Clearwater mayoral candidate has lengthy legal history, hate-filled online presence

CLEARWATER, B.C. — A man vying to become the next mayor of Clearwater has a checkered history — both online and before the courts.

Dean Clifford is the only challenger to incumbent Merlin Blackwell in the October 15 municipal election.

Clifford is an adherent to the ‘freeman on the land’ movement, whose believers assert that they are not subject to laws passed by governments, and they should not have to pay taxes.

According to a Global News story from 2015, Clifford had fought nearly 40 charges in court up to that date, many for driving without a licence. At the time of the Global News coverage, he had been convicted on 12 charges in Winnipeg, including drug and gun possession. The judge in that case chided Clifford for wasting the court’s time.

In 2018, Clifford was declared a ‘vexatious litigant’ in Alberta, meaning he is no longer allowed to bring actions before the courts in that province. The designation ‘vexatious litigant’ is given to those who the judge deems are using bad faith or frivolous arguments in a proceeding or series of proceedings.

B.C. Court Services Online says Clifford was charged with driving while prohibited on December 3, 2021 in Vernon.

Clifford was a frequent contributor to the online neo-Nazi forum Stormfront under the moniker Sovereign, according to Anti-Racist Canada. Posts under that moniker describe AIDS as “God’s Lysol,” say the virus will “kill off the race traitors,” and say the world would be a better place if Hitler would have won World War II.

His Instagram account, which he has not posted on since early 2021, includes posts sympathetic to Germany in relation to the Holocaust and denying Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Clifford’s YouTube account includes videos of him giving lengthy lectures on freeman principles and practices. It also includes a video of him “saying goodbye to Milner Ridge” outside of Milner Ridge Correctional Centre in Manitoba.

CFJC Today requested comment from Clifford for this story, but did not receive a response.