Critics claim city circumvents spirit of the law with enforcement practices

 Thursday, May 18, 2017

[exerpts regarding the Twelve Tribes in Winnipeg are in bold]

A reduced-speed school zone warning sign near Ellen Douglass School on Elgin Avenue in Winnipeg on Mon., May 15, 2017. The school has been operating an off-campus high school class and the building has been sold, but the city still has it designated a school zone. (Kevin King/Winnipeg Sun/Postmedia Network)

The province refers to 89 East Gate as a “non-funded independent school,” but a portion of the Education Administrative Act singles out such an institution as not meeting the criteria of a private school. The act states a private school “does not include any home or place” referred to in a Public Schools Act clause dealing with non-funded independents.

“They dotted them all over the city to the extreme,” Dube said. “There’s school zones that were never school zones before reduced speed zones (came into law in 2014). They just appeared. They don’t even hold themselves to their very clear provincial criteria. Believe me there are more.”

In a statement, a city spokeswoman said the annual Schools in Manitoba book serves as reference for what the city determines is a school and, by extension, a school zone.

That book, however, has inconsistencies that call into question its efficacy. The phone number listed for Twelve Tribes is not assigned to the organization and a man who answered a reporter’s call to that number did not know what Twelve Tribes was.

The book also calls Ellen Douglass School on Elgin Avenue a K-12 school, but a Winnipeg School Division spokeswoman said it is not that and is instead being used for “off-campus programs” for high school students. The spokeswoman also confirmed the building has been sold but the WSD has permission “to run a small off-campus class there” until the end of the school year.

At the very least, Dube said, those inconsistencies call into question the city’s practices.

“It makes you wonder why we pay so many people so much money,” he said. “… The public needs to re-evaluate how much of their paycheques they’re willing to hand over to an increasingly disconnected civil service.”

Multiple requests for interviews with a representative of the city were not accommodated.

Multiple requests to the Winnipeg Police Service to confirm if they’ve enforced the Elgin zone recently were not answered.

Rodney Bolianaz, a former traffic enforcement specialist with the Winnipeg Police Service said instances like these make it easy for the public to be cynical about the city’s practices.

“Did they just do this whole thing because they’re trying to make a cash grab? Anybody in the world can say ‘No, it’s about the safety of the children and it’s a good idea’ and have a pragmatic argument,” said Bolianaz, who now runs ticket-fighting operation RadarRodney.com. “But the way it’s being done, in my opinion, is a cash grab.”

dlarkins@postmedia.com

Twitter: @LarkinsWSun

2004-Broward Palm BeachNew Times: Protect the Abuser,The Twelve Tribes sect defends its own aiding accused child

molesters

2005 TheChamplainChannel.com/Church member arrested for abuse-5 years later

2005-The Caledonian record: Massa. Man Cited For Sex Abuse Had Links To Church-2005

2007-Boston Globe: Former Island Pond Church Teacher Gets Time Served in Sex Case

2014-Burlington free press: Jury awards $35M to victim of sex abuse

2013-PrinceGeorgeCitizenNews: Man convicted after ‘bizarre’ child-porn confession

2014-Cap Cod Times-Lawyer: Convicted abuser dodging payment

2015-CBC Manitoba: Controversy over children’s safety at religious community

2015-CBC Manitoba: Controversial religious group Twelve Tribes reported to Cybertip

25 May 2016                                       

Jason Shinduke is a member of the Twelve Tribes community in Kingston.

Tysha’s doctor, Dr Catherine Berry, who was a General Practitioner but also practised alternative therapies, introduced us to the Twelve Tribes.  Dr Berry recommended that we should go to the Twelve Tribes for some respite care despite her ignorance of the group. Dr Berry sent Tysha to this highly dangerous environment despite diagnosing Tysha with postnatal depression.  I was unaware that Tysha suffered with this.  Tysha stayed for five days whilst I continued running my business and getting some rest as our son suffered with severe illness.  By the time we first visited the Twelve Tribes both of us were severely sleep deprived due to my son’s illness.

After being there for only two days Tysha believed herself a sinner and bound for hell and believed that her only salvation was to give everything up and to give her life to the Twelve Tribes.  Tysha was prepared to leave me and told her family that she would live full time in the Twelve Tribes.  The elders of the Twelve Tribes however told her that she would need to “leave to win me over” and started giving her advice on how to do this.

A few years previous to meeting the Twelve Tribes Tysha and I became “Christians” and regularly attended the local Sydney Anglican Church.  We were initially very happy but after a few years of attending this church we started to see many things that troubled us – mainly people’s lack of commitment, the hollowness of people’s faith, and the meaninglessness of calling each other our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We started to visit the Twelve Tribes regularly and over a period of 5 months I discussed the Bible with them and argued over points.  They however had a very good defense for most things that I came up with.  I shared some of the claims with my minister but with no real answers coming forward I was left to struggle through their “apparent” doctrine on my own.  Also the support I received from my church minister only helped their assertions against the Christian system.

