WSOG

WSOG We Stand On Guard is a blog dedicated to the elimination of Racism in Canada. With a particular emphasis on Nova Scotia, this blog reports news items of relevance to Canada.

Name:
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

F. Stanley Boyd is an eighth generation African Canadian journalist. Among his ancestors is one of the first settlers of Oak Island in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. He is chair and founder of the Committee on Racial Content on Canadian Television (CRCT). We welcome your comments on this blog and you may comment by email at fsjboyd@yahoo.com or by clinking the comment link below and you are encouraged to do so.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Ruthless and Incompetent Director


The cheque above that was wrongfully taken from me illustrates the incompetence and ruthlessness of the program director as her letter below goes further to state that a court order of ten years ago will be collected in the amount of $333.00 per month when my CPP disability allowance is net $743.75 a month, leaving me, a man with cancer, to live on $410.75 per month. The director's letter follows:
Department of Justice
POBox 7
8th Fl., 5151 Terminal Rd.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 216

Phone: 902424-4632
Fax: 902424-7596 E-Mail: mcpheeja@gov.ns.ca

Court Services Division
Judith A. McPhee, MSW, LL.B Director

March 22, 2007

Mr. Frank Boyd
306 Princess Margaret Boulevard
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
B3B 1A6

Dear Mr. Boyd:

I am writing in response to your most recent letter. Upon receiving it, I spoke with Shannon Grant, the Enforcement Officer managing your file, to determine what had happened and to ask Ms. Grant to call you to explain. Ms. Grant advises me that she did speak with you and told you how the $1,313.76 was diverted to the Maintenance Enforcement Program and how she has adjusted the system to prevent anymore than the $333 being diverted from the money you are receiving from the federal government. Also, we have sent you a cheque for the $1,313.76.

Mr. Boyd, I assure you that the Maintenance Enforcement Program will honour its commitment to you that we will only collect the regular monthly amount of $333 until a decision on your application to vary has been received.


Yours truly,



Judith A. McPhee

JAMcP/sMcC

G:\M CPHEEJA \ WP\COREL 7\Correspondence\Correspondence\2007\Frank Boyd _MEP _
03_22_07 .wpd

VIA FAX: 902 424-2153 Sunday, March 25, 2007.


306 Princess Margaret Blvd
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3B 1A6

Judith A. McPhee
Director, Maintenance Enforcement Program
P.O. Box 803, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3J 2V2

Dear Ms. McPhee:

I have received and read your letter dated March 22, 2007. Your letter unequivocally states that you intend to live up to the agreements that both you and your minister reached with me. The agreement states that until the Nova Scotia Supreme Court reaches a decision in my variance application I started several months ago there will be not further attempt at arrears collection.

It is unreasonable of you to expect me to pay $ 333.00 per month when I receive net after taxes only $743.75 per month and after your garnishee of $333.00 is taken away I am left with a mere $ 410.75 a month on which to live and pay rent. Given the current state of my health it is unconscionable to garnishee that amount. As you are aware I am battling a cancer that is terminal and I cannot maintain myself on $ 410.75 per month.

It is an outrageous garnishee because based on my current income it exceeds the monthly maintenance payment under federal guidelines by $ 296.00. In other words, given my current income according to federal guidelines I am supposed to pay $ 37.00 per month. I do not understand what your garnishee is collecting, if not arrears.

Further, I understand from your letter that your garnishee of the federal portion of my disability payment that has to be paid back to the federal government is being returned to me for that reason and also you have already garnisheed portions of that was well. I have yet to see it. You say you honor all agreements, so then prove it. Return the money, and halt all action until the court’s decision is rendered on arrears and on the monthly payment. Your refusal to await the Supreme Court’s decision is both irresponsible and dangerous to my health and wellbeing. On another point, you have submitted a new garnishee you inform me. I have not yet received any details, except what I was told on the telephone and the notes I took, may I have details in written form please.

