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Marni Soupcoff, executive director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which represented Mr. Montague in court, said the ruling is “a significant loss for Canadian property rights, the rule of law, and a hard-working, principled family bullied by the federal government.

“Bruce did his time for his victimless crime, but it seems the government won’t be satisfied until he’s lost everything he’s worked for.’’

Separately, the province is also seeking to seize his home — a log cabin he built himself near Dryden, Ont. — on the grounds that it is the proceeds or instrument of unlawful activity, but that case has not yet been heard.

Lawyers for the province speculated about marijuana cultivation in their civil forfeiture claim, based on literature found and a secret heated room.

“I’m amazed at some of these stories they concoct. I don’t even use the stuff. There was none of that going on,” Mr. Montague said, and he mocked their obsessive focus on his secret underground storage room. “There’s nothing illegal about having a secure area.”

In their defence to that claim, the Montagues argue the seized items “were at one time legal and properly within [the Montagues’] power and control. They were never used for any criminal or nefarious purpose…”

Mr. Montague, who operated Monty’s Gunsmithing, has long been an outspoken activist for gunowners rights. For example, he once stripped to his underwear when asked to go through a metal detector at court. As he put it at his criminal trial, “All the firearms were legally my property,” he said. “I have a right to that property for the rest of my life.”