Leadership, equality, justice, and protection of human rights used to be synonymous as cornerstones of Canada and its government.
However the events in my life for the past 19 years, tell a very different version of Canada. These cornerstones have been replaced by harassment, defamation, racism and silenced servitude. This obvious shift creates an elitist culture that reinforces inequality, a lack of protection and silenced victims who have become human collateral damage. These victims who do not have a voice; and are left to find refuge and defence through their own means.
Canada advertises and markets itself as being a country renowned for its quality of life. Somehow they believe by adopting a more open moral society stance; being more tolerant of religious beliefs and practices through reasonable accommodation, that that will provide a standard and quality of living here that should be applauded by the globe.
However, they have forgotten the most basic tenant of public service; who they are elected by and for what purpose; the protection of all citizens.
When there is an outright attack on private citizens who will defend and protect those without a voice? Those who have been publicly humiliated and damaged all in pursuit of political aspirations and agendas. Who have been condemned in the court of public opinion. Who holds those responsible accountable?
This transcends issues of religion, sexual orientation and ethnicity; it is a matter of human rights and the right to live in peace, free of fear of continual victimization by the government. Who, above all else, are supposed to be the protectors and vindicators of the Charter of Human Rights.
What is the great Canadian promise after all? Victims without a voice.....?
My name is Michael Chamas and here is a part of my story...
Coming to Canada
I came to Canada in 1989, arriving at Ottawa, Ontario; I am a Civil Engineer and a flight instructor. When I arrived in Ottawa, I stayed at the Chateau Laurier. One night while returning back to the hotel I was mugged by 2 men. They stripped me of my clothes, took my valuables including all my money and identification. When I went to the hotel, I called the police and made a report. Eventually they arrested the men and the police informed me it would be better for me to leave the Ottawa area, since these men were known to be very violent and would come after to me again for revenge since they had been convicted and sentenced and they were related to an important Ottawa-Vanier gang. Based on the advice of the police in my mugging case; I decided to move to Mt. Tremblant area in Quebec and started property development through some mutual friends.
Political Aspirations
During my time in Ottawa I became acquainted with Canadian politics through an MP serving in Parliament whose story inspired me since he was also an immigrant who had aspired to public life and embraced the “Canadian Promise” of success.
It was then that I decided to eventually pursue a public life in Canadian politics and aiming toward the highest political position in Canada, the Prime Minister.
During the early nineties, property development business was booming and I did especially well. I eventually moved to St. Sauveur and had a couple of businesses that I was investing in as a foreign investor including a restaurant, Hotel, limousine service, and the tourism project development. It appeared that I too, was enjoying the Canadian Promise. I had become engaged to a woman whose father was a police detective from the MUC police. We were together for years, at the end things went very badly as I discovered that she had been using one of my limousines to carry seized contraband cigarettes for her father (The contraband cigarette business was booming at that time). When I confronted her upon discovery of boxes in my limousine, I called her father and told him to come immediately and pick up his belonging. When he arrived he threatened me that he would destroy my life through all his contacts and power.
It is not until you reflect back upon circumstances and situations that you realize the effect of a statement like that. During the year of 1992, I was raided by all the police bodies, SQ, RCMP, etc. at the office and my house in St. Sauveur. When the police went to my house, they took apart all the walls and turned everything upside down looking for what I do not know, but obviously they did not find what they were looking for. Eventually they had an article in the Journal de Montreal.
In investigative documents, I learned that the police suspected me of laundering money for certain persons; although I did not have any contact with or knowledge of those people the police had alleged, and also accused of white slave trade and drugs. I was very angry at these false and accusatory statements meant to harm me and my reputation, my lawyer advised that I should leave Quebec and get on with my life. I left to France, where my brother lives, and started my real estate development business in Martinque. I had been in France about a month, when my lawyer in Canada informed me that the investigation against me had been closed and that my personal and business property that had been seized had been returned to him and he suggested not to file any lawsuit against them to avoid futher harassment upon my return.
1996
In 1996, I decided to return to Canada with my wife and our son. As non-residents we had a house in St. Adele, Quebec. I began to work in various business enterprises and projects as a foreign investor, and with a hotel owner in St. Sauveur, who had been experiencing financial difficulties; I had decided to invest fully since I have done some before via Dubai; I was injecting money into the hotel through personal loans to him and eventually in 2001 I took over the hotel when he could not repay his debts to me.
Returning to my dream of the political ambition toward high office in the Federal government, I began to develop plans for major infrastructure and economic development that would have major and high impact. This was at a time when the country was experiencing some downturns in the economy; it was an exceptional time for regional development that would affect the economy positively and also have a major impact on my political endeavours.