Yours most sincerely,



Frank Boyd
Cc.
Nova Scotia Premier, Nova Scotia,
Minister of Justice,
Deputy Minister of Justice

garnishee/mcphee6doc
It is my hope that my readers will register their dismay at the antics of this program led by this director, Judith A. McPhee. Please forward your emails to the Nova Scotia Premier, Rodney MacDonald premier@gov.ns.ca and the minister of justice, Murray Scott justmin@gov.ns.ca. Place in the subject line "Frank Boyd deserves Justice", meaning that until the Nova Scotia Court makes a decision in this case any garnishee should be totally withdrawn and no money should be taken from Frank Boyd's meagre disability until then. Please send your emails with only the subject line: "Frank Boyd Deserves Justice" and nothing else.
By the way the justice minister who said he would meet with me has still not surfaced, and no plan for a meeting has been established as yet. MLA Trevor Zinck continues to try to arrange a meeting.
I have written letters to the federal authorities, including the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, advising them that the federal guidelines are being violated in my case and so far I have heard nothing from them, including the minister responsible for Canada Pension Plan, the Honorable Monte Solberg.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Do We Get A Meeting Mr. Justice Minister?









Below is a repeat of the email to which the Justice Minister, Murray Scott, has replied. There is next the justice minister's reply, followed by the Premier's email saying he had asked the minister to reply. Below that is my reply to the justice minister and here things stand, if, or until, a meeting with the justice minister can be arranged, or if I take some other actions.

Do we get a meeting Mr. justice Minister?

From: "Frank Boyd" 3/7/2007 12:56 PM >>>

Dear Mr. Chisholm, Chief of Staff, Premier's Office By email March 7, 2007.

"Government Officials above the Law" says Black Senior Citizen Struggling with Cancer Reply Requested

I have been trying through many letters with the MEP director and with communications with Justice Minister Murray Scott directly and through my MLA Trevor Zinck to personally speak with the minister concerning the garnishee of my EI benefits to pay maintenance. Let me be clear that I am willing and have always been willing to pay maintenance.

I have proof that Judith McPhee, the MEP director's, original garnishee was illegal and had to be withdrawn. That is a fact. This damaged irreparably my ability to pay maintenance in concert with the actions taken by Catherine Smith, the Superintendent of Insurance when I was an insurance agent by denying my full license illegally without a hearing.

I have asked the MEP director repeatedly to withdraw the current garnishee. She asked me to follow a process by which a reduction could be done, I did as requested. I was promised a reply when the director has one of the MEP managers, Ron Borne, call me on February 21, 2007 to let me know that I could expect a reply from the director concerning my February 8th letter. There been no reply and instead of reducing or withdrawing the garnishee the MEP director continues to allow 52.68% of my meager EI benefits to be withheld from me.

In the letter I also advised the director that I have contracted a cancer of the bone marrow, multiple myeloma, which is incurable and terminal. Instead of having to write letters like this I should be getting some cooperation from the MEP allowing me to concentrate on my health needs. Since October, 2006 I can not been able to pay my rent. The matter yet remains in limbo. I am compelled by this sad state of communications with both the director and the minister of justice to do what I have not wanted to do. I am ready as of Friday morning March 9, 2007 to take my issues to a national television network which has asked me for more deals on my media release which you can view on my blog at http://www.wsog.blogspot.com.

I have wanted to resolve these issues without further public appeal and I have taken the matter to Supreme Court (Family Division) for conciliation and there is in place a formula for repaying the maintenance arrears. The MEP director is also aware of this and yet there has been no reply from her; she continues her ruthless pursuit of the little money I have. In fact everything is in place to enable payment to go on from here once the conciliation report and or the Court's decision is rendered. The MEP is in part responsible for the arrears as is another division of government.

Do I air these facts on national television or do we try to negotiate our differences as intelligent people try to do? There are facts about my case that will shock you. I would rather the director withdraw her garnishee enabling me to concentrate on my health issues while arranging maintenance rather than shaking in public, public confidence in the MEP, Finance and Justice departments.

