"I intend to continue fighting no matter how much is costs. It has already been too expensive ­ Iıve paid with my sonıs future and his talents."

Betty McCoy is the only defendant in the Alberta court case who has never been a Scientologist. In 1974, her then 20-year old son Mickey joined the Edmonton mission of the Church of Scientology.

Mrs. McCoy, a former social worker and a strong Catholic, says Mickey was living at home and in his second year of arts at university, with no definite career goal, when he was drawn into Scientology.

He earned about $200 a month at a part-time job and his parents paid his school fees, but one day he asked his father for $10,000 for church courses. He asked family friends and relatives for smaller amounts. Suspicious, none agreed.

Through the church itself, Mickey apparently arranged for a $4000 loan and, after finishing his second year, quit University.

"He was intelligent with a good sense of humor but after Scientology he just wasnıt the same. He became singularly minded ­ all he could talk about was the group," says his mother.

Mickey drove a cab because the jobıs irregular hours allowed him to attend courses and, according to Mrs. McCoy, he eventually moved into a Scientology "nest".

Mrs. McCoy says for three months she had little contact with her son, her calls were never returned and she was harassed by church members.

She wrote numerous letters to various church offices and one day her son appeared at the familyıs lakeside cottage.

"We spend night and day with our divergent opinions and neither gave in. He knew he couldnıt go back to the church until he "handled" me and I would never agree to that.

Eventually Mickey went to Toronto to work. "Iım not sure if he is still a member of the church or not" ­ and is now travelling Europe. [Mick is currently a Scientology staff member at the Toronto org] Brendon Moore was an ethics officer, the person who members ran to when reporting another memberıs misdeeds, in Ms. Levettıs Calgary mission.

"We were taught to report on anyone ­ weather it was our wife, husband or son, because any punishment was for the good of Scientology", he says.

Mr. Moore, now 33, also one of the defendants, was introduced to the group by his brother. His wife also joined and, he says, church practices helped cause their split.

"She took higher courses and you are taught that to speak of it to another person who isnıt ready could kill that person. It was really so the church could get money from the second person, but it ended any sort of communication in a marriage."

Mr. Moore, an apprentice electrician when he joined in 1968, went heavily in debt becase of his Scientology courses and lost interest in getting his trade papers.

"All I wanted was to get more money so I could take more courses. I yearned to be right in it, ready to stamp out any opposition," he says.

His sister, brother and 15 nieces and nephews are still in Scientology and Mr. Moore says it is dangerous for him to have anything to do with them because, to them he is an SP.

Niel Taylor was a vulnerable 21 year old, away from his Lethbridge home for the first time and just out of university, when he became a Scientologist in Calgary in 1972.

He was working in a rehabilitation home with retarded children during the day and taking courses whenever he could.

"They were two separate worlds. I kept my family in Lethbridge in the dark as much as I could," says Mr. Taylor, "because in Scientology your parents are bad."

Now a computer operator, he is also one of the defector defendants and says he is only embarrassed about his experiences with the church.

"Itıs not too flattering to realize I was conned like I was.

My only drive had been to be a successful Scientologist ­ I was very ambitious about it.

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