Let go on firearms charge; Immigration sends him home
Maria Canton
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Mar 26/01) - A British man who wants to be the first from his country to reach the North Pole in a solo, dog-team expedition has been deported, but not before receiving a conditional discharged on firearms charges in Territorial Court on Friday.
Gary Rolfe, 34, was in possession of two rifles after RCMP and Citizen and Immigration Canada officials arrested him outside of Inuvik in February for illegally working in the country.
Immigration waited until his court appearance before deporting him.
He left the country on Saturday.
It was his February arrest, while dog sledding along the Aklavik ice road, that led to the discovery of two firearms -- one on the sled and one in his cabin.
The guns were on loan and he did not have a firearms licence or permit.
Rolfe told the court that he was carrying a gun because he felt immense pressure to protect the borrowed dog team from rabid wildlife that was plaguing the area.
Had he been fined or given jail time, Rolfe, who wants to immigrate to Canada, would be banned from the country for five years.
His lawyer, Mark Seebaran, said a conviction would be punishment disproportionate to the crime.
Judge Michel Bourassa, however, was concerned about upholding Canada's new firearms laws when he granted the adventurer the conditional discharge, which comes with a year probation and prohibits him from using firearms.
