Todd Standing Gets His Day in Canadian Court

Todd Standing in his recent video talking about the court case. (Image credit: Sylvanic Bigfoot)

Bigfoot researcher and documentarian Todd Standing appeared in court in British Columbia on Tuesday, August 14th to argue in favor of his case to force the government to officially recognize Sasquatch.

Standing released a video to his YouTube channel, Sylvanic Bigfoot, prior to the court date, in which he read aloud a press release as prepared by his distributor.

On August 14th at 9:45 a.m. in Vancouver, British Columbia, the court case to prove the existence of Sasquatch begins in British Columbia. Todd Standing, represented by Troy Hunter, of the [New Columbia Law Corporation] will attempt to prove in a court of law that the species commonly referred to as Bigfoot does, in fact, exist, and the Department of Fish & Wildlife have been derelict in their duty by not recognizing this indigenous species. 

For the past decade, Todd has spent thousands of days in the backcountry wilderness of North America, risking his safety and resources to prove the existence of Sasquatch. His experiences, photographs, and videos of the Sasquatch species have been featured globally in the major media. Standing has been on TV dozens of times and created a documentary, 'Discovering Bigfoot', that went to number one on Amazon upon its release in December of 2017 and is now available on Netflix in 26 countries.  

Todd has taken university professors, wildlife biologists, and PhDs, and even Les Stroud of 'Survivorman' himself into Sasquatch habitat and shown them the reality of the Sasquatch species. In spite of having filmed them on multiple occasions and having gathered significant evidence, Fish & Wildlife have never made any attempt to investigate his claims. For the past 12 years, Todd has been challenging the Departments of Fish & Wildlife in Alberta, British Columbia, Montana, Washington, and, more recently, with his court case in California “to come out with me in the field, and I will show you a Sasquatch"; only to be denied that opportunity in every instance.  

In his efforts to protect these indigenous sentient creatures around the world, Standing and his representatives are diligently preparing evidence and documentation to prove their case. For the near term, the focus will be in the supreme court of British Columbia, after which time [Standing] intend[s] to file [his] court case in California with researcher Claudia Ackley. 

“They are taking this extremely seriously,” Standing went on to say. “They are trying to have this dismissed on every level.” 

“They don’t want this thing touched. And they damn well better be like that, because if this thing gets to court, if I get this before a judge, I will prove beyond any reasonable doubt with PhDs testifying, fishery officers, police officers, nurses, engineers will all come...and my footage, Jeff Meldrum’s evidence, Jimmy Chilcutt’s fingerprint analysis...and the DNA that exists...I will blow them out of the water," he said.

A previous lawsuit filed in California court on Standing's behalf by researcher Claudia Ackley was voluntarily dismissed by Ackley last March on the ill-considered advice of a "silver-tongued" lawyer, according to Standing.

The Ministry of Forests will reportedly move to dismiss the case in British Columbia.

Update 8/15/18: Justice Kenneth Ball has decided to reserve his decision; meaning he will provide it in writing at a later date.

Ministry of Attorney General articled student Marina Goodwin argued that Standing's case lacked merit because it "lacks an air of reality."

Goodwin also argued that Standing has provided no evidence that his rights have been violated, and that the judicial branch does not have jurisdiction in the matter.

“It’s possibly a matter for legislature or executive, but to determine whether or not the province should recognize a species of animal is, with the greatest of respect, not a matter for the courts to decide,” she said.

Troy Hunter, the attorney for Standing, argued in favor of the "compelling and substantial" evidence that he says will be brought to trial if the case proceeds, and that although the protection of wildlife is the crux of the case, it is also about a serious constitutional issue--namely that Standing faces discrimination for his beliefs, and has been ridiculed due to the province's lack of support.

Hunter also said that a positive judgment in the case could open the door for the province to pass legislation protecting Sasquatch.

“This case is not frivolous. There is a substantial question to be tried, and there is a serious purpose involved,” he said. “It is insufficient for the province to take the position that sasquatch does not exist, then do nothing about it when the public raises concerns and provides evidence that sasquatch exists."

Despite reserving his decision, Justice Ball did suggest that the matter was more fit for the executive branch of the provincial government to decide, and wondered if there was any existing precedent for a court declaring the existence of an animal.

Reserved decisions often take months before they are delivered.

This is but one small setback for Standing, and controversy has plagued him since the release of his purported documentary Discovering Bigfoot; from accusations of silencing critics to profiteering to skepticism of the motivation behind the two lawsuits claiming to prove the existence of Sasquatch.  The most recent accusation leveled against Standing came in the form of an article by Tyler Huggins which asserted that the participants in Todd Standing's various video enterprises were aware that what they were participating in was a deliberate mockumentary.  Huggins later issued a statement challenging Standing to "release any and all participants in any of [Standing's] efforts surrounding Sasquatch, of any confidentiality agreements they signed."

Standing has yet to comment on the allegations.

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