I finally decided to join this group after they answered a few key questions.

1. I asked if a single leader was in charge.

The leaders told me that they didn’t have any leaders, that everyone was equal. Truly Elbert Eugene Spriggs is their leader and holds ultimate authority.  A definite hierarchy exists in every community.

2.  Who writes the teachings?

The elders told me that anyone could write “teachings” and many people do, and that the “teachings” don’t come from one person.  Actually, Spriggs writes over 90% of the teachings and the others are based on his teachings.  Spriggs must approve any other teachings to make the teachings available.

3.  I asked them what they based their authority and beliefs on?

They said they only derived their authority on the Bible.  In reality they believe that Spriggs is an apostle, just like Paul, and that God sends new revelation about the end of the age through him. Spriggs’s teachings hold the same authority as the Bible.

4.  I asked if we gave up everything that they would look after all our needs?

The Tribes supposedly never make enough money for even the basics such as food, medical and dental.  Despite these economic insufficiencies, they spent approximately $600,000 on an evangelistic event in Washington DC in 2001.  They also bought a boat for $380,000 that they are still repairing, and they purchased a small German village for an unspecified sum.  This is I believe to fulfill some pipe dream of Spriggs that they will sail around the world selling handmade shoes and candles whilst living in village settings growing food and raising sheep.  In contrast, when my wife needed two root canals and 7 fillings due to poor diet they didn’t have the money. I was told to ask my family to pay for it.

I finally decided to join for the following reasons:

1. I did not want to live as a hypocrite.

2.  The Twelve Tribe’s children appeared well behaved and happy and I believed I struggled as a father.

3.  They offered me help as a father and caused me to believe that the marriages in the group were strong because of the support that they received from each other.  This I found out was far from the truth.  They held secret women’s meetings in which the women are told to inform on their husbands, and that they needed to be loyal first to the group.  The women are also taught how to manipulate their husbands to stay and believe.  Interestingly, Tysha used this on me before we even joined, to “win me over.”

4.  I also felt that Tysha would leave me to join this group.  I wanted to keep our family together.  I found out after I left the Tribes that she told her sister that was exactly what she would do.
Early Days
At first I really believed in the teachings, as I understood them.  Their lives and beliefs possess many good points.  This is why I joined.  But the longer one lives in the community the more that gets “revealed” to a member.  They do not tell visitors too much as “they have not received the Holy Spirit and as such can’t understand the beliefs and practices.”

I enjoyed working and the camaraderie, although at times I realised that I didn’t have any real friends there.  I didn’t mind long work hours and would try to do it so I didn’t need to go to the morning and evening “gatherings.”  However I rarely missed attending these meetings.  Incredibly, one morning after working all day Saturday, Sat night, Sunday, Sunday night, Monday morning and then driving a truck home the elders expected me to show up at the gathering after cleaning an elders car because he needed to pick somebody up. I did it obediently but was amazed at how far they would push me for a reaction.

I stayed at Picton from March 1999 till Nov. 2000.  I experienced some very unsettling events with the elders at Picton and their “infallibility.”  Amazingly, one “teaching” talks about “the faults of the leaders bringing out the rebellion of the sheep.”  This teaching gives them free range to hurt people with their actions.  This did not sit well with me.

During this time my parents were quite active and helped me to understand what I was involved with.  They were most concerned for my three children.  My father along with other concerned parents wrote to SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) regarding this group’s involvement with the Sydney Olympics.  All these letters clearly expressed a real need for confidentiality.  SOCOG handed all these letters to the group so if any media attention came as a result of it all they knew how to handle it. The catering team of SOCOG held a party at the Twelve Tribes cafe at the end of the Olympics.

As a result of SOCOG handing over the confidential letters, two families were sent overseas to escape their families concerns.  I was one of them.  I wanted to go to the US to see the places and to work as a chemist in their soap industry.
My Time in USA and Canada
I stayed in the US for 3 months but couldn’t obtain a visa to stay longer so they sent me to Winnipeg, Canada.  While in Winnipeg, I worked independently on many projects and received much freedom.

I also started to see many inconsistencies in the teachings, and the hypocrisy of the whole system that rivaled Christianity.  The teachings became more bizarre and many things went unanswered.  I started to question many of the long held beliefs of the group.  People who lived in the community for 20 years or more could not answer them; actually they all said that they found it hard to believe themselves.  I didn’t want to live in the community without faith and with others who did not believe either.  One “elder” told me that if I did not believe then I just needed to cling onto someone else’s faith.

