The bail hearing from hell: Canadian judge jails father for breaking “gag order” on gov't supported “sex-change” procedures on his teenage daughter.
Father faces five years in prison after trial next month.
Aggressive, punitive prosecution and hostile, biased judge - clearly meant to send a message to others.
Judge threatens MassResistance after rant against the father!
March 25, 2021
Outside the courthouse just before the hearing, Rob Hoogland ponders his fate as his supporters gather near the doors.The dark face of an oppressive government that enforces insane, unnatural, and destructive ideas on innocent people was on display last week in Vancouver, British Columbia. Someday people will look back on all of this in disbelief. But for now, Americans and others around the world need to take notice: What’s happening in Canada now will likely be coming to your doorstep. Be prepared to speak out and oppose it!
Background – a parent’s nightmare
As we described in our March 13 report, Rob Hoogland of Surrey, British Columbia is living a horror story. The government has ruled that his 15-year-old daughter, who believes she is “really” a boy (thanks to school propaganda), must be given dangerous and experimental medical procedures to “change” her sex to male – despite her terrified father’s objections.
These treatments include puberty-blockers, cross-sex hormones, surgical procedures will likely follow. This will cause sterility and other horrible and irreversible side effects, such as unhealthy bone growth and premature aging. In fact, what the girl really needs is psychological help.
This did not happen in a vacuum. The Canadian LGBT movement funded over two dozen lawyers to represent the daughter against her father. With their help, in 2019 the Court ruled that this young girl is “mature” enough to overrule her father’s wishes, and that these treatments are in her best interest.
Moreover, the government insists that everything about this case must be kept secret to “protect” the daughter (whom they state is a boy). Thus, the Court has ordered that neither Rob (nor anyone else) may publicly relate any details about what is happening to his daughter, or reveal the daughter’s name, the names of the hideous “gender clinic” doctors who are experimenting on her, or even Rob’s own name!
Court document outlining its rulings in this case (1/10/2020). Note that Rob is referred to as “C.D.,” his daughter is “A.B.” and the mother is “E.F.”
But Rob has refused to be cowed into silence by this totalitarian gag order. He believes that the world needs to know the truth about what is happening. He has given interviews to MassResistance and other conservative media, and has named the doctors and others who are participating in this.
Rob charged with gag order violations, trial set for April 2021
Last November, the Attorney General of British Columbia formally charged Rob with multiple “criminal” violations of the gag order (known as a “conduct order”). A four-day trial has been set beginning April 12, 2021.
Attorney General cites further violation, seeks immediate jail for Rob
On March 4, the Attorney General filed a further charge because Rob had set up a GoGetFunding page that included his name and other banned information. This time the government issued an immediate warrant for Rob’s arrest, ostensibly to keep him from committing more violations before his April trial.
A bail hearing before Justice Michael Tammen was set for March 16. On that day, Rob was scheduled to turn himself in, which he did.
INCREDIBLE VIDEO: Rob Hoogland speaks before going to court - and jail. Great interview by Canadian pro-family journalist Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson. (6 min 26 sec)
The hearing from hell - the nightmare continues for this father
The hearing commenced on March 16 and was continued on March 19. This was clearly anything but a typical bail hearing for a seemingly minor, non-violent infraction.
Rob (right) chats with a few of his friends who came to support him, before walking in.
Some local conservative press was also there.It was very clear that the Court sought to make a powerful statement to the public.
For example, at the conclusion of the hearing, the judge announced that Rob was denied bail and must stay in jail pending his trial in April – for violating his conduct order (gag order). To put things in perspective, Justice Tammen presided over a hearing two years ago in which he released a convicted murderer pending review of his criminal murder conviction.
Furthermore, it is unheard of for the B.C. Attorney General’s office to be prosecuting a conduct order. It would be like the New York State Attorney General prosecuting a misdemeanor. But the government clearly wanted to put its full punitive force on Rob Hoogland – and send a strong message to anyone else who would stand up to the transgender movement that is entrapping so many children.
It was eerie how coldly businesslike the proceeding was, focused only on following laws, procedure, and orders. Yet at its core was unimaginable child abuse and violation of a parent’s rights. The prosecutor and judge both refused to acknowledge those underlying issues, or why this case has created shock and horror internationally. They both seemed oblivious to their role in enforcing an order that would destroy a teenage girl’s body and life, and that they were violating the bond between parent and child.
But as every American knows, existing law and procedure are easily ignored when a Court is deciding a radical issue like abortion or “gay marriage.”