Politics and Project Development
From 1998 to 2000 I worked on a project for the re-utilization of Mirabel airport as Canada’s first Free Trade Zone. Once again I was inspired to continue pursuing a political career in Canada. This project was very political and extremely interesting since it was international in nature. The involvement of Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Minister Bernard Landry (Quebec Vice Premier), Claude Blanchette at the time the President of SGF (Societe Generale Financement du Quebec) the husband of Minister Pauline Marois; Investissement Quebec, and Emploi Quebec, the Federal Transport Minister David Collenette, and the President of ADM, Nycol Pageau-Goyette; made this project very high-profile. Because of political factors this project was stalled. I continued to work with international investors and began to work mostly overseas in Dubai and Zurich. These financial centers presented many opportunities in development and financing. I worked at increasing the strength of my families’ banking business in Zurich, in extending its Trust Services and created a new division called Fidelis Trust AG. Through this business I have been involved in many major projects and development including telecommunications, call centers (initial centers in Halifax NS and Chandler QC), ADM project, and the UN Medical ship project Cercle de Reflexion.
Aeroceltic
In 2001, I was introduced to a company from the Montreal area, Aeroceltic, who were interested in expanding their business to include various other types of aeronautical transport. I was introduced to them by a mutual business colleague and in our discussions a few ideas about how to structure a financial expansion plan were developed. I explained what I could offer to them and told them what they needed to do to bring successful results. Conditional financing was put in place outlining the terms and conditions that were required to move forward. Months passed, I kept asking for the documentation in reference to the contracts the company supposedly had with the suppliers and companies like Atlas Air that supposedly had given directed contracts for the services of Aeroceltic, and the lease agreements for the aircraft. All of these were necessary to put the financing package together for the company. Things reached a critical stage for the company for their cash flow to pay their employees and commitments, I was asked to provide some interim financing for their operations and I gave $100,000 toward this, in an effort to assist them until they could comply in giving the documentation for the financing to be finalized.
In the end, the documentation was never provided and the financing deal fell. Unfortunately, the company had implicated the government in their expansion plans and the government began to question whether the company was implicated in some kind of fraud. In this instance, I was questioned via my lawyers and it appeared that the company was accusing me of fraud, in reality after speaking with the company president, the real truth was revealed and it was the government and police authorities who were trying to build and develop a case against me. This was because Minister Pauline Marois had made an announcement at Mirabel for this project; and because of the failure an investigation was instigated by Minister Marois with the RCMP and SQ into the failure. I received an email from the President of the company, Paul Chamberland, stating that he was intervening, through his contacts at the RCMP and SQ, with the investigation to make sure that they understood that I had not done anything but help the company. Mr. Chamberland told them we were still trying to salvage the company and the financing to be finalized.
I never committed fraud against this company nor its principals, in the opposite; I tried to help them by investing in their company from my own pocket and paying for all their travel, accommodations and presentations to the financiers. On the contrary the creation of GEL (General Equipment Leasing) and I paid for all including the losses of over $3 Million accumulated by my family in Luxembourg with provision of a bank guarantee)
Customs Canada, and Revenue Agency SAGA begins
The interference and harassment by the government has not been limited to the above mentioned activities, they have used all means to pursue me and cause problems.
When travelling back and forth between Europe and Canada, the Customs agents began to harass me, copying all my documents that I had in my briefcase and asking what I did for a living. This has become worse and worse with each passing year. They actually even removed one of the agents at the airport because of his gentle approach and talking to me.
During the time that I had the hotel in St. Sauveur had many difficulties in trying to buy out the interests from the other owners who had the other 50% ownership interests. They used every means to either stall negotiations for the purchase, or to cause bad relations with the timeshare owners. I was paying all the operating expenses of the hotel along with the administrative and support payments for taxes and renovations. Eventually, it became to much to sustain the operations and the continual fight with the other owners and I closed the hotel until the conflict could be resolved once for all. This action caused the other owners to force the company into liquidation since they would not come to an agreeable resolution for the purchase. I experienced a lot of judicial misconduct in the handling of the hotel file in St. Jerome, since the syndicate was heavily involved there with prominent officials including court staff and judges. It was hard to imagine that court procedure would be manipulated to the benefit of the association and its directors.
Global Village
In 2005 I started another company in Canada as a branch of a business in Dubai UAE, Global Village, that would provide job and relocation services. In promoting the company’s corporate relations, I donated money to the Special Olympics by sponsoring the Police of Quebec: RCMP, MUC and Surete du Quebec along with local municipal police in their annual Torch Run in 2005. My donation and corporate involvement in the event, raised an awareness and instead of goodwill, I received harassment and intimidation at the hands of the police. They started stopping our corporate vehicles regularly, harassing the employees with ‘routine’ stops.
I also, through Global Village, sponsored an SQ event for children’s baseball and activities for underprivileged kids from the St. Jerome region.
The corporate sponsorship work was introduced to me by Daniel Beaudry, who was an officer in the SQ.