During my time in Winnipeg they wanted me to return to the US for an evangelical event in Washington DC.  They wanted me and my family to illegally cross the US border to attend this event.  I refused and told them that if God wanted me in the US he would open the borders up.  I believed that we needed to follow the laws of the land, particularly if I could end up in a US prison.  I asked later why they needed me there so much that they were willing to get me arrested and jailed if I got caught and they told me that they just wanted to see me.

When I was in Winnipeg I made a real friend whom I could talk to about my doubts and the hypocrisy of the leadership.  I then cut myself off from the group spiritually and would talk to people about my doubts.  At one of the gatherings one of the elders spoke at length about how we need to be more like the terrorist who flew the planes into the twin towers.  The elders also said that we should not be affected with worldly things and that we should focus on present tasks and not get distracted.  This scared the pants off me and I told my wife that this is why I was concerned about our decision to join the Twelve Tribes.  I wanted us all to go away and reevaluate our decision based on what we knew now rather than what we knew when we joined.  I also asked her not to tell anyone but to wait until we returned to Australia.  She immediately went and told an elder and later that day they kicked me out.

When they told me to leave, my son Bryson looked at me and said, “I am going with you.”  I had stopped following the communities’ rules for child raising months before and this I believe made Bryson feel secure with me.  Even visiting later on he never wanted to stay, even with his mother.  After they told me to leave they said I needed to ring my father to arrange a hotel for me on his credit card.  I refused and they finally agreed to organise the hotel for me.  I discovered that they actually planned to give me $100 and drop me and my 3 year old son off at a hotel that sold pornography on the front counter and displayed big signs reminding customers to make sure that they double lock their doors at night.  This is how they treat you after working your arse off for them for 2 years as well as giving them everything that you owned when you join.  My friend was also asked/told to leave.  He left with his wife (8 months pregnant) and four children.  He told me earlier that he wasn’t sure if his wife would leave with him.  After they left she told him that she wanted to leave for years but was too scared to talk and discuss the matter.

I finally contacted my parents who wired me some money and organised tickets home for my son and me.  My brother turned up 3 days later to help me.  The true unconditional love of my family was very emotional versus the love of a cult that is totally dependent on submission and compliance.  My wife returned to Australia a few weeks later with Tessa and Peter.
Back Home
During that time I started doing some reading and my mother gave me a book on cults.  At first I defended the group believing the best about them but as my head cleared I eventually realised that I was in the grip of a group that practiced mind control and could only be described as a destructive cult. Despite the obvious, it took time for me to come to that understanding and I quickly started leaving my beliefs and practices behind.

I talked my wife into meeting with me at a house on the South Coast.  I picked Tessa up on a Thursday.  Tysha packed all the clothes that Tessa owned to go down to the coast; obviously she did not plan on her going back to the farm with her.  She arrived late on Friday and informed me that she was staying elsewhere.  She turned up on Saturday morning and I got my mother to take the kids to a park while we talked.  Tysha remained silent and eventually I told her that she might as well leave, as this was not achieving anything.  She left.  I later picked up the clothes for Peter.  She was still breast-feeding him at the time.  When I retrieved the baby seat from the car I saw that she had a rod to discipline him on the way down.  This filled me with rage and at the same time shame for what I used to do as well.

After that I arranged for Tysha to visit with the children on three occasions.  The last time she came was mid December 2001.  She stopped phoning at the beginning of March 2002.  I tried to arrange many other visits for her but she never responded.  We found out later that she spent 3 years living with the community in England.  On her farewell evening from England she told a friend of hers in the Twelve Tribes (who subsequently left) that she was excited to return to Australia to see her children again.  This person was shocked because for all the time that she spent with her she never once talked about her children.  Upon her return Australia, she contacted me after some considerable time expecting me to just drop the children off for a visit.  This showed an incredible ignorance into what she had put the children through and that that the people in the Twelve Tribes have no understanding of the effects of parents abandoning children.  It is not a simple let’s meet in a park situation.  Over Fourteen years have now passed but despite my many attempts to get Tysha to see the children in an appropriate situation she still does not possess the ability to make the commitment needed nor do the work required.  This is because the whole world needs to revolve around the Twelve Tribes and their (more accurately Spriggs’), wants/needs/desires.  This is not an uncommon story unfortunately.

My daughter Tessa was given a phone which I deliberately left a Twelve Tribes number in. She was fifteen when she was brave enough to text the number. Tessa got a reply and was given a different number to text. Tessa got to text to her Mum. I found out and told Tessa that if she felt she was ready to see Tysha all she had to do was get Tysha to call me and we would arrange something. Tessa told her mum this and was met with silence. Tessa pleaded “please, please, please Mummy just ring Daddy so I can see you”. Silence. When I rang the number Tysha’s new husband answer the phone. I was told to stop harassing them and to never ring or text this number again. He told me that he did not care how much Tessa was suffering that it was none of his concern. I realized it was her husband’s number that Tessa was texting. I would like to believe that Tysha never got the final few texts from Tessa, but I will probably never know.

