International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 6 2023 66
means consent.” CERI members employ these rules
to claim “ecclesiastical notices” impose obligations
on perceived enemies. These demand documents,
when ignored, purportedly create binding “private
agreements.” Originally, CERI members bulk mailed
or emailed their ecclesiastical notices to government,
institutional, and court actors (CP (Re), 2019 ABQB
310, paras. 1, 18, 22 Meads v Meads, 2012 ABQB 571,
paras. 135-137), or published “ecclesiastical notices” in
newspapers (e.g., “Private Agreement,” 2011a “Private
Agreement,” 2011b). The more recent CERI practice is
to “notify” targets with YouTube videos (e.g., Paraclete,
2014f Paraclete, 2015c Paraclete, 2018).
While CERI pseudolaw schemes have been largely static
since the early 2000s, around 2017 CERI members
began to frame their demands as a form of religious
accommodation. They now claim their religious
rights also flow from international treaties, such as
the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and
Culture Rights, that allegedly have supraconstitutional
authority (CP (Re), 2019 ABQB 310, paras. 21, 26
Potvin (Re), 2018 ABQB 652, paras. 47-49 Williams
v Payette, 2019 FC 800, para. 2). This “international
treaties are supreme law” scheme is not original to
CERI, but, instead, was developed by Freeman-on-
the-Land guru “John Spirit” (actual name unknown)
around 2014, and, by 2017, was debunked in multiple
Canadian court decisions (Netolitzky, 2023a, pp. 822-
824 Netolitzky &Warman, 2020, pp. 741-742).
B. “minister” Edward Robin Jay Belanger
The important and sometimes central role of pseudolaw
leader and teacher figures is well-documented
(McRoberts, 2019, pp. 638-642 Meads v Meads, 2012
ABQB 571, paras. 85-153 Netolitzky, 2016 Netolitzky,
2019, pp. 1182-1186). Historically, these individuals
were critical vectors who transmitted pseudolaw into
new locales and populations. For example, Detaxer
guru Eldon Warman appears to be the key “Typhoid
Mary” who “localized” US pseudolaw concepts into a
form compatible with the Canadian legal framework
(Netolitzky, 2018b, pp. 6-8). This role for gurus has
shrunken as pseudolaw was incorporated within the
cultic milieu (Netolitzky, 2021, p. 186).
Some gurus also developed new pseudolaw, though
truly novel innovations are the exception. In Canada,
pseudolaw has been largely stagnant (Netolitzky,
2019, pp. 1182-1186). McRoberts accurately describes
stereotypic guru activities as “[collecting] bits and
pieces of information like magpies, shuffling through
misunderstood cases, excerpts from statutes they have
not read, definitions from out-of-date legal dictionaries,
legal maxims they found online, and other snippets
to assemble fragile frameworks around their beliefs.”
(McRoberts, 2019, p. 652). Belanger fits this model.
CERI’s guru, Edward Jay Robin Belanger, is an
Edmonton-area artist and criminal turned pseudolaw
promoter. Belanger also purports to offer “deregistration
services” “from a fraud” (Bondservant, n.d.). Belanger
employs several titles: “minister,” “Paraclete,” and
“Bondservant.” “minister” is consistently spelled
with a lower-case “m.” While Belanger claims to be
disabled, and demands government assistance on that
basis (Paraclete, 2015b), Belanger has been caught
advertising handyman services, which he claims he is
physically unable to complete.
Figure 2 -“minister” Edward Jay Robin Belanger. This image
is typical of Belanger’s instructional and recruitment YouTube
videos, and illustrates Belanger’s stereotypic “talking head”
lecture format. Belanger almost never employs lecture aids or
other supporting materials, but simply conducts a monologue.
In this instance, Belanger is demanding “accommodation” from
an Edmonton-area lawyer, Pat Hart (Paraclete, 2019).
Belanger’s lengthy criminal record includes drug,
trafficking, and weapons offenses (Unrau v National
Dental Examining Board,2019ABQB283,para.196).In
many ways CERI is Belanger he created CERI and is the
one constant core personality throughout its existence.
Other CERI affiliates are temporary associates who
subsequently usually abandon pseudolaw or move on to
follow some other gurus (Potvin (Re), 2019 ABQB 785,
para. 27). This kind of transient affiliation is frequently

ISSN: 2710-4028 DOI: doi.org/10.54208/1000/0006 67
encountered in those who employ pseudolaw. A few
longer-term CERI affiliates are known, such as “minister
Catherine Flamond” (Paraclete, 2013), but these few
individuals are the exception.