Bad Advice
Near the end of 2005, Revenue Canada began to call me, send me letters and try to contact me. My lawyer, Ken Solomon of Sternthal Katznelson Montigny and a representative of TriGlobal Investments, advised that since I was non-resident I did not have to respond to their inquiries. Well this proved to be fatal advice. Revenue Agency continued their pursuit and inquiry into my personal and business affairs. [CRA investigation started against me because of one company in Quebec City fraudulently using my tax numbers.] At the point in July 2006, they placed a seizure against me, seizing millions of dollars.
In 2006, the court ordered the dissolution of the hotel company and the liquidation of the assets (the hotel). A liquidator was appointed and the hotel was put for sale. My lawyers suggested a strategy for me to regain the hotel that I had invested millions into; and that was to put an offer to purchase to the liquidator formally. Since the seizure of Revenue Canada was put in place, this precluded me from outright purchase of the hotel. And at the end of 2006, we were petitioned the court to overturn the jeopardy order in place by Canadian Revenue Agency so that I could conclude the purchase of the hotel and get back to business. However, this was not to be and the court decided to keep the jeopardy order in place and for the matter to continue. The CRA increased their tactics of intimidation by continuing their ‘version’ of investigation in concert with the police and refusing to settle.
Suspect of terrorist activities
During 2006, the Surete du Quebec also had sent a supposed friend of mine at the time, Daniel Beaudry, who was an officer in the SQ, a letter of reprimand stating that he was fraternizing with persons of criminal nature naming me and my brother. Later in that year, the SQ formalized their reprimand and told this officer that he must retire from the force. In a meeting between a high-ranking officer and this man, he was informed that the SQ suspected me of terrorist activities.
Cavallaro - Strecko
In January 2007, a former employee of mine, Daniel Cavallaro, left abruptly under very acrimonious circumstances; cutting a deal with Revenue Canada via Michel Strecko and Le Groupe Bourdreau Richard, Inc., and stole papers from my house giving them to CRA. Mrs. Cree, my assistant, filed a police complaint with the SQ because of the death threat that this former employee, Mr. Cavallaro, had made against me and of course the SQ never charge him encouraged him to do such acts by not taking the compliant and filing charges – in comparison to the police taking charges against me.
During the time of Mr. Cavallaro’s employment and his subsequent departure, there were several break-ins at my family residence that resulted in private information and business equipment and files being taken that have never recovered.
I filed police reports and named Mr. Cavallaro as the primary suspect since he had the codes for the security systems and access to keys as he had been a caretaker at the residence. After leaving, Mr. Cavallaro enlisted the help of his friend, Michel Strecko to exact revenge on me.
Identity theft
Throughout the rest of 2007 and 2008, Michel Strecko has used various methods of harassment, intimidation and extortion against me. Some of the most profound has been the ‘theft of my identity’ on websites, defamatory information, and false information contained in websites that Michel Strecko has constructed for use against me. I obtained a court order injunction against him for defamatory website and content.
Michel Strecko has systematically contacted business associates, colleagues, clients and other interested parties in an effort to completely destroy my personal and professional reputations; with the information, files, names and numbers that were stolen by my former employee from the house. On June 22, 2007; Michel Strecko made his most obvious and outright attempt at extorting money from me to make my “troubles” go away, telling me that for $5M Michel Strecko could make all my problems disappear with CRA, the government, and the various people who were supposedly against me.
I immediately filed a police report against Michel Strecko, which was rejected, but at the same time Michel Strecko filed a criminal complaint against me claiming that I had made a threat against him. His complaint was taken and charges were brought against me; however the Crown attorney dismissed the charges against when presented with the evidence of Michel Strecko’s harassment against me.
Extortion plot
In doing research about Michel Strecko, I have discovered that he has an extensive court record both in criminal and civil matters. Specifically what has been interesting to discover that he has been convicted of impersonating a police officer. A ploy he used in his pursuit of me as well Michel Strecko has had numerous files and complaints regarding extortion, criminal harassment and the like.
Michel Strecko, taking names and numbers from the documents stolen from my house, has contacted people and met with them including my brother and business associates in Toronto stating he was a policeman and at other times represented himself as an operative for CSIS.
Michel Strecko openly takes credit for working against me; and states to those he contacts or solicits to call him; stating that he is working with the authorities in assisting them against me.
Michel Strecko appears to be very well acquainted with the people and staff there. He knows who to call to intervene in his matters, he influence with judges and their staff and has made allegations that he has the power to influence judicial decisions and conduct. When the charges were dismissed he took the matter to Quebec City to try and press to have the charges put back. This did not work.
An illegal search and seizure warrant
On March 26, 2008, at approximately 4 a.m., an illegal search and seizure warrant was executed at my family residence. The warrant was for documents. The police disconnected and disabled the home surveillance and security equipment in the home, brought a canine unit to search even though this was not authorized in the warrant, and the search and seizure continued for 14.5 hours.