Tessa who is now twenty last saw her mum when she started Kindergarten. Tessa is now at Uni studying second year Engineering. The Twelve Tribes turned up to her Uni markets days to sell their Mate Tea. Tessa knew who they were and avoided them. One lady chased her down. Tessa was told that Tysha loved her very much and that she needed to go and see her. The arrogance to tell a child who was abandoned that she needed to go and see her mother who had lived for the last eleven years with a one hour drive. Tessa was very upset and shaken. Tessa has since had them kicked off the Uni site for harassment.

My two boys seem very uninterested in reconnecting with their birth Mother. I’m sure they will one day but I am certainly not pushing it. They will visit when they are ready.
 Information:
This is some of what I would like to inform the readers along with other points of interest.
Any stories that you hear from ex-members of the Twelve Tribes are probably true. It takes a lot of courage to talk about your experience in the Twelve Tribes. Talking about how you disciplined your children is a very shameful thing to admit. Not something that you make up to get back at them. The reality is most ex Twelve Tribes members will only tell you some of what happened. If you are shocked about what they have told you then what they haven’t told you is likely to be way worse. It takes courage to speak out and people need to respect this.

Twelve Tribes members are victims, including my wife, of a controlling cult.  Group members are genuine and nice proving very alluring.  They work hard and practice “their” beliefs and certainly are not hypocrites.  Only a handful of them use control and are aware of how they use and manipulate people for their own means as well as the group.  Power that the elders exercise over others seduces some of them.

The children suffer psychological, emotional and spiritual abuse through the physical and mental abuse they receive.

The adults often suffer the same abuse as the children.  The Twelve Tribes employ guilt, fear, peer pressure, and self doubt to control and manipulate the members.

Only those in a “position of authority” enjoy access to money.  This is part of the control mechanism.  Upon joining members must give up all their possessions/money/jobs and give it to the group.  This makes leaving the Twelve Tribes very difficult unless you have a supportive family willing to help.  Also once you leave you own nothing to start anew.  This is hard as a single person but very daunting as a married man with children.  Also you do not receive any education or formal qualifications and when a person reaches 30 they find it very difficult to leave.  Most tribe’s members cut off their friends and alienate their family as well.  All of these hindrances work to further entrap the victim in the group. I saw many families in the USA and Canada who were trapped there. Living their lives in the Twelve Tribes because they were too scared to leave and end up on the streets.

The Twelve Tribes believe that they are above the law. This is clearly shown with their teachings on lying, their work practices and even how they overload vehicles with insufficient seat belts for adults and few car seats for small children.  The women give birth without any qualified midwives present or the correct procedure for notifying hospitals.  They fail to follow education guidelines and child labour rules of which they received convictions in the US.  Work is more important than education. They cancel “training” or education classes if the need arises and put both the teachers and older children to work.  They operate many businesses such as a demolition company under the name of “Commonwealth Enterprises” which subcontracts work such as strip outs for supermarkets.  I worked on several of these and the person who held the demolition license was not usually present.  This contravenes work cover rules.  I was also once left in charge of a demolition site with 4 others, none of whom held qualifications for the job.  Sometimes the elders required us to work 24 hours straight and then drive home.  Other things, such as their “mobile cafe,” are very unsafe during the construction phase.  During the Olympic Games the elders told us to do particular things at night so people would not see us working without proper safety precautions. This made things more dangerous.  The elders also instructed me to drive unregistered trucks late at night to deliver supplies to the cafe as they were running out of time.  Also on many occasions the elders told me to drive an unregistered truck with passengers in the back enclosure.

I am concerned how many authorities and organizations in Australia turn a blind eye to their practices such as the Picton council, SOCOG, and the RAS.

People come over on holiday or religious workers visas but work for this group performing such jobs as painting, bakery, cafe and laboring on work sites.

Discipline procedures for the children, see teachings.

Circumcision for the boys when they are 8 days old.  This is done without any medical support or qualified persons.  Also if a man is not circumcised and wants to get married he must undergo circumcision.  Sometimes the first attempt doesn’t go well and must be done a second time a few days later.  A 13 year old along with his family joined the community and the child actually circumcised himself with a knife after hearing “teachings” given about the practice and its importance.