However, once I go down that road of public involvement on television it is a road of no return. I have promised a national television network that I will contact them by Friday morning March 9th for the presentation of facts from my files and an interview.

Please do not take these remarks as a threat; I do not intend them that way but I am left no other choice after years of one way discussion with the principals. Now, caught between the money I need to protect my health and issues of justice that must be addressed, I have no choice whatsoever. I am trying as best I can to avoid the confusion and public shock that lies ahead of us. In my position what would you do when your rights have been trampled repeatedly into the ground and you have repeatedly tried to reason and conciliate and you get nothing back but promises and inaction?

Yours very truly,

Frank Boyd

Cc. www.wsog.blogspot.com

Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:48
From: “Justice Minister” JUSTMIN@gov.ns.ca
TO: fsjboyd@Yahoo.com

Subject: ID # 022607058

I am writing, on behalf of the Premier, to your e-mail of February 25th, 2007. The Director of Maintenance Enforcement advises me that the program has stopped enforcement on the arrears owing on your file and money has been returned to you. She further advises me that you have recently made a proposal, through the conciliator, to Ms. Fortune about both re-paying arrears and paying a lesser monthly amount than the current court order. This is the proper way to handle a situation such as yours since only the court can vary an existing order. I believe Ms. Fortune has up to the end of March to accept or reject your proposal. Should she reject it, the Director of Maintenance Enforcement will review your file again to see if she can assist in you receiving a reduction in the monthly amount you are required to pay.

Sincerely, Murray Scott, M.B.



From: Premier Nova Scotia [PREMIER@gov.ns.ca]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 12:02 PM
To: Frank Boyd

Subject: Re: “government Officials above the Law” says Black Senior Citizen Struggling with Cancer – Reply Requested.

Dear Mr. Boyd:

On behalf of Premier MacDonald, I wish to acknowledge your further e-mail correspondence.

I understand that Honourable Murray Scott, Minister of Justice, has responded to you this morning with regard to this issue.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to the attention of the Premier.

Sincerely,

Pat Lunn
Correspondence Coordinator
Office of the Premier

Reference Number: 022607058/030807022


FRANK BOYD’S EMAIL REPLY TODAY:

Do we get a meeting Mr. Justice Minister?

I am in receipt of your email subject ID # 022607058, thank you for your long awaited reply.

Instead of a reply I find your email is a regurgitation of information contained in my email. The Supreme Court conciliation is something I initiated, therefore, I know about it. The MEP director knew about it because of my communications with her. So, what? Your email does not address my request for a meeting with you. Will this happen? It does not address the accuracy of the information I provided saying the director’s original garnishee was unlawful. Was it, or wasn’t it?

Do you require proof that the actions of the MEP director’s unlawful garnishee and the Superintendent of insurance’s unlawful denial of my full insurance license which together made it impossible for me to pay maintenance? I was forced to declare bankruptcy. Do you need proof of that as well?

You have made the MEP director refund the last unethically obtained garnishee of my meager EI benefit income. I place your tawdry cheque, your payoff for not meeting with me, on the blog site so that the rest of Canada can see how your MEP director spitefully and unlawfully garnisheed more than 50% of my meager EI benefits. Since the original garnishee was unlawful, then so is the second.

It seems that someone has a conscience though and I am not sure whom to thank for that you, our great Premier, or the outraged public who have supported me by writing emails to the Premier on my behalf demanding I get a hearing. At least the Premier made you respond and probably insisted that the garnishee be stopped.

My supporters remain loyal to my ambition which is to prove that I am not a deadbeat dad, that my career has been destroyed by the action of two high ranking members of the civil service who your government sees fit to protect from public accountability.

Your Superintendent of Insurance saw to it that for more than 14 months I was unlawfully denied a license for 47.10% of that time without a hearing which is required by law. Is there any wonder why I could not pay maintenance as without a license insurance companies could not pay me my commissions and overrides. I have the records and much more evidence that these actions were unlawful. Why don’t you want to see it?

