Over five years after their arrest on September 11, 2004, Bruce and Donna Montague had their day in court at the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto.

It's taken months of legal preparation, a 18,000km drive to Toronto for the Montagues, and over two hundred thousand dollars of generous donations from liberty-loving Canadians across the country for the case expenses.

After the Rally outside, everyone moved over to the court room for a 10:30am start. The courtroom was packed with supporters, leaving many to stand.

The Montagues' lawyer Mr. Christie argued that Canadians have a fundamental right to self-protection, which entails the right to possess effective tools for that purpose.

The appeal was heard by the Honourable:
Justice Michael Moldaver
Justice James MacPherson
Justice Eleanore Cronk

Mr. Douglas Christie was given 2 hours to present the Montagues' appeal issues and completed his submissions by 12:30pm. Mr. Christie established that, despite opinion comments in various precedent judgements, no Canadian court had directly considered the question before the court -- that of the fundamental right of possession of firearms for self-defense.

He went on to argue that the constitutional heritage of Canada gives citizens the right to security of person through section 7 of the Charter, rights which the court has an obligation to uphold against infringements by parliament.

The crown was given 1.5 hours to respond, but took only 30 minutes to answer the justices on the questions of 1) the crown's inflamatory address, 2) the changing of the charges, 3) the cruel and unusual 18 month jail sentence for a non-violent crime, and 4) the crown's bid for forfeiture of the Montagues' firearms.

The justices anticipated that they would release their ruling shortly.

For more information or comment, contact Bruce Montague at 416 497 9309 or 647 292 9199 until February 20, 2010. Contact Bruce at 807 937 2197 after February 20, 2010.