Men convicted in Saskatchewan’s biggest ever marijuana grow op receive sentences
REGINA — Convicted in Saskatchewan’s largest marijuana grow-op bust, three men headed off to prison Monday chanting songs and professing their innocence — despite a judge rejecting their claims that the Creator made them do it.

“It’s an injustice. This should never have happened,” Lawrence Hubert Agecoutay said as he left Regina’s Court of Queen’s Bench to serve a six-year sentence. The 52-year-old Regina man, who conceived of and managed the operation, has already filed an appeal.

Chester Fernand Girard — the Ontario gardener who provided know-how, seeds and seed money to grow the 6,000 plants — was equally defiant. “It’s industrial hemp. It’s the only thing that can save the planet,” the 59-year-old shouted. With credit for the equivalent of six months of pre-trial custody, his sentence was reduced to 5 1/2 years

Robert Stanley Agecoutay, Lawrence’s 49-year-old brother and follower, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years after also receiving six months’ credit for pre-trial custody.

In February, a jury convicted the trio of unlawfully producing marijuana and possession of the drug for the purpose of trafficking. Three other men were acquitted.

[Justice Frank] Gerein soundly rejected Lawrence’s testimony that they were growing the plants on sovereign First Nations land (immune from Canada’s drug laws), at the request of the Creator, to make medicine for their people.

“When I weigh everything, I have absolutely no doubt that the accused were engaged in the production of a very large amount of marijuana for the express purpose of obtaining a large sum of money,” the judge said in his 28-page decision. All three have previous convictions for drug crimes.

Girard’s lawyer Drew Hitchcock hopes the case sparks some thought on “reasonable drug policy.

“The judge and the lawyers have to work with the law that Parliament gives, but I don’t see how arresting guys who are sitting on the ground praying to the Creator with a SWAT team (making arrests) is really a sane drug policy.”

Lawrence, the only one among the three to testify, always carries a multi-coloured sacred bundle holding ceremonial pipes into the prisoner’s dock. He identifies himself as Chief Ka-Nee-Ka-Neet, a hereditary, ancestral chief of the Anishinabe Nation of Turtle Island, encompassing all of North America. The elected chief of the Pasqua First Nation, Elaine Chicoose, has denounced the grow-op activities.

After the sentencing, Lawrence passed his eldest son the sacred bundle.

The Agecoutays’ use of culture and religion in their defence has drawn criticism from Pasqua’s chief and council, some elders, and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

Canadian and American governments say they recognize the sovereignty of the Native American tribes, but that sovereignty flies out the window when it comes to hemp.  Lakota Sioux in the northern plains have been thwarted by the DEA when they try to grow hemp.  Several First Nations people have used cannabis in a culturally significant way or for religious purposes.  The Indians were growing hemp on this continent long before the first Europeans ever set foot here.

If a tribe can have a casino in a state with no gambling, why can’t a tribe have a marijuana farm?