Finally, and as you know, I was charged with two criminal offenses recently which brought my employment history to another abrupt end and laying of those charges were influenced and encouraged by a sitting Member of Parliament. When I refused to be questioned by the police the MP saw to it that those charges were laid. Those records I possess also. This is more than a potential scandal; it is another Donald Marshall case.

Do we get a meeting Mr. Justice Minister?

cc. www.wsog.blogspot.com

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

“Government Officials above the Law”












Dear Premier Rodney MacDonald

Cc. Mr. Chisholm, Chief of Staff, Premier’s Office By email March 7, 2007.

“Government Officials above the Law” says Black Senior Citizen Struggling with Cancer -- Reply Requested

I have been trying through many letters with the MEP director and with communications with Justice Minister Murray Scott directly and through my MLA Trevor Zinck to personally speak with the minister concerning the garnishee of my EI benefits to pay maintenance. Let me be clear that I am willing and have always been willing to pay maintenance.

I have proof that Judith McPhee, the MEP director’s, original garnishee was illegal and had to be withdrawn. That is a fact. This damaged irreparably my ability to pay maintenance in concert with the actions taken by Catherine Smith, the Superintendent of Insurance when I was an insurance agent by denying my full license illegally without a hearing.

I have asked the MEP director repeatedly to withdraw the current garnishee. She asked me to follow a process by which a reduction could be done, I did as requested. I was promised a reply when the director has one of the MEP managers, Ron Borne, call me on February 21, 2007 to let me know that I could expect a reply from the director concerning my February 8th letter. There been no reply and instead of reducing or withdrawing the garnishee the MEP director continues to allow 52.68% of my meager EI benefits to be withheld from me.

In the letter I also advised the director that I have contracted a cancer of the bone marrow, multiple myeloma, which is incurable and terminal. Instead of having to write letters like this I should be getting some cooperation from the MEP allowing me to concentrate on my health needs. Since October, 2006 I can not been able to pay my rent. The matter yet remains in limbo. I am compelled by this sad state of communications with both the director and the minister of justice to do what I have not wanted to do. I am ready as of Friday morning March 9, 2007 to take my issues to a national television network which has asked me for more deals on my media release which you can view on my blog at http://www.wsog.blogspot.com/.

I have wanted to resolve these issues without further public appeal and I have taken the matter to Supreme Court (Family Division) for conciliation and there is in place a formula for repaying the maintenance arrears. The MEP director is also aware of this and yet there has been no reply from her; she continues her ruthless pursuit of the little money I have. In fact everything is in place to enable payment to go on from here once the conciliation report and or the Court’s decision is rendered. The MEP is in part responsible for the arrears as is another division of government.

Do I air these facts on national television or do we try to negotiate our differences as intelligent people try to do? There are facts about my case that will shock you. I would rather the director withdraw her garnishee enabling me to concentrate on my health issues while arranging maintenance rather than shaking in public, public confidence in the MEP, Finance and Justice departments.

However, once I go down that road of public involvement on television it is a road of no return. I have promised a national television network that I will contact them by Friday morning March 9th for the presentation of facts from my files and an interview.

Please do not take these remarks as a threat; I do not intend them that way but I am left no other choice after years of one way discussion with the principals. Now, caught between the money I need to protect my health and issues of justice that must be addressed, I have no choice whatsoever. I am trying as best I can to avoid the confusion and public shock that lies ahead of us. In my position what would you do when your rights have been trampled repeatedly into the ground and you have repeatedly tried to reason and conciliate and you get nothing back but promises and inaction?


Yours very truly,


Frank Boyd

Cc. http://www.wsog.blogspot.com/

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Have the Tories Turned their Backs on Us?


MEDIA RELEASE

Unaccountable and Indifferent Government

The director of the maintenance enforcement program (MEP) has a personal vendetta against me which has clouded her judgment since 1999 when she issued an unlawful garnishee against my commission income to pay maintenance and at the time I was already paying, says a 63-year old black man who is now terminally ill with cancer of the bone marrow, multiple myeloma, (MM).

