B.C. judge orders ‘vexatious’ litigant to pay First Nation $25,000 in costs

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered a member of a Kamloops-area First Nation band to pay $25,000 in security costs and to stay away from more than a dozen people.

Justice Hope Hyslop says in a pair of written decisions released Tuesday that Peter August-Sjodin has shown through a number of court filings that he intends to intimidate and frustrate the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band.

The rulings say that in January 2015, August-Sjodin was banned from several of the First Nation's properties, including its administration offices, a gas station and a daycare, but he continued to enter the buildings and harass people.

Hyslop says the ban was the latest in a number of court cases August-Sjodin has launched against the band, and she describes the man's allegations and the legal basis for them as scandalous, frivolous and vexatious.

Many of August-Sjodin's court filings suggest he does not believe he is bound by Canada's laws.

Hyslop has also ordered August-Sjodin to stay away from six of the First Nation's buildings, to not contact its administration office or 14 other people named in the decision.