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The Soapbox

  • 6 Days on the 4th Floor: My Life of Certified Insanity (Day 2 – Part 3)

    To pick up where I left off with my last post, I had just requested a second opinion on my initial assessment. Shortly after requesting and thinking my transfer to a new doctor was denied, I found out my wish had been granted.

    I’m not going to go into too much detail regarding the follow up that got me released. Suffice it to say I wish to protect the identities of the doctors involved. I will go so far as to say they were both from nations familiar with the impact of deep racial divisions so they had broader understanding of where I was coming from. In fact, once they understood the context of what brought me into the care of the hospital, they made no attempt to dissuade me of my line of thinking. I was certified completely sane and rational and released the following Monday. This gave me a total of 144 hours of detainment, or 6 days, with no legal or psychiatric reason to have done so.

    While these details were being sorted out, I was being introduced to provincial abuse of process on a massive scale. This forms the foundation of my argument for the courts. A new layer of oversight is needed to prevent these kinds of situations from arising for other Canadians. I fear the scale of abuse that already exists is so massive it beggars the mind and illustrates how subverted our legal system has become to ‘Crown schemes.’

    Through my contacts with the Western Star, I’d arranged with them to have my picture taken to put on record that I was being detained against my will. They’d followed the day of my detainment and other previous news reports concerning my filing of genocide charges from the previous summer, and my years of community radio involvement, local entrepreneurship and agriculture research. On the 8th of April they ran their story about me being detained under the Mental Health Act, giving more of a context for my tweet than the RNC offered to the psychiatrist when I was taken in. They also mentioned that I didn’t have money for a lawyer and that I was still thinking I would get a pass to attend my Charter Challenge. This would later be proven wrong.

    It’s interesting to be able to look back and see your own direct quotes.

    “Because the government is always right and can never be wrong. Anybody that dissents with them are just going to be flagged as crazy and thrown into situations like this.”

    This article would be picked up by the Telegram out in St. John’s and come to the awareness of Jennifer Curran, my current lawyer provided by mental health legal aide. She was quite interested in my case as I fit none of the requirements for a person to be remanded under the act. I have no mental disorder and no criminal charges were forthcoming. At the time of all this occurring, my certification papers still only had one signature on them.

    Once we’d made contact and entered into a lawyer-client agreement, she informed me that she wanted to file an application of Habeas Corpus to have me brought before a local Supreme Court Justice to argue my detainment was unlawful. This would turn out to be the same Justice originally scheduled to hear my Charter Challenge. Small world. She also informed me that any discussion of sending me off for 30 day analysis was also unlawful as I hadn’t been charged with any crime. This isn’t Soviet Russia, despite what our Prime Minister or Premier seems to think.

    So by Wednesday afternoon, I’d met with my new doctor and had our first discussion. I’d been contacted by a lawyer who wanted to represent me and I had been photographed with my disheveled beard in all it’s glory for the front page of the Western Star the following day.

    At this point, I still hoped I would be able to attend my Charter Challenge, but questions were beginning to crop up. My doctor was willing to issue a pass to allow me to attend my Supreme Court proceedings, but there was a requirement of an escort to and from the Courthouse. As I hadn’t been charged by the RNC, they had no authority to bring me before the Courts. The Hospital also shrugged their shoulders as they had no legal reason to do so either. When I’d be originally told that a pass could be issued, they’d assumed I was a defendant, not a plaintiff. With no option to proceed, I called my lawyer.

    Jennifer informed me that she was trying to get the Application of Habeas Corpus filed for the following day, April 9th, but had to jump through a few hoops. I gave her permission to apologize to the Justice for being unable to attend and requested an opportunity to reschedule.

    Later on in the evening, the situation would become even stranger. While sitting with Misha and my best friend Ben during evening visiting hours, one of the night nurses brought me in an updated copy of my certification papers. Remember, for the whole day I’d been walking around with my admitting papers with only one signature. I’d also been transferred to a doctor that wasn’t as prejudiced by the situation due to the original RNC presence. I had a lawyer trying to get me before a Supreme Court Justice. But suddenly… there were two signatures on my certification papers.

    Two signatures. Thistle and Talpur. Signed and dated five minutes apart from the first night I’d been admitted. Now, unlike a patient brought in for a simple 72 hour observation, I had been certified insane by two separate doctors after a total of five and a half minutes of analysis. No diagnosis, no speculations on a diagnosis, just certified insane. The first signature was required to keep me under observation for 72 hours. The second left me legally certified insane under the Mental Health Care Act and remanded as a ward of the State for further observation. The nurses told me they’d never seen anything like it. This would later be used to deny the application for Habeas Corpus. The Justice’s hands would now be tied by the second signature into a system of Crown schemes and common law precedence.