Justice Michael Tammen showed no mercy
Attorney Carey Linde, Rob's lawyer.And throughout the hearing, Judge Tammen’s demeanor was openly hostile toward Rob and his attorney. He seemed to take on the role of prosecutor at times. He often interrupted Rob’s lawyer to attempt to “correct” his arguments. The prosecutor and the judge both referred to the girl as “he”. Rob’s attorney refused to do that.
The Attorney General’s office makes its case against Rob
The Attorney General’s prosecutor, Daniel Pruim, began by reciting the litany of Rob’s violations over the years. Then he focused on the “GoGetFunding” page, which comprised the specific reason for the arrest warrant. He went point by point over the text and videos on that page, citing dozens of things that Rob wrote and said that are considered “violations.” He compared them to the various “conduct orders” issued against Rob.
He went on to say that Rob’s “son” (i.e., daughter) is suicidal, that these “gender” treatments are saving the child’s life, and implied that Rob’s discussing them makes the suicide more likely.
The purpose was to portray Rob as a deliberate repeat “criminal” against the government who flouts laws and is not concerned for the well-being of his child. And for the “gravity” of these offenses, he must be imprisoned.
Both the prosecutor and the judge pointedly voiced their outrage at one particular statement on the GoGetFunding page. Rob wrote, “I am fighting the far left based on a civil disobedience defense!” The judge remarked, “I’m the left? I’m the far left?!”
The irony should not be lost on anyone. This whole legal and political persecution is from the far left – from the LGBT lobby that has been harassing Rob Hoogland and anyone else who speaks out against their “gender” ideology.
Rob Hoogland’s attorney makes a passionate case
Carey Linde, Rob’s attorney, made a very passionate and (we think) compelling case in Rob’s defense. He covered several points:
- There is no evidence of any harm to anyone from Rob allegedly breaching the gag order. The identities of Rob and the two doctors are widely known. The identity of his daughter is known by her schoolmates, neighbors, the community, and the media. There is not now and never has been evidence of problems for any of them from unknown persons. As Mr. Linde said, “So what is the big secret? The genie is out of the bottle. It can’t be put back in with any number of arrest warrants.”
- The courts here are being manipulated to hide these unethical doctors from public scrutiny. But these same doctors proudly advertise their skills on social media, and sell books about what they do. As Mr. Linde said,
“The psychologist and endocrinologist are hiding behind court orders while they move an increasing number of emotionally wounded children to a lifetime addiction to expensive gender-altering hormones. These men are abusing the courts for their personal gain. The court cannot sanction this.”
- Rob’s “crime” is warning parents of young girls how the government permits schools to surreptitiously convince girls they can be boys. And how the state allows pediatric endocrinologists to give gender-altering hormones to children without the parent’s knowledge or consent.
- An obvious question: Why has the Attorney General chosen to escalate this case against a father in such a draconian fashion? It is a punitive and intimidating effort to punish him for speaking his conscience. Will the state have to keep Rob incommunicado behind bars? For how long? “Does the AG think that Rob’s conscience will shrivel up like the testosterone poisoned eggs in his now sterile 15-year-old child?” Carey asked.
- Or more to the point: Why isn’t the Attorney General leading the charge to protect young girls with rapid-onset gender dysphoria from the psychologists and doctors experimenting with the girls’ growing bodies and fragile minds without parental knowledge or consent?
- The Attorney General is on the wrong side of history here when it comes to denying guardianship rights to parents. How would he or any of us in this room feel if what happened to Rob were to happen to us?
- Regarding the “suicide” threat, this entire case is based on a fiction. It’s been well documented that Rob’s daughter was 12 years old when she attempted “suicide” by spraying the contents of a pressurized can in her mouth. She did this because she had a crush on a male gym teacher, and she was disciplined by the school for stalking him. She admitted this at the hospital, which was written in their report. But the LGBT lawyers have been purposefully dishonest about this in their arguments, and the Court refuses to correct it.
- Finally, Mr. Linde brought up the recent English case of Bell v Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust and others, by the English High Court in London Dec 1, 2020. This concerned a young woman who had gone through “transition” to become a man. She sued because she had been given bad information about it as a teenager. The judgment held there was no medical evidence or statistical basis for the medical claims by the transgender movement – that it is pseudo-science at best. There is no evidence that supports it other than someone saying, “I have a feeling …”
Mr. Linde’s arguments were certainly convincing to us and probably any normal member of the public.
The Judge speaks
One expects a judge to at least give the appearance of being impartial. But there was none of that here. Justice Tammen was openly very harsh toward Attorney Linde, and insisted that Rob’s guilt was undeniable. He told Mr. Linde that the arguments he made had no bearing on this hearing. He stated that Rob had repeatedly violated the conduct orders, particularly in regard to “health care professionals.” He said that Mr. Linde’s arguments are simply a “collateral attack” on the conduct orders and is no defense at all. The only thing that matters is if Rob violated them, nothing else.
