by BETTER FARMING STAFF
He’s had some time to think about it and today, Ontario’s self-proclaimed pigeon king told an Ontario justice that he was determined to represent himself.
In February, after Arlan Galbraith announced in an Ontario Court of Justice in Kitchener that he had fired his lawyer and intended to represent himself, Justice Gary Hearn gave him three weeks to reconsider.
Galbraith, founder of the now bankrupt Pigeon King International, has been charged with fraud over $5,000 and three offenses under the Bankruptcy Act. None of the charges has been proven in court.
“Did you make any effort to speak to a lawyer?” Hearn asked Galbraith this morning after he had stepped towards the judge’s bench in the same courtroom where he appeared in February.
“No, your honour,” responded Galbraith.
“I have tried to stress to you the complexity of this matter and the issues that can arise,” Hearn said. Throughout the remainder of the roughly half-hour court appearance, the justice patiently explained legal concepts to Galbraith and checked with him to make sure he understood the steps leading to the trial by jury that the former entrepreneur has requested.
Those will likely include one to two focusing hearings, which are intended to define the main issues in the case, and a preliminary inquiry that Lynn Robinson, assistant Crown attorney, estimated could last three to four weeks.
Galbraith returns to court April 16 to set dates.
On Monday, he handed Robinson a list of 16 witnesses that appeared to be handwritten on white paper folded twice to fit into a plain, standard #10 business envelope. When asked if he had identified issues, Galbraith said that he felt it should be proven there was cause for the charges. He said that when the matter goes to trial he would like “to hear from as many witnesses as possible.”
Galbraith, who appeared tanned and wore a dark pinstriped suit and soft leather shoes, told the justice that he had driven from his residence near Cochrane on Sunday. After confirming that he was excused, he left the courtroom swiftly.
Galbraith and Pigeon King International did millions of dollars in business annually selling high-priced pigeon pairs to more than 1,000 growers in Canada and the United States and buying back their offspring.
He handed his business to a bankruptcy trustee in June 2008 and creditors petitioned him into personal bankruptcy in 2009. BF
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