It should be mentioned that the RCMP placed my name on their website page with the Cancun operation. This was an intentional action to assassinate my reputation since the details on this operation can be found on the RCMP website, and it is available to the public. The RCMP also released my name to the media that same day, who then reported my name as part of the Cancun Operation arrests on TV; and on the following day in print by the newspapers. The Crown Prosecutor, Marlene Archer, confirmed to my lawyer that I had nothing to do with CANCUN operation. A demand letter was delivered to the RCMP instructing them to remove my name from this list.
LA PRESSE: André Noël et André Cédilot
On May 9, 2008, I was contacted by a reporter, Andre Noel of the La Presse in Montreal. Mr. Noel was asking me about my involvement with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Bernier and the fundraising event held on 15 January, 2008, where we both attended. I did not reply to the questions, and about a half hour after this call, Michel Strecko called me and told me that my life was about to be over, he referred to me as a “Papillion de nuit”; that my entire family, including my newborn son, had a short life span. I called the police right away and filed a report against Michel Strecko.
MAXIME BERNIER
On May 10, 2008 an article appeared in the La Presse that was very damaging to me, my family and my business interests. The article contained various false statements and information. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently sent a letter to my webhosting service in the USA, characterizing me as a criminal, contrary to the very essence of this Ministry which is to work to protect the interests of Canadian citizens in foreign jurisdictions. This letter is contrary to that completely. I am innocent until proven guilty, and should have the benefit of the doubt by public officials elected for the benefit of Canadian citizens not to their detriment. Further, the very statement in the press by the Minister’s press attaché is contrary also to the letter where it states that the photo of me with Minister Bernier was a courtesy photo.
SERGE MENARD
A few days later in the Parliament, MP Serge Menard, made false statements against me. It is also important to note that as public officials they can state anything in Parliament against a Canadian citizen without any consequences, as they have immunity. What recourse and protection do we have as Canadian citizens against elected officials who can state false information and because of their positions the information they dispense is taken for truth without question or argument? And when confronted with the situation of my characterization as a ‘criminal’ the government who had very much invited me to participate in the January 15th reception with Minister Bernier completely denies any knowledge of me or who invited me. But they were quick to take my money to help their party on more than one occasion.
The Strecko SAGA continues
The police who had taken my complaint on May 9, 2008 contacted me during the following week and stated that they would be meeting with Michel Strecko. On June 11, 2008, I received a phone call from the investigator and told him that the complaint against Michel Strecko would not be taken, in fact they wanted to speak to me as a suspect in the matter, following their discussions with Michel Strecko. This would be the second time this same thing had happened, where I filed a complaint against Michel Strecko and the result was me being treated as a suspect criminally.
I have also learned that the Crown filed an appeal in the acquittal of Michel Strecko in an extortion case, where the Crown’s position is that Michel Strecko had influenced the witnesses to recant. I spoke with the prosecutor during the month of May, 2008 and found out that the case again was compromised since one of the principle witnesses had died (unknown circumstances).
On June 3, 2008, a business associate, Mr. Keranovic, in Toronto called me and informed me of a phone call he had received from Michel Strecko. Michel Strecko has repeatedly contacted Mr. Keranovic since 2007; this time he told Mr Keranovic that he (Strecko) had just successfully shut a bank account of Mr. Chamas. That evening, I checked online for my credit card and bank account information and discovered that in fact my RBC platinum Avion Visa had been cancelled and the account closed. I contacted the customer service of Visa and was informed that this was a branch decision. I was told to visit the branch (was given the address) to inquire as to the reasons. I went to branch directly on the 4th of June, 2008 to obtain the reasons for the decision taken by the branch. I was presented with a letter at the end of the discussion.
Since that time, my American Express accounts have been closed without justification as with the RBC credit card and bank account. I believe that since there exists no reason for credit to be terminated given my high credit rating; the RCMP had taken a copy of all my credit cards on the day their executed the warrant, obtained all the credit bill statements during the seizure, it can only be attributed to the government interference and providing of deleterious information to credit providers, without cause, in a deliberate effort to maliciously harm me, and cause severe consequential damages to my family and my business.
No charges have ever been laid against me in connection with the Cancun Operation and the illegal Search and Seizure Warrant executed at my family residence in March 2008.
I have invested and spent millions of dollars here in Canada for investments, development costs, charity, Humanitarian aid, Airline projects, free trade zone projects, and an acquisition of Laurentian Bank. In my political aspirations I have also made numerous contributions for political interests in the economy, job development, project financing, and the marketing and exporting of Canadian know-how.
My return of these investments from our government are personal damages and significant business losses. Was that the Great Canadian Promise?
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