    Obviously, someone wanted me kept under lock and key for a while.

    I would spent the second night of my detainment once again sleeping fitfully. Sleep apnea is a harsh disability when you have no way to remedy it. During my six sleeps on the ward, I probably averaged four hours a night. I was still ok at this point. The physiological effects didn’t begin to pile up until Saturday.

    That concludes Day 2 of My Life of Certified Insanity. Day 3&4 should be available before the weekend.

  • 6 Days on the 4th Floor: My Life of Certified Insanity (Day 2 – Part 2)

    When Day 2 of my time on the 4th Floor ward started out, I had been certified by a single signature of an ER doctor. It was supported by a five minute discussion with a psychiatrist who wanted to observe me for a month. I would later find out she has a hearing problem.

    I made my first mistake while looking for breakfast. Not realizing the individualized menu system in place, I thought all meals were the same as the trays were laid out haphazardly on the tables. I didn’t spot the name of a fellow inmate until after I’d eaten most of the meal. I ended up swapping the name tag for my meal with his, but it was still strange that there wasn’t even a discussion about the meals or menus. I had to learn about the process from Red Sonya.

    Red Sonya is a prime example of how underfunded the mental health care system is in Newfoundland and Labrador. She suffers from bouts of confusion due to difficulty in regulating her insulin, but due to a lack of funding for specialized needs she gets thrown into the 4th floor ward with possible violent offenders.

    After breakfast I made a point of inquiring with the nurses which doctor I would be seeing for my follow up assessment. When I was told I would be seeing Dr. Talpur, the same slightly deaf tiny hindu woman so frightened by RNC presence she wanted to keep me under observation for a month, I was a little surprised. I’d spoken to her last night, why would she now be offering the second opinion? This was fishy. The first signing doctor, Thistle, could technically say he’d seen me. We’d been in the room together. He shook my hand and we chatted for a brief moment. He was also in the room in the presence of police who could witness that he’d seen me. However, I felt that his signature on that original assessment was supported by Dr. Talpur’s 5 minute assessment, so this really wasn’t a fair baseline as her impartiality had already been affected. She’d already been in the presence of armed men who’d brought in a man with a long beard and a stack of legal documents. The RNC were presenting her with a copy of my tweet, blown up to fill a full sheet of paper. I shit you not. That’s how they do it. One tweet fills a single page. Poor Mr. Dunphy. Such small words on a cell phone, blown up and magnified to such a huge size. I can only imagine how confusing that must have been.

    I think the comparison to the Ottawa Shooter was influenced mostly by the police presence and the beard. I wasn’t raving or incoherent. I peacefully submitted to the entire process. If I had been clean shaven, she wouldn’t have given that extreme of a comparison much of a second thought. I had a stack of legal documents that explained my reason for being there. It provided context. But when presented with slice of my twitter history, my beard, and my arabic last name, she decided I was planning on blowing something up. Instead, I’m just an outspoken activist engaging in legal action against a government that has committed crimes against humanity. I’m also into the idea of building cheap advanced organic farms to feed people. Nothing in that plan should scare anyone except those who hate freedom and independence.

    Just for clarity, I never recanted any of the words I uttered on Twitter during my time at WMRH. I still think Premier Davis is an abject coward who is threatening the economic stability of the province with his lack of foresight and inability to deal with the complexities of a changing world. His vision for Newfoundland became evident when he released his pro-police state RNC recruitment video last fall. He’s militaristic and Newfoundland should have no place in it for his brand of intimidation. It threatens families, which form the beating heart of this island. Richard Squires did it less than 100 years ago and it seems that Premier Davis is poised to make the same mistake.

    For further clarity, and to assure my point on context is understood, I believe that the Confederation of Canada must be brought down to strip power from the federal government. Through their actions they’ve incited genocide abroad and are responsible for crimes against humanity. They should be arrested, face trial and if found guilty, be executed for their crimes. It is not a threat. It is an insult aimed at Premier Davis combined with a demand for a free and democratic society that embraces true justice. It was misinterpreted in the same manner as Mr. Dunphy’s tweet, out of its organic context.

    However, this tweet was different from the one that the RCMP arrested and released me for with an order to appear before a judge. That one was an idle threat I’ll discuss later. Different tweet, different context, different aspect of free speech. I am scheduled to appear before a judge of a lower court in June to discuss the matter. I have no interest in securing legal aide on the matter as I’m comfortable preparing my own case and have an established lawful intention that goes back most of a year in a well documented process.