The children suffer with retarded development because of a lack of toys and play time and a lack of appropriate peer relationship/friendships.  The parents and adults discipline the children for using their imagination. The elders told me that my son and daughter should not spend too much time together as this would harm their development and they may attach themselves to each other rather than just the parents.  Children in the community often appear to visitors as quite mature for their ages, however they are quite retarded in their emotional and social development. Visitors quite like the children because they are quiet and obedient. But this behaviour is for 24 hours a day. It is not healthy or natural.

When my 4 week old boy was very sick and needed urgent medical attention the elders told me that I could take him to the hospital however if I wanted to put my faith in God then they would support and pray for me and my son.  This seemed a test of my faith.  I went to the hospital upon which he stopped breathing and required intensive care for a number of days suffering with RSV bronchiolitis.  In another incident I suffered with an apparent cyst and a doctor who joined the community told me that he could lance the cyst.  I refused and went to a hospital where it turned out that the “cyst” was actually a pinacyanol abscess that reached to the base of my spine.  The abscess reached the size of a cricket ball and required an operation and a 3 day stay in the hospital. The doctor who lived in the community wanted to perform the operation on my bed without any painkillers or medication.  He also told me that once he started he would need to finish because I could not go to the hospital case the medical authorities found out that he was practicing without a license.  The only reason the community wants him to obtain his qualification is so he can then get a US license and then open up their own “medical” centre around the world.

The Twelve Tribes believe that Christianity is the Harlot of Revelation and under the control of Satan.  This gives the group a feeling of superiority over the rest of the Christian society and all other religions.  They believe they are the only ones living out the life described in the Bible and subsequently the only true believers. This is quite common amongst Bible-based cults.

Nonbelievers are destined for the “Lake of Fire” (i.e. hell).  When pressed they will say the righteous will inherit eternal life.  What they will not tell you is that they believe that anyone who is righteous will join their group.  The righteous really refers to people who lived in the past because this is the end times and the world is full of wicked people.

The education of the children is very poor (I am a qualified High School Science Teacher).  The younger children seem to receive a reasonable education in math and English.  The teachers all exercise the right to discipline the children with a rod for any disobedience and even hold a ceremony in the US for children entering training or school for the first time.  The parents hand a rod to the teacher symbolising that they give their complete authority to their teacher to discipline their child as they deem necessary.  None of the teachers in Australia hold qualifications.  As the children get older they are taught less and spend more time working.  The Twelve Tribes do not hold education in high esteem but is looked down in many respects.  The children adopt these same attitudes and therefore have no real interest in doing well.  The “curriculum” for math is repetitive and does not go much beyond 6th class level.  Out of all the children I taught only one showed competency at this level.  One student, age 17 demonstrated a math level less than an average year 7 student although not stupid.  The classes I was present in usually focused on basic math and English.  Other subjects like science, geography, history, etc are only brushed over with incompetent instructors to satisfy the education inspectors and tried in some way to relate to the Bible.  The teachers lacked resources and they never took the children to outside places such as libraries museums or theaters.  Only the leader’s children at Picton could access the local library.  I believe the most damaging aspects of the children’s education are their inability to think or work independently, to rationalize, to research and to exercise critical thought.  They cannot read books except the Bible.  They usually try to get out of as much schooling as possible and seek to work instead.  They also receive much physical discipline during their schooling, particularly the boys.  Later if they leave (about 90% of children leave in the US) they feel stupid around their peers and their general knowledge is abysmal.  They earn no certificates at all and must independently educate themselves in order to achieve their potential in life.  Sadly many of them don’t possess the skills to read a novel, because they lack the ability to concentrate on books.  The teachers give their students no regular homework or independent research for school projects making academic success elusive for these children.  Usually the outside world like the boys because of their ability to work hard.  The whole role of women in the group is subservience.  Maybe this is part of the reason?  The whole focus of child raising is to develop servants.

The accommodations at the Picton farm I believe are illegal.  Most people reside in a machinery shed converted into rooms which sits on a flood plain.  The single men slept in one room usually 15 of them.  The single women with children is similar.  Families get one or two rooms for themselves.  The shed goes against fire regulations because when I lived at Picton they stored flammable materials inside.  Lined with black plastic, the roof would explode like a bomb if a fire broke out filling the place with poisonous smoke.  The converted machinery shed contains no fire extinguishers (when I lived at Picton).  An unqualified person did the electrical wiring in the converted machinery shed and a friend with a license signed off on the work.  The farm also maintains a large industry where they make pottery and candles.  Council rules far exceeds the area to exist as a “cottage industry” but when inspected they turned a blind eye. This should be classed as an industry and come under the proper regulations.

* Almost anyone at one time in their life is vulnerable to such groups.  If you know anyone who is flirting with or involves themselves with a cult then get qualified professional help or seek support groups such as CIFS.  Don’t pretend they are making a choice.