Justice Tammen reiterated very sternly that the basis for that gag order was “to protect the psychological well-being” of Rob’s child. That’s how it stands.
He insisted that Rob’s previous attorneys in this case did not file papers to ask to rescind the orders, the time for it has long since passed, and he was not going to deal with any of that here. And even using his own name publicly makes it clear who the daughter is, he said. But Rob also has posted some a photo of him and his daughter in elementary school, which is apparently a grave violation.
For quite a while the judge basically shouted at Mr. Linde about Rob’s continual violation of the orders, and stated that he will likely continue defying the orders.
Finally, Mr. Linde said to the judge “At some point we have to start dealing with [medical] facts.”
But that was ignored and the judge reiterated that Rob had broken the conduct orders, and that Rob’s disagreement with the correctness of transgender treatments were simply “his opinions.”
In the end, the judge was adamant that Rob must be kept in jail – without bail – until the “criminal contempt” trial, which they decided will commence on April 12 at 2:00 pm.
The judge’s dark attack on MassResistance
On March 19, after Justice Tammen finished announcing his reasons for denying bail, he proceeded to attack MassResistance (avoiding using our name, of course). It gives an insight into his chilling and totalitarian thinking on this whole matter:
[Note that in keeping with the gag order, the judge refuses to use the actual names of Rob and his daughter. He refers to Rob's daughter as "A.B." and to Rob as "C.D."]
I wish to add this by way of an addendum. After I completed [writing my statement], the Counsel for the Crown [Attorney General] brought to my attention additional information concerning ongoing breeches of the publication ban. I have not considered that evidence in reaching my decision, but I will make some comment on it now.
The body of evidence includes a lengthy interview clip that C.D. [Rob Hoogland] gave to an organization that describes itself as a “pro-family activist organization” [i.e., MassResistance]. That entity maintains a website on which it publishes. Although the organization is clearly based in the United States, and thus beyond the territorial jurisdiction of this court, through its website it publishes on the World Wide Web. Some of the content is a flagrant breech of the publication ban orders in this case. Obviously, that content is available within British Columbia and has the potential to cause great harm to A.B. [Rob’s daughter].
The interview given by C.D. provides the strongest evidence of his criminal intent. Through his own mouth, C.D. announces his clear intention to flout court orders and attempt to get his message out before his bail hearing. Thus, rather than take the opportunity he was given by the delay [from March 3 to March 16] of the execution of the warrant and comply with the court orders, C.D. in fact escalated his offending behavior.
The content which is most alarming is contained within the attachment which is posted below the interview with C.D. All of those attachments are documents which could only have been provided to the website host by C.D. or his counsel. The documents include the Crown disclosure for his criminal trial and the press release authored by C.D.’s counsel, Mr. Linde. Two documents relate to A.B. [Rob’s daughter] and his [her] medical treatments. They both contain intensely private information about A.B. One of those documents contains information that on its face is an extremely egregious breech of both A.B.’s fundamental right to privacy and the publication ban.
I alert C.D. now that he must make every effort to have the offending content removed from that website. If at some point I must sentence C.D. for criminal contempt, and that content remains, the range of sentence might be very different than the one I referenced in my recent judicial internment release.
It's interesting that Justice Tammen took the time to threaten MassResistance regarding what we’ve posted, since Rob is clearly unable to contact us (or anyone) while in jail. But more important: Tammen is being dishonest. Those documents that we posted are in no way harmful to Rob’s daughter. (The harm to her is coming from her “medical” team.) They are quite harmful to the Canadian Government’s absurd case against Rob Hoogland.
These documents include the gender clinic’s bizarre “Informed Consent Form” that admits that their procedures are dangerous and experimental, the Vancouver Police Report, and the hospital’s memorandum to Rob where they state that his 15-year-old daughter is “mature” enough to consent to their procedures. The others are basically public documents.
Will Tammen actually lengthen Rob’s prison time, as he outrageously threatened, unless MassResistance “removes the offending content” from our website – something Rob has no control over? We are contacting Rob’s attorney to discuss that. (Someone has already modified the GoGetFunding page.)
Justice Tammen went on to say that people should not believe what they read on “social media” about the case. He said that the “correct” facts about the case are in the rulings by the judges in this case. Those rulings, the judge reminded everyone, have decided that the child has been declared “a mature 15-year-old” and that her father has no right to interfere with anything, or even publicly discuss it.
All of this is like some nightmare court scene out of Kafka or Solzhenitsyn. Judges like Tammen are eradicating humane standards from our institutions. They are men without souls holding the power to inflict trans-human experiments on children. It’s simply madness.
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