    To get back to Premier Davis’ gutless cowardice, he has our province drowning in so much oil he’s stealing from our future to keep this leaky oil tanker afloat. We can’t bail the political class out anymore. They’re leeches who just want political power and authority. They’ve got no real ideas on how to right their ship because politicians never do. They’re just stealing from Peter to pay Paul. Literally. Let their ship sink.

    Newfoundland and Labrador has a bright future, but all in resources that are currently under utilized because educated people are being completely ignored by these Conservative governments. Only 20 percent of the known arable land on the Island is currently producing food. Why are we paying so much to import tiny produce when we could supply all of our own cheaper and provide worthwhile jobs to locals?

    Did you know there was a experimental greenhouse in Gander that provided fresh vegetables for 500 US soldiers year round? All the fresh produce they needed was provided by this one greenhouse. Imagine 1000 of these providing all the fresh produce for every family on the island. All organic. Never a worry about ferry service being unable to deliver or poor quality produce. Build them underground, use geothermal heating and tie them into Muskrat Falls to provide power for LED grow lights and Newfoundland and Labrador will never have to import fresh produce again. Ever. Might take ten years to build them all, but why wait? We could break ground on the first of them this summer if this government didn’t have its head jammed so far up its own oil-filled arsehole.

    Other resources that are going underutilized are our shellfish wastes. Did you know that crab, lobster and shrimp are rich sources of chitin? Chitin is the amazingly versatile organic compound that will underpin the future for a number of fields. It is also the foundation of my research with insects. Want to know an excellent source of renewable and perfectly biodegradable bioplastic to replace polluting oil-based plastics? Chitin. Want to know how to keep produce from spoiling longer organically? Chitin. Want advanced bandages that speed wound healing? Chitin. Want to use less pesticides to control insects or fungus on crops? Chitin. Bigger flowers with brighter blooms? Chitin. Forget graphene, graphane and carbon nanotubes, one of the most important molecules for the future of our planet is chitin and its derivatives. Newfoundland currently just throws the majority of it away.

    The other groups of molecules that Newfoundland has in a unique abundance are dihalogenated acetates based on chlorine, bromine and iodine. These are present in seaweeds. The results of the research I’ve been engaged in since 2007 show that they are an unrecognized vitamin for promoting proper mitochondrial function. I have a hypothesis that these compounds played a key role in the early evolution of multicellular life. They already have a 30+ year history of use in treating metabolic disorders. They were also shown to have a broad spectrum effect on triggering apoptosis in cancerous cells (2007), provided normoxic conditions are present (2010). Their unique, simple and compact shape puts them among the strongest organic molecules capable of reducing oxidative stress. Oxidative stress builds up over time and results in cellular exhaustion through mitochondrial dysfunction. Health Canada continues to claim these compounds are synthetic, despite research from the 60s and 70s and broad rediscovery in marine sources today. Check chemspider. There is plenty of corroboration there.

    Between the electrical ties to Labrador, the shellfish, seaweed and farming resources, rural Newfoundland would have a bright, independent future on lock down.

    However, the greedy, shortsighted mental midgets running the province from the Avalon think with their guns instead of the brains God gave them. They only want to lay claim to rural Newfoundland to deny others rightful access. They’ll change the Crown Lands Act to reclaim land that they want to exploit, pushing off families who’ve had the land in their families for generations. The Avalon will do to rural Newfoundland what Israel is doing to Palestine, steal the land out from under the families trying to live peacefully. Look at how they’re continuing to cut public services. Look at the cuts to education. Look at the gerrymandering under the guise of budget cuts for MHA representation. If they really wanted to uphold democracy, they’d slash their own salaries in half. Less representation diminishes democracy. Small powerful governments supported by a militaristic police have a tendency to become dictatorships. Ask Richard Squires.

    So, as my final statement on the tweet that got me detain, I think that Premier Paul Davis is a useless simpleton that is steering Newfoundland towards economic disaster. He wasn’t even a real cop with the RNC, he was a desk jockey. Head spin doctor for media relations. He’s ignorant of the larger issues at play in the world and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will suffer further due to his shortsighted stupidity.

    To get back to my own issue on the 4th floor, when I found out Dr. Talpur would be conducting both the first and second assessments, I requested a second opinion.

    At first, the nurses were a little reticent to discuss the matter, but when I explained my situation to them…

    I’ll finish off the Day 2 in the next installment.