushed me off the truck into the parking lot, and threatened me, in an attempt to stop me from embarrasing him any further. I told him to pressure me if he wants, I don't care, and got back on the truck and continued reciting prices as the equipment was unloaded. I must say, for a guy wearing a suit, he could sure move those systems in a hurry! (I could use a guy like this in my warehouse!)

Once the truck was unloaded, the media again gathered around me and continued to interview me. They were very interested in getting a shot of the customs paperwork, showing the customs stamp. After interviewing me, 2 out of the 3 stations left, without even having heard what the R.C.M.P. had to say. Needless to say, the following attention was highly favourable for the industry, hitting the news for 2 days straight. Now, after successfully embarrasing the R.C.M.P. it is off to court. I feel very confident that we will see victory in the courts, unfortunately it takes time. But we are prepared and ready for battle. I will certainly keep you up to date!

Last year, the R.C.M.P. were bought by an American Corporation, DirecTV. This year, they have been bought by a Canadian company, ExpressVu.

Dean