I am an African woman and I grew up in a 7^th day Adventist family. I have survived my experience with the 12 tribes and I married a Canadian man in Africa in 2010. My husband Shai Massot sponsored me to come to Canada and live with him. I arrived the 9^{th of} May 2012. Upon arrival I was faced with the fact my husband was living as a member of a sect in the 12 tribes of Israel community in Nelson.

The community did not recognize our marriage as valid in spite of the Canadian government doing so. They did not want to recognize it as their intention from the beginning was to separate us. Isaac Dawson, the top leader started influencing my husband. (Teaching him) that we blacks are slaves and that we have an evil spirit. Shai started mistreating me, physically attacking  me, pressing me against the floor and door. The following day I reported what happened that night to Isaac, only to be told by him to go and apologize to my husband for him abusing me.

Isaac cut me off from everything: to go to English classes, to work outside. He even prevented my husband from helping me fill the forms to get my permanent residency and my social health insurance cards and other things. My husband’s personality changed for the worse and he became what he had never been: violent, aggressive, a liar, manipulator, an accomplice…

“Isaac Dawson separated Shai and I”.

It is the group who has authority over me. I couldn’t speak English, French is my native tongue. They took full advantage of my isolation.

Life in this community is truly burdensome, especially for women and children.

My husband was loyal and totally dependent on the group. He wasn’t getting paid and so couldn’t support me. They didn’t take care of my needs nor was my husband. He also had become very neglectful…

This was around the month of June when I talked to my husband about my plan to find work to take care of my own needs. He strongly reacted saying if I did he would divorce me.

From May until August I worked at the 12 Tribes Café full-time. I felt lonely and I hardly saw my husband. Shai was working at the café. So in order to see him I chose to work at the café too, instead of working at home.

I found work very near at the local hotel. To appease the situation with my husband and the rest of the community I kept on working at the café before and after my job at the hotel. That lasted 3 months. Then in September it started getting dark and cold and I decided to come straight home after my hotel job. They were greatly displeased and I was told to go and see Isaac. He didn’t not want to understand my point of view and wanted me to keep working during the evening at the café.

Unhappy, he suggested I should start sharing my wages with the community. It seems he might have had in mind to have my wages go directly into his bank account! So I said: No, I’ m not under contract with you, I work voluntarily, I am not a beast of burden at your disposal.

Shai and I woke up between 5 and 5:30 am. Shai had to look after the cows very early and milk them, before going to work at the café. He shared the chores with other members. He was one of them who were giving the hardest tasks while other members were treated like princes and princesses.

“I worked at the Cafe in Nelson”

At 6 am everyone wakes up.

6:30 I was ready to go to work at the café

7:00 the café opened its doors

I either would get a ride with the morning team or I would stay for the morning gathering, which started at 7 am.

I would work until 7:50 and then walk 1 or 2 minutes to the hotel Best Western Plus. I had a job as a cleaner.

I would work at the hotel for 4 to 5 hours depending of the needs, and 5 days a week. Work was seasonal; in autumn it would go down and stopped in November for the winter season.

Until August I worked every day at the café while the morning gathering was on.

After work I would go straight to the café, I felt like I had chains on.

I would take my lunch at the café, as it was very close to the café. I earned very little and since I worked for the community for nothing I thought it was only fair that they would feed me at least… But their food wasn’t always to my taste and I couldn’t take all my meals at the café. So back at home often I would come back hungry. But I wasn’t allowed to help myself in the kitchen and I was supposed to wait for dinner, after the evening gathering, at 8 pm.

On Sundays I did a bit of everything, I would take care of my own things and also contributed to household chores such as doing the dishes for example, with the other ladies. Sometimes I worked at the café. When I would take the opportunity to have a nap on Sundays, the women would criticise me. They would go as far as calling directly my husband at work to tell on me and what they considered laziness on my part…

I participated in all the needs of the household on a regular basis including helping with Sabbath preparations.

I was made to come to every gathering, morning and evening.

There you constantly hear derogatory comments aimed at Christianity as a religion but also more personally aimed at Christians. All Christians are part of a devilish system and none of the Christians on the earth are really saved nor have the Holy Spirit, only they the members of 12 Tribes are obedient to God really and are saved and know God and Jesus. Day after day I felt insulted by their Isaac Dawson and the other leaders and their remarks that, as a Christian, I couldn’t help but take to heart.

They were always on my back demanding for me to stop working on my job and to go to my church.

After work I would go to the café and would work and come back with the other café workers.

