Damian M. Douziech was fined $150 for having an illegal campfire near Marmot Basin on June 7, 2009.

Douziech, who represented himself, tried to have the case thrown out of court before pleading guilty to the charge. He also argued that he didn’t realize it was illegal to have a fire in the park and was never told about a previous court date.

During sentencing, Judge Don Norheim said, “you’ve tried to give me the impression that because they didn’t point out to you the court date.... it’s your responsibility (to know).”

“You can’t pass on the responsibility of your actions onto the authorities.”

Despite the Crown suggesting the fire was “large”, Douziech said the fire was “by no means large, it was a standard camp size fire.”

“Illegal or not I didn’t know it was... and there was previous fire rings there,” he said after the court heard that the fire was within a large fire ring.

Douziech explained that he had done extensive research prior to coming to the park, but realized later that he was reading about provincial fire laws, rather than the national park.

When sentencing, Norheim explained, “Jasper National Park (JNP) is a national park... governed by national laws. Your research was inadequate. The rules in JNP  are unlike the rules that apply in other parts.” 

The fire-starter explained to Norheim that the fire was of little threat as he has previously worked as a firefighter and was well aware of how to deal with fires. 

He also told the judge that he thought he had been punished enough as he had lost $10,000 after he failed to appear in court.

Douziech explained that because he was a corporate finance worker, a client had overheard the call about the failure to appear charges and decided to cancel a $100,000 policy which resulted in his loss.

Furthermore, the Edmonton man said that he was unaware of his previous court date because the wardens had not told him about the date when charging him, but instead handed him a folded up piece of paper and explained there would be a fine.

The Crown told the judge that there was no water source nearby and the fire risk was high on that day.

However, Douziech argued there was a stream on the opposite side of Marmot Basin Road where he had started the fire.

Jasper National Park warden Darian Sillence, who was one of the officers who laid the charge, said he was unsure if the stream was there, but there was no water source found on the day of the offence.

Douziech continued to plead his case, alleging that Sillence and the other officer had behaved inappropriately on the day, treating him like a “criminal”. He also told the judge he may file a civil case against the officers.

Prior to sentencing, Douziech asked if he could explain the situation, to which Norheim replied, “let me tell you before you go on. Before you started going on, I was thinking $150 fine, but now I’m thinking more along the lines of $500.”

Norheim fined the man $150, stating “there was no actual risk to the resource in any way.”