Belanger is probably Canada’s longest continuously
active pseudolaw guru, with pseudolaw activities going
back around 25 years. Belanger’s only apparent rival
is Detaxer David Kevin Lindsay. Lindsay began his
pseudolaw activities in the mid 1990s (Netolitzky, 2016,
p. 620), but throughout the 2010s Lindsay focused on
an entirely conventional debt collection matter where
Lindsay was represented by a lawyer (LindsayvAmbrosi,
2019 BCSC 358 Lindsay v Ambrosi, 2019 BCCA 442).
Lindsay has since resurrected his pseudolaw projects
during the COVID-19 pandemic (Netolitzky, 2023a,
pp. 815-817).
While Belanger currently presents himself as a King
James Bible literalist, he initially instead self-identified
as a member of the “Church of the Universe,” and the
“Edmonton Grove of the Church of Reformed Druids”
[EGCRD]. These two affiliations are interesting. The
Church of the Universe11 is an Ontario “pot church”
operated by “Reverend Brothers” Walter Tucker and
Michael Baldasaro, two long-time marijuana promoters
and traffickers (R v Baldasaro, 2009 ONCA 676).
Founded in 1969, the Church of the Universe’s central,
and only, dogma is that marijuana use is a religious
sacrament (Tucker v Canada, 2003 FC 1008, paras. 18-
22). Marijuana is the “Tree of Life.” From at least 1982
onward, Tucker and Baldasaro frequently litigated
in Federal Courts, Ontario Courts, and the Supreme
Court of Canada, arguing the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms permitted unrestricted marijuana
production, distribution, and use. Federal Courts’
docket records include 28 actions and appeals from
1985-2004. Supreme Court of Canada proceedings
include 12 Baldasaro and 14 Tucker unsuccessful
leave applications, the earliest of which solely involved
“Michael Baldasaro, Baron of Hamilton” (Baldasaro
v Ontario (12 March 1982), Ottawa 17400 (SCC)).
Church of the Universe litigation does not involve
pseudolaw concepts, though at one point Tucker and
Baldasaro attempted to involve the United Nations, but
via conventional means (MAB v Canada, 1993). The
Church of the Universe website listed Belanger as an
affiliate (see also “Minister Donald,” n.d.).
11 Archived website: https://web.archive.org/web/20221017225038/
http://www.iamm.com/.
Belanger’s other pre-CERI association, the EGCRD, is
less well documented. In the 1980s through to 2000s,
this group unsuccessfully sought religious tax-exempt
status (O’Halloran, 2014, p. 343), and operated illegal
drug and alcohol-related businesses, purporting these
were religious activities (Brooymans, 2001 Powell,
1998 R v Fehr, 2004 ABQB 859). The EGCRD made
flamboyant religious claims. For example, in 1994, an
after-hours bar, identified as a “Druid church,” was
raided and shut down by the Edmonton Police Service
(Farrell, 1994). The “Druids” supposed religious
activity was consuming “Druid fluid” (beer, rye, vodka)
and communing via telepathic prayer.
Belanger self-reports he became a “Head Druid” of the
Onoway Grove in 1993, and founded the Cariboo Grove
in 2003 (“Minister Donald,” n.d.). EGCRD “Grand
Druid” Kevin Sisk granted Belanger both a “Philosophy
Degree ...Ph.d Doctorate of Theosophy and Theocratic
law” and a “Master of law degree.” Interestingly, in a
2021 video, Belanger recounts his Druidical activities,
and explains that he and his peers from 1986 onward
used the very same Criminal Code based arguments
later employed by CERI (Paraclete, 2021a). Belanger
is explicit: the EGCRD was a mechanism to exploit
purported religious status for personal profit.
Belanger’s pseudolaw guru activities began in 2001. He
appeared in Alberta and Manitoba courts, claimed he
represented persons accused of criminal drug offenses,
and denounced the judges as traitors (Brooymans,
2001 Damuzi, 2001 “Faith In,” 2002 R v Friesen (6
December 2002), Winnipeg CR02-01-23494 (Man
QB)). Unsurprisingly, despite Belanger’s claims of
religious authority, the accused were convicted.
Belanger next attempted to intrude into a county
development decision, where he deployed pseudolaw
oath of office arguments (KiliniCreek/PatriciaHillsArea
Landowners v Lac Ste. Anne (County of) Subdivision
and Development Appeal Board, 2001 ABCA 92 Kilini
Creek Area Landowners v Lac Ste. Anne (County of),
2001 ABCA 117). At this point Belanger self-identified
both as a “Minister of the Church of Reformed Druids”
(Damuzi, 2001), and a “Minister” of CERI (“Letter to a
top Mason,” 2009).
CERI’s first known involvement in a court proceeding
occurred in 2002, when the Canada Trustco Mortgage
Company sought to foreclose Belanger’s Onoway-area