Rosemary Cruzado continues to tell the story of this woman who wants to be called by the pseudonym  EL Survivor Woman

 Forbidden from practising her religion

EL was raised and still is a Christian and is part of the 7th Day Adventist Church. When she arrived in Nelson she found a church she felt comfortable in and would spend 3 hours every Saturday morning. This took place between 9 am and 12 pm, at a time where back at the 12 tribe’s community it was between the morning gathering and lunch time, a time when members enjoy their “free time”. But this caused a lot of problems for EL and she was criticized for taking too much liberty and being a bad example for others. This would be because it is strictly forbidden for members to leave the premises except to go on a walk with others and their families. Also members are forbidden attending any events outside the community. The only events they might attend would be as part of a proselystising effort and having been sent/ authorized to go by leaders.

And so the wife of Isaac Dawson whose name is Dada ordered her to stop going to church every Saturday morning. EL told her that Shai and she already had discussed this matter and he didn’t see any problems with her doing this. Shai thought that since EL didn’t miss the Saturday morning gathering and that she was back for lunch afterwards that they took together, he had agreed to her going.

Isaac’s spouse insisted EL would stay with her husband on Saturday mornings. EL challenged her: “OK, try and stop me then!

“I couldn’t understand, says EL Survivor woman, why when someone would want to get saved they would all take off to the river, even on a Saturday, and baptize that person, why can’t they let me go for 3 hours a week to go to church?. I wanted to have a good time with other 7^th day Adventists and make friends, get some fresh air, spiritually speaking and see something different than their religion with no mercy nor charity!”

“You need to be saved!”

One of these Fridays, as usual, EL comes back from her double labour and not having had a chance to eat a snack gets home and goes to the kitchen hoping to eat something discretely. As she is not allowed to help herself and she is supposed to ask her husband, she asks him if he could get her a glass of milk. This is a good compromise she thinks, as a glass of milk is not a meal. She was supposed to wait, as everybody else was, until dinnertime. This was during the hour of preparation, hour before the gathering which starts at 7 pm and marks the beginning of the Sabbath for the members of the community. Nothing was being served during the gathering and dinner might be delayed and start well after 8 pm. Her husband is busy entertaining guests. Friday nights are prime occasions for the communities to have their life on display and invite people. There is celebration, a nice big dinner, live music, dancing. Everyone is wearing their festive attire. Her husband is reluctant and tells her with impatience a sentence EL has come to hear too many times: “You need to be saved”.

Her patience wears out, she is exasperated. She is only asking for a glass of milk so her stomach doesn’t hurt and to keep going until dinner! For the love of God! What does asking for a glass of milk have to do with being saved or not! For EL it is the ultimate insult!

With everything that happened and all the mistreatments I endured there, I was very smart. I recorded the way in which I was treated, in particular by their brain, their guru, Isaac Dawson (click here to go to Transcript of recording)

EL Survivor Woman continues her story

Isaac Dawson had ordered me to leave the premises. I asked him “Where do you want me to go? I am a foreigner in this country and I live with my husband, not you. Then we had the meeting when he gave me an ultimatum and demanded I’d give him an answer the day after. That is the meeting I recorded.

Of course I wanted to stay and live with my husband.

After the meeting, my husband was sent to another household for 2 days. When he came back as it had been reported I had missed gatherings he was upset with me.

It was the month of December and my health started to deteriorate, a result of my life in the 12 tribes. My husband had neglected me, no care. As for them they thought it was the great god who had condemned me.

And so I was a good example of someone who doesn’t obey their rules and others could go to hell like me!

My health gradually got worse. I had stomach aches.

Isaac and the group were trying to find a way to separate us, Chai and me. They transferred us to the café, Yellow Deli in Nelson, to the basement of the café. This had no amenities, no heating. It was freezing. Shai only spent 4 days with me in the basement and had returned to the community, telling me to return also. I became ill during the night of the 24 Th of December 2012. I called the community, no one answers. I call Isaac’s cell phone and ask him to pass me my husband. I told my husband I needed him urgently, I was ill. He hung up on me. I called back, this time another cell phone number of the community and this person didn’t answer as they knew it was me. Hours go by and my husband hasn’t called nor showed up.

I left in hope of getting help, no one in the street, everything is quite. I spot a police car and I get closer and ask them directions to the hospital and they show me on the map. On my way there, very weak, traumatised, frozen, I could barely walk up the hills of Nelson. It was worse in winter, it was slippery. To my surprise a black car stops at my level and someone asks if I need help. I said sure, I’d like to go to the hospital and I feel sick. I was a bit scared but when I got in the car I realized it was a policeman.

He helped me a lot until I was taken care of. Today I give thanks to God for him because he saved my life. I left hospital on the 25^th to come back to the basement of the café. The nurse had prescribed some drugs for me. It was 10 am when I finally saw the face of my husband. He wanted to know what had happened to me. After, I handed him the prescription asking him to buy my medicines. He sees me there lying on my bed suffering and asks me to give him some money to buy them…hummmm…what negligence!…A few days later my husband tells me in front of my pastor that he gives me until the end of the month of January to vacate the room and go elsewhere. I asked him where elsewhere? To that he had no answer.

