SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Upholding citizens' rights has always been important for army reservist Marie-Angelo Urbancig, and now he has gone head to head with Yellowknife's bylaw department.

Marie-Angelo Urbancig stands in his yard, where the city removed three vehicles. Urbancig wants the chance to defend his case in court. - James Chester/NNSL photo

Urbancig is involved in a battle with the Municipal Enforcement Division, which enforces bylaws in the city. The conflict began over a year ago when he was advised by a bylaw officer of a complaint about the state of his property in the Northland trailer park.

Now, with three of his vehicles and other property confiscated, Urbancig is angry that he has had no chance to defend himself in court.

The 52-year-old man was warned on July 25 and Oct. 15, 2008 by bylaw officers (and the second time, an official with the fire department) to clean up his yard. On June 17, 2009, he was served a clean-up order and says he was told he would be monitored closely.

The deadline was July 17, when he stayed home awaiting an inspector. When nobody came, Urbancig assumed his efforts had been satisfactory and thought the matter was closed.

The order itself was not unreasonable, he says. "I always admitted my guilt." According to Northland manager Mike Roy, "there's a lot of properties in here that are unsightly but it wasn't to the extent of his at that time … you couldn't even make it to the door."

"People had been to his property since (June 17) and determined that it wasn't cleaned up," says Doug Gillard, manager of the Municipal Enforcement Division.

On Sept. 9, Urbancig was handed a summons for "failing to comply with an order" under the municipality's Unsightly Lands bylaw 3979, asking him to appear before a Justice of the Peace on September 28 at 7 p.m..

When Urbancig got to the court, the doors were locked. When he returned home from work the next day, his belongings had been confiscated during the day.

In an e-mail on September 30 to Urbancig, Gillard admitted there had been a mistake and the court date on the ticket should have been Sept. 29.

He wrote, "the ticket has been withdrawn because of this error and after speaking with legal counsel, we will not be reissuing a ticket for this offence … I am sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused you."

"I don't understand me being issued a ticket for non-compliance, the ticket being annulled, then how come I'm non-compliant?" asks Urbancig. "They have been judge, jury and executioner by taking my property."

"The removal of the belongings and the charge are two totally separate issues," says Gillard. Even if Urbancig had not been asked to appear in court, the property would have been taken. If he was unhappy with the order, "his first process was to appeal to the city council, which he didn't do."

Would the property have been taken had Urbancig been found not guilty? Gillard would not comment.

As the summons was revoked, Urbancig does not know how he could have violated the bylaw – he had no communication with the city between July 17 and Sept. 9 and was unaware that he was still on the wrong side of the law.

However, section 17a of the bylaw says, "an Enforcement Officer may … enter the property against which the (clean-up) Order has been issued and carry out the Order."

The city does not have to notify the owner of the removal of property.

Urbancig's aim is that "nobody else ever be put in the same situation to not be able to represent themselves in court. If somebody is guilty of an infraction to have somebody at least … show the courtesy and decency to show up on the day they're supposed to."

He has been given 14 days from Sept. 30 to retrieve his property from the Solid Waste Facility before it is destroyed. He must pay all the costs incurred by the city in taking the property, which are sent in a statement within 30 days of the clean-up.

"The resolution at minimum is the return of my property, intact," says Urbancig. He feels that he has been singled out in Northland and has contacted the mayor and RCMP to enlist their help.

"I would like to do try to do something so people are not bullied any more," he says. "I could not look myself in the mirror if I did not do this."