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Yet taking an oath on a piece of religious literature that I did not
believe in did not sit well with me. I began looking for alternatives. While
researching the question, a friendly Justice of the Peace in Supreme Court
showed me the British Columbia Courts Operating Manual. This manual lists a
number of interesting alternative oaths. From this manual I learned that you
don’t have to take an oath on the Bible in court. The British Columbia Oaths
Act permitted a person to take an oath on any religious scripture. For
example, one could take an oath on the Torah or the Koran. The Oaths Act
provided all kinds of other alternatives too (some of which I will outline a
little later). I discovered that one of these alternatives is taking an oath
called an “affirmation” in which the witness swears to tell the truth without
any scripture involved at all. This is the procedure that I chose to use for
my court appearances. The first few times that I requested an affirmation rather than an oath
on the Bible in court created a minor stir. Until it became common knowledge
that I was the token Wiccan cop of the Vancouver Police Department, judges
would ask me for an explanation before giving me leave to use an affirmation.
This was my first indication that this procedure, while legal, was rarely
used. Another indication of the rarity of these proceedings was the reaction of
the court clerks to my request. In the beginning my request was clearly
unexpected. It seemed as if I was the
first person ever to ask for an affirmation in Provincial court in Vancouver.
These court clerks would scramble about trying to find the correct wording so
that they could administer the affirmation to me. Word eventually got
around. The clerks armed themselves
with file cards with the wording of the affirmation in case the Witch should
show up in their court room. I suspect that the affirmation wording is now
handed out on laminated cards along with a picture of me in their training
academy. The reaction outside of the court rooms was almost as interesting. I
recall the first occasion that I used the affirmation. Afterwards I was approached by one of our
detectives outside of the courtroom. The following conversation took place: “So, you’re an atheist?” “No.” “But you took an affirmation. You aren’t religious.” “I’m very religious. In fact, I’m a priest.” This is where I had to break out the “sound
bites” and my Law Enforcement Guide to Wicca and explain what I meant.
Similar incidents occurred almost every time I made a court appearance for
the first few years. It is interesting how many people in this culture equate
Christianity with religion or religion with scripture. Many of those who
challenged me over my practice of taking affirmations did not seem to grasp
the fact that a person could be religious and not Christian. My decision also affected my transactions with the Justices of the Peace
in the court house. It was these Justices that processed warrants and the
informations to obtain them for us. One day my partner Dale Hemm and I took a theft report from a tenant of
an apartment building in the West End. This man had some clothes stolen from
a communal clothes dryer. The victim had spotted one of his shirts on another
tenant of the building. Dale and I wrote up an information to obtain a search
warrant and went to the office of the Justice of the Peace with our paper
work to obtain our search warrant. This JP read my information to obtain and agreed to our request. He typed
up a search warrant while we waited. The JP then handed the finished warrant
over to me for my signature. Then the JP handed me a Bible. I told him that I
would prefer to take an affirmation. To my surprise, the JP took the warrant
back. “I’m afraid that I can’t give you the warrant then.” “What? Why?” “You have to swear an oath on the Bible to get a warrant.” At this point this JP showed me the fine print at the bottom of the
information to obtain a search warrant. In part, it read, “Wherefore the
informant in this case prays that the magistrate will issue a warrant...” The
JP told me that if I didn’t pray, I couldn’t have a warrant. I tried to
explain to this JP that, in this context, the word “pray” was an archaic
usage of the English language. Clearly in this case it meant “ask” or
“beseech.” I told him that it didn’t have anything to do with praying in a
religious sense. No good. This JP wouldn’t budge. My partner and I finally resolved this matter by marching across the room
to the supervisor’s office and explaining the situation. The supervisor came
back across with me and talked some sense into this Justice of the Peace. I
got my search warrant. From this supervisor I found out that this JP was new
on the job and rather inexperienced. I also learned that the JP considered
himself to be a very devout Christian. The courthouse wasn’t the only place affected by my decision to take
affirmations instead of oaths on the Bible. Being a Wiccan officer, I chose
to affirm affidavits of service on documents like traffic tickets and
appearance notices. Very briefly, this involves plunking the document down in
front of what we call a “commissioner for the taking of affidavits” (i.e.:
someone the rank of Sergeant or higher) and taking some form of oath. As in
court, most police officers took an oath on the Bible. I quickly discovered that my practice of requesting affirmations in police headquarters was as novel as my requesting an affirmation in the Provincial courthouse across the street. Consequently, I often found that the NCO that I placed my affidavit in front of didn't know the procedure for this. I found that I had to learn the procedure myself and teach it to |
The Fool: pg 3
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Dispatches:
Volume 2 No. 1 Imbolc/Feile
Bhride/Brigid//Barri/Iddis-Thing 2007 |