This is my life in Canada in my 8^th month in the middle of winter. After kicking me out, a week later Chai calls to tell me Dada, Isaac’s wife is asking if I need crockery. What an insult. I don’t have anywhere to go to have a roof over my head…huugrrr….how am I going to manage all on my own and they don’t lift a finger to help me, not even my husband and they are not ashamed to ask if I need plates!

EL Woman Survivor concludes

Today I wish for the Government to regularise sects. In the 12 Tribes there is no adequate education. There is a lot of abuse. And we are in Canada where Human Rights are in place.

I am not an object.

Fear the mind abuse, not the physical abuse, says former leader with religious group

A former leader in the Twelve Tribes religious group said it wasn’t the threat of beatings that kept him in his place. It was the threat of death if he didn’t.

Concerns have been raised about the safety of children at the Winnipeg chapter of Twelve Tribes, a religious community. (CBC)

And it’s that kind of mind control that Winnipeg authorities need to investigate, he said.

“I used to go sleepwalking through the house screaming bloody murder because I thought I was going to spin off and fall into the flames of a lake of fire if I ate a cookie or something,”  said LW, who asked not to be identified. “It’s [no] wonder I had so many nightmares growing up.”

LW was born and raised in the controversial religious community back in North Carolina, where it first started. A close relative is one of the highest-ranking leaders of the Twelve Tribes and in fact, helped to launch the community in Winnipeg back in 1993.

• Members of religious group Twelve Tribes speak out

But while LW said the original founders who started the community “had very good intentions”, he also said in hindsight he knows it was “a cult. Definitely.”

“I was taught to think a certain way about everything,” LW said. “And so I didn’t realize the level of mind control I was under until I left. But in my heart, I knew that something wasn’t right.”

Winnipeg’s child welfare officials are investigating allegations of corporal punishment against the children who live in the communal setting. But while LW said “spanking” with wooden sticks was a common occurrence, authorities pay too much attention to that.

‘If a Christian person wants to spank with a balloon stick…..I believe that’s their religious right.’- ex-Twelve Tribes member

“To me, if a Christian person wants to spank with a balloon stick, without anger, with leaving any marks, whatever, I believe that’s their religious right,” he said. “I’m just trying to say in regards to spanking … what’s happened in the past is that media outlets do a story and it gets sensationalized … and then nothing happens because the Twelve Tribes just dismisses it as religious persecution.”

Instead, authorities need to worry about the mind control that goes on, and the techniques used to achieve it — in effect, creating rules that inform all aspects of their daily life like the current ban on using shampoo, playing the piano and reading books (unless it’s The Bible).

• Mind control experts monitor Twelve Tribes
• Controversial religious group Twelve Tribes reported to Cybertip
• Controversy over children’s safety at religious community
• Twelve Tribes defends use of sticks to discipline children

Even their washroom needs are strictly regimented. But the biggest danger to one’s sense of self? The ban on education. Children are only home-schooled and only until their teen years.

“They want to give an image that they’re this peace-loving community and they want to bring Jesus back to the Earth, and end selfishness through love. So people go, ‘you know, wow, these are nice people,’” LW said.

“But what people don’t understand is that this group does not properly educate their children and that’s a big deal. That’s a huge deal. That’s the main reason that I left.”

But this sense of enlightenment didn’t come easy and didn’t come quickly for LW, who only began to doubt the Twelve Tribes in 2008, after a stunning revelation that their leaders were mere mortals. A sex scandal involving one of the leader’s wives was revealed.

“It was like a light bulb went off. (The leader) wasn’t God. He was just a man,” LW said. “That’s when my doubts began.”

‘A lightbulb went off. (The leader) wasn’t God. He was just a man.’- ex-Twelve Tribes member

Through the years that followed, as the rules grew more strict, LW’s doubts grew too.

He finally walked away in May 2013 but it took months of intensive therapy to “deprogram” himself and trust that he could survive on his own.

Today, he considers himself one of the lucky ones. His wife, also a former member of the Twelve Tribes, joined him in the outside world.

His kids, for the first time in their lives, are in a public school and thriving. His small business is keeping food on the table.

And someday, he said, if other relatives want to leave the Twelve Tribes, he’ll open his home and take them in.

As for authorities in Winnipeg still monitoring the community, the biggest favour they can do is to make sure the kids get access to education, LW said.

“That’s one of the things the government should be investigating, is their education, because I looked at all my friends who had older children, who were so bitter at their parents for not providing them with an education,” he said.

“So here you got this burden on society because these kids are not educated.”