“I have documents showing that MEP director Judith McPhee was forced to withdraw her unlawful garnishee against me in April, 1999,” said Mr. Boyd, “She is a lawyer, who should understand the implications of such an unlawful action. How can this happen in a democratic society where officials are supposed to be accountable for their actions?” Mr. Boyd asks.

Mr. Boyd also said that this garnishee went to his principle insurance partners and made it impossible for him to conduct insurance business with his major insurance partners. I was labeled as a “deadbeat dad,” even though I was making payments to the best of my ability under these difficult circumstances. There are laws on the books that were supposed to protect me from such prejudices but they did not apply to me. Rather than getting better, things got worse when another civil servant colluded with the MEP director.

Another top civil servant in government assisted the MEP director and that was the Superintendent of Insurance who modified my insurance license soon after the first garnishee was issued (in violation of section 26 of the maintenance enforcement Act) until I had no money to fight back and the Superintendent suspended my license at the end of 14 months of the cat and mouse license game for an additional 6 months. I was forced to declare bankruptcy.

In October 2006 I found myself in a desperate situation when Minacs, during my probationary period, dismissed me after I divulged my illness. The federal garnishee was established on my income in 1998 when I was a successful insurance agent in good standing and the MEP director, knowing that I was no longer making that income for the last seven (7) years, allowed the recovery rate to stand at 50 %. So from October of last year until the present I have been getting only $100.00 a week. This is still occurring despite my several written communications with her and most recently by fax letter of February 8, 2007 in response to her suggestion that she may reduce the garnishee percentage if I completed the forms she had sent out to me. That was done and still I have no relief. Why?

To date, after writing the minister of justice recently, delivering that letter by fax, with no reply to date, I am forced to conclude that the MEP director is accountable to no one.

I applied for a federal disability pension on February 21, 2007 and because of my medical condition on February 23, 2007 I was granted the pension in three days, a process which normally takes four months. Why has it been not been possible for the MEP to rely as readily? In five months, I have been unsuccessful in even getting an acknowledgement that the MEP director recognizes that what she is doing is wrong.

“I thank the federal government agencies for recognizing my situation and pushing through the pension, but that will not help unless the MEP director withdraws her second garnishee as she was forced to withdraw the first.” he said adding what was unlawful in the first place remains in his mind unlawful still, unless the director is above the law,” Mr. Boyd said.

“The current garnishee is a federal garnishee because the federal law allows for a conflict of laws, but the federal government did not, in its wisdom, ever contemplate that a high ranking civil servant would knowingly re-issue a garnishee that the issuer had already declared to be unlawful. Such a move would only be motivated by a personal vendetta, especially as at the time of issuance of the second garnishee I was being forced into bankruptcy by the actions of the two provincial civil servants working together against me. I feel I am being tortured and there appears to be no end in sight so I am asking the public for help.” Mr. Boyd said.

“Top civil servants are incompetently operating these departments of government and they cover up for each other. The truth will only be achieved and justice will only be served through a public inquiry.” Mr. Boyd said, adding, “I am asking for a public inquiry now through the media because I can find no one who appears to be accountable for the actions of the MEP director or the Superintendent of Insurance. I am doing this through the media as a last recourse, knowing the perils that this request can bring it, especially following the Percy Paris situation in which he was persecuted by the media and by his colleagues in the province’s legislature for coming forward with his allegations.”

I have refused to submit my EI claim this past weekend, recognizing the health risks I am taking. That is why I am going public with this media release to bring attention to his blatantly unaccountable that plagues family law its payors and their children. I have gone to conciliation in the Supreme Court Family Division and it continues but that process in this situation is flawed and has shown itself to be cumbersome. Still I am engaged in this process, though it will take far more time than I have to complete. I am prepared to make post dated cheques available to the MEP based on my current income, not that of 1998. Still, I am stonewalled at every turn.

