Using someone else fishing license.
 

Hey guys, so I have a question. This weekend my daughter in law was out fishing and Fish and Wildlife came by. She doesn't have a fishing and panicked. She tried to pass off the license of someone else who wasn't fishing as her own. Needless to say she got caught. Both of them have a court appearance under

Authority to conduct activities under a licence
5.1(1) A person who is not the licence holder shall not conduct
any activity pursuant to a licence unless that person
(a) is the person who is identified in the instrument under
section 5(1.1) or (6), as the case may be, or
(b) is specifically authorized to do so by or under the Act or
this Regulation.
(2) The holder of a licence shall not allow the licence to be used by
another person in a manner that involves a contravention of
subsection (1).

First of all I already gave my daughter in law **** for not simply getting her license and second for trying to pass off someone else license as hers.

She's freaking out thinking this is a criminal charge and will carry a massive fine. I can't find anything online what the penalty is for either of the people involved in this. Does anyone know what the this carries and is it a criminal conviction?

Sounds like she got lucky if only she is getting the ticket... Whoever let her use their license should have got that ticket and she should have got one for unauthorized sportfishing.

According to the following link it looks like it is only $75 fine which is pathetically low imo...

https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/laws/re...g-63-2017.html

Those are only a few of the fines(and covers the act you referenced). Others can be seen here.

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/r...e-12.html#h-40

I assume since you don't know the value already she has a mandatory court hearing regarding this case. In hopes of her learning her lesson I hope they give her more then the $75.

Hopefully you will step in and tell her not to fish next time if she still doesn't have her license.

As for the conviction I assume this is more like a speeding ticket then say a break and enter etc. Probably doesn't affect much of anything unless she gets caught again.

Thanks RavYak,

Both of them have an order to appear in court. I agree she got lucky, they could of hit her with the $57 fine for not having a license and court appearance for using someone's license.

This freaked her out pretty bad, so I'm sure she's learned her lesson at this point and won't be pushing her luck again.


Thanks again for the links.

She should be proactive as well, Go buy a license and take the valid license to court to help her case.

That's a great Idea. I will suggest that for sure.

That's a good idea.

Criminal charges only come from the criminal code I believe, so she should have been charged under the wildlife act and will just have to pay a fine

That's what I told her, she was upset because the F & W officer told her she wouldn't be able to get into the US with a record and was generally being a hard ass. They don't even appear in a provincial court. it's at some Inn in Red Deer.

Same thing happened to a friend and they were fined and lost their ability to buy a license for one yr. Basically a ban on fishing for one full year.

Have heard similar stories before as well(regarding 1 year ban). Might want to save the few bucks and not purchase a license before hand.

That's the overflow for court in red deer.

Not a criminal offense, but if you can't do the time, don't do the Crime fits. No sympathy here. Guess he could have charged her with impersonating the license holder, which would be a Criminal offense.

Grizz

No sympathy here either. She's young, they will learn. Just curious what she can expect. I know she won't ever try and use another person's license ever again.

This
And get the licence PDQ. Don't wait until the day before court.

BW

I am struggling with this one. Is the reasoning that she is such an avid fisherman that she expects she is going to be fishing again before trial? I would think the Judge may think she is trying to pull a fast one, or will tell her that buying after the crime (it is) is pointless.
I would seriously think beyond the box on this one before buying another license.

It shows that she fished without a lisence and because she feels guilty for it, went out and bought a license. Even though she is going to be fined.

It also shows that even after the fact, she has chosen to purchase a license, contributing to the system and towards conservation.

What Talking Moose says is my reasoning for getting the licence. The licence is good till the end of March 2018. It will show that she intends to fish again and will do so with a fishing licence.

First offence, young, licence in her pocket a judge may just let her off easily.

That being said the one who borrowed her the licence should have her current licence revoked and lose her fishing privileges in Alberta till 2019.

BW

I don't see any benefit in buying a license right now. The penalties are small and I highly doubt that buying a license would have any sway on a judge in this case.

She is going to get fined no matter what she does. My guess is that a suspension is very likely as well since she lied and tried to fool the officer.

If she had just been caught without a license and she said she didn't realize she needed one then I could see a judge going easier if said person bought a license right after.

That isn't the case here though, the main case is going to be against her blatantly lying to an officer. Buying a license isn't going to help argue that case one bit and it will very possibly be throwing money away if her license is suspended.

Save the money and put it towards the fine imo.

She fished. She should buy a licence.
She got caught fishing with no license, she should also be convicted for that as well.
My take.

And that helps her in the court case how?

The case isn't going to be about her fishing without a license, I am pretty sure the CO's would have just given her the fine on the spot for that.

The issue is that she lied and impersonated another individual and her friend allowed her to do so. That is why the charge is the one the OP listed and not just unauthorized to fish. This will be the focus of the court case and buying a license does not help explain why she acted this way.

Like I say if it was just because she got charged for not having a license then I would agree with you guys but not in this situation as that isn't what she is even being summoned to court for.

Who cares about the court case. She fished, she should buy a licence.

She fished without a licence, she should also pay the penalty.
Maybe she will feel better about herself for buying a licence. I would.

I don't think the age of the people was ever mentioned. If the daughter in law and her friend are 40 years old and have done a bunch of fishing over the years then the judge is likely to decide they are old enough to know better and were trying to mislead a CO and may come down on them fairly hard. If they are 20 years old and haven't done much fishing and state the truth that they panicked and acted irrationally out of panic then the judge may be more lenient. Not sure how much leeway the judge has in issuing fines and suspensions, but the age and experience of the violators could make a big difference if the judge has some leeway.

Fishing without a license is hardly anything.
Telling a peace officer you're someone you're not IS a big deal though.

So they just happened to have someone else's fishing license with them and didn't take it with them planning to use it in case they got checked?

Looks bad.

http://criminalnotebook.ca/index.php...ficer_(Offence)

If the Officer or Judge is in a bad mood, or she doesn't play her cards right,

Offences relating to public or peace officer
129. Every one who
(a) resists or wilfully obstructs a public officer or peace officer in the execution of his duty or any person lawfully acting in aid of such an officer,
(b) omits, without reasonable excuse, to assist a public officer or peace officer in the execution of his duty in arresting a person or in preserving the peace, after having reasonable notice that he is required to do so, or
(c) resists or wilfully obstructs any person in the lawful execution of a process against lands or goods or in making a lawful distress or seizure,
is guilty of
(d) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or
(e) an offence punishable on summary conviction.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 118; 1972, c. 13, s. 7.

Don't buy a fishing licence before court, she's going to get a suspension, and it's not going to sway the judge.

Go to the crown before court, extend regret and tell them you've learned your lesson. Thats about all she can do

I agree with this totally. Anything else will make her look sneaky. Not what you want.

So many in today's society have twisted ideas of important things. I'd be happy to come and argue the case for her in front of the judge and tell him that society is over-regulated about nonsensical things. A fishing license for a young girl who is visiting. For sure, give her the electric chair! :fighting0074:

and in the same breath, many would say far too many do not care about laws, morals, about important things. What is there to argue? She has no valid defense, she knowingly broke the law and has to pay. What are you going to teach her, how to try to get out of punishment for doing illegal things, no matter if you or she agree with the law? Falsifying ID is a very stupid thing to do, no offense meant to the OP, please do not take it that way, OP.
Your teaching is flawed.
Plus you have absolutely nothing to gain or lose in offering to plea a case, unless you are a Lawy student and are looking for pro-bono work experience.
Why not put the young impressionable person on the right path instead of trying to get her off?