Manitoba Hells Angels president compares 'no gang colour' policy to discrimination under the Indian Act

The president of the Manitoba Nomads, a local chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, is comparing a Winnipeg business's "no gang colour" policy which resulted incustomers wearing the biker gang'strademark logos being turned awayto the discrimination Indigenous Canadians faced under the Indian Act.

But a Toronto-based lawyer and author says it's the gang that may be breaking the law, through their recent online targeting of the businesses.

"This treatment of Canadians was wrong then and it's wrong now," Nomads president Dale Kellandwrote on his Facebook page, where he cited an 1884 amendment to the Indian Act that made it a felony for Indigenous people to enter a licensed establishement.

A number of local Indigenous organizations declined to comment onKelland'sclaims.

Kellandis better known as Dale Donovan a full-patch Hells Angel,the highest rank in the gang who's been convicted of a number of crimes including conspiracyto commit an indictable offence,and trying to recruit gang members into a criminal organization.In 2009 he was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation.

Kelland didn't respond to multipleCBCNews requests for an interviewabout the onlinecampaign he launched against two local businesses he believed had a "no gang colours" policy.

As CBC News recently reported, he urged members to boycottbusinesses that had turned away those wearing gang colours, and urged them to leave one-star reviews of the businesses on social media.

The Nomads president has now taken to social media to rally membersin support of his calls to end what he called "discrimination."

"I don't think the Hells Angels are gonna get very far with that," said Warren Kinsella, a visiting professor in the University of Calgary's faculty of law.

ButKinsella, who isa Toronto-based lawyer and author, said businesses have the right to exclude anyone from their establishments.

"That right exists [but] they're not allowed to do that on the basis of race or religion or disability or something like that," said Kinsella.

'A bad review on steroids'

Kinsella hadnever heard of a criminal organization banding together to give businesses one-star reviews on social media. He said while that might appear almostcomical,it's not.

"This is not just a bad review, it's a bad review on steroids. It has a menacing overtone," he said.

He said words have different meanings coming out of different mouths, recalling an incident several years ago outside an Ottawa courthouse.

Kinsellahad testified at a hate trial. As hewas walking out ofthe courthouse with police, a skinhead walked by and said Kinsella'shome address.

"That's all he said he didn't say anything else."

Kinsella said police phoned him that night and told him they were arresting the skinhead because his words amounted to a threat.

He wondersif the Hells Angels' social media attacks on the Manitoba businesses could also be considered a crime.

"I think the emotional andpsychologicalimpact of hundreds of Hells Angels members going after your business, even if they're not standing there in the lobby you know, wearing their leather jackets and looking threatening even if they're not doing that, I would imagine for these businesses it is quite intimidating and quite upsetting,"said Kinsella.

Gang's online targeting of Winnipeg businesses has 'menacing overtone,' may violate the law, says lawyer

7 years ago

Duration 2:19

The president of a local chapter of the Hells Angels is comparing a Winnipeg businesses' 'no gang colours policy' to the discrimination Indigenous Canadians faced under the Indian Act.

He said police in Winnipeg should take a hard look atKelland and the other Hells Angels who posted reviews, because if they did it to threaten or intimidate a business, their actions won't be protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"What if this is not just a one off?What if this is the beginning of a strategy for these guys? It's a strategy that could have an impact on a lot of people'sbottom line," Kinsella said.

"If it's the beginning of a trend, it's something that people in politics, and bureaucrats and police and the Crown need to look at, to see if this is the start of something far more sinister."

Legislative toolkit exists: Prosecutor

MikeDesautels, supervising senior Crown in the Manitoba Prosecution Service'scriminal organization unit, saidthe province has thelegislativetoolkit to go after gang members.

"In this sense it isn't about adding more offences to the Criminal Code. We have to use the provisions that we have and that is largely dependent on the nature and quality of the evidence that we have available," he said.

Desautelsworked on a number of cases involving gang members and said section 467 of the Criminal Codesets out the offences designed to combat criminal organizations.

"A person can be convictedof some of the criminal-organization offenceswithout actually being proven to be a member of the criminal organization an association is enough,"he said.

In 2010 the province seized the Hells Angels' clubhouse in Winnipeg under theCriminal Property Forfeiture Act, and later sold it.

Last year, a judge gave policepermission to destroy the contents found within it, including 100 Hells Angels Winnipeg greeting cards, T-shirts andball caps.

A spokesperson for Canada's Department of Justicesaid last Octobera private member's bill (Bill C-349) was defeated in Parliament that would have made it a criminal offence to wear the emblem of a listed criminal organization.

"There are no plans at this time to amend theCriminal Codein this regard," the spokesperson said in an email.