“What else can I do other than what I have done already but to appeal now through the media for a public hearing?”

In the interim Mr. Boyd is requesting the garnishee be withdrawn while he works out maintenance payment arrangements through Family Court where he is represented by Nova Scotia Legal Aid. Conciliation is proceeding at present. This issue is just the tip of the iceberg and as you will see there is more to this story than just what you read here.
Have the Tories, provincially and nationally, turned their backs on Black people in this country? It is a legitimate "QUESTION" and only they can answer it by their actions and not their words. Ask Premier Rodney MacDonald at email premier@gov.ns.ca Also ask the minister of Justice, Murray Scott justmin@gov.ns.ca to give me an unbiased hearing.

February 26, 2007.

cc

Rodney MacDonald premier@gov.ns.ca
Murray Scott, minister of justice justmin@gov.ns.ca
Judith McPhee, MEP director
Halifax Coalition against Poverty (HCAP)
Bound to be Free Coalition and Network


For Questions and Interviews Contact:

Frank Boyd 902 463-0070 email fsjboyd@yahoo.com

Here are some of the letters that have been forwarded to me from concerned about the issues I have raised in my Media Release:

"Dear Mr. Premier and The Honorable Minister of Justice:

I have had an opportunity to read Mr. Boyd's concerns and indeed given his current condition and the seriousness of the issues he raises, he should, in fact, must be given your attention immediately. Mr. Boyd has raised several serious however reasonable concerns that hitherto have gone unattended in fact, he has been ignored and concurrently treated unfairly. This is not only my perception however, it is also the opinion of several of mycolleagues. Regrettably however, this is not only unjust, unreasonable but, indeed inhumane. Mr. Boyd deserves the right to be treated with dignity and respect and given a fair chance to present his case to an unbiased body. Therefore, I urge you both to grant Mr. Boyd this reasonable request...Accordingly, I shall look forward to your response to this most seriousmatter in the immediate future.

I remain sincerely,"

"Dear Mr. Premier and the Honorable Minister of Justice:"

Frank Boyd has a right to access justice.

"I am writing you in response to information that I have received from Mr. Frank Boyd...I believe it is vital that the issues...be addressed immediately. All that is being asked is that Mr. Boyd’s maintenance reflects his income. Thank you for your time and I’m looking forward to your response."


To:
Mr. Rodney MacDonald, Premier of Nova Scotia;
Mr. Murray Scott, Minister of Justice


Remove Garnishee F. Boyd

It is with great concern for our province and our country that I write to you today.

I am aware that many letters have been sent to government officials by Mr. Boyd and by others supporting Mr. Frank Boyd’s call for a public hearing into his situation and yet there has been no reply. I cannot believe that it is the intent of Ms. McPhee, the MEP Director to take more than half of a man’s EI wage and leave an elderly man with terminal cancer, unable to fight this dreaded disease and forced to rely on others for a roof over his head. My sympathies are with him and many others agree.

Why do the wheels move so slowly that this man could be dead before something is done? How can it be possible that some government assistance can be granted in just days but the MEP Director cannot take action to correct a wrong started 5 years ago?

The actions of the MEP were appalling enough but it continued when the Superintendent of Insurance of Nova Scotia unlawfully failed to issue him a full license, robbing Mr. Boyd of his livelihood and a consistent income. Failing to issue him a license means his income was cut off and he could not pay maintenance. This was all done without a hearing, forcing Mr. Boyd into bankruptcy.

How can Mr. Boyd pay maintenance if one Department garnishes his wages unlawfully and then another department takes away his ability to earn income? This is unrealistic, unlawful and heartless. Give Mr. Boyd a public hearing!

The scandalous behavior perpetrated by various government departments continues. What kind of country do we live in that allows the machinery of government to destroy Mr. Boyd’s life? Yet, no one is held accountable!!

The only humane course of action here is for the MEP Director to remove her garnishee at once!

I will post mmore letters as that are copied to me. If you do not want your letter posted let me know. As you can see letter writers are anonymous.




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