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Portland, ME DUI Attorney

DUI Lawyer in Portland

Arrested for a DUI?

If you have been charged with DUI in Maine, there is important information that you should be aware of. It is crucial that you speak to an attorney right away. We can explain to you your rights and what needs to be done immediately to secure your future. For example, you only have 10 days to file a letter that will stop your license from automatic suspension. If this is not done, you will lose your ability to drive even before your case goes to trial!

If you have been arrested for a DUI, also known as a OUI or DWI charge, you need to know what to expect next and what can be done to pursue a positive outcome in your case. Portland is Maine's largest city, and is visited by millions of tourist each year. Law enforcement takes any threat to the safety of Portland, including DUI crimes, very seriously. Prosecutors want convictions, as is their duty, and often will try to get the maximum DUI penalties imposed. Our firm is recognized as an effective, aggressive defense team that works hard to challenge DUI evidence and that knows how to seek the best possible case outcome.

William T. Bly is an experienced Portland OUI / DUI Attorney. He is a graduate of Rutgers College and the University of Maine School of Law, who has concentrated solely on the practice of criminal defense, including work as an intern prosecutor with the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office in Portland, Maine. This exclusive focus on criminal defense allows us to understand the DUI process and to understand issues such as unlawful police stops, flawed blood or breath tests, improperly administered field sobriety tests and many other items of great importance in your case. Over the years, we have successfully defended various types of OUI offenses from those involving drugs and felony charges to DUI with injury, aggravated DUI and more.

Portland OUI Attorney

One of the most important aspects of understanding what will occur for you in the days and weeks to come is selecting an attorney who has distinguished himself in the field of DUI defense. When you retain a hard-hitting Portland, ME DUI lawyer from our firm, you will have gained someone with unique qualifications to defend you whether it is a first offense DUI, out of state charges or a second, third, or subsequent arrest.

The lead attorney at our firm has received certification by the U.S. Department of Transportation as a Breath Alcohol Technician and is trained as an instructor and practitioner in the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration field sobriety tests. Based on our study and dedication to the field of DUI defense and the results we have achieved, our lead attorney was one of only 2 lawyers in 6 states to be voted a Rising Star in DUI defense by New England Super Lawyers Magazine.

Defending Your Rights Throughout the DUI Process

The DUI process usually begins when you were stopped, either at a DUI checkpoint or because an officer observed indications that he or she felt were signs of intoxication. This may be the first point where the charges against you can be tested. In our state, as well as throughout the USA, law enforcement needs grounds which are lawful and reasonable for stopping you. If this was violated in your case, this will be brought to the attention of the court. A successful case exposing an illegal police stops should result in a full case dismissal.

When an officer suspects that you are intoxicated, you will have been asked to do field sobriety tests or a breath test. Both of these procedures have been shown, time and time again, to present opportunities for error that can severely weaken a prosecutor's case against you. It requires, though, an attorney who is trained and experienced in these tests and how to find the potential mistakes. Later, you may be directed to do a blood test and the results can be used to show what your blood alcohol content (BAC) was at the time. If these tests are not correctly taken and/or the samples improperly stored and held in custody, it can frequently provide an avenue to raise doubt as to your intoxication level at the time of your arrest.

Hiring A Portland DUI Lawyer

After you were arrested, the state will have immediately suspended your driver's license. This is a separate action from the criminal charges you will have to face. The length of that suspension will depend on a variety of factors including if you were underage, refused to be tested for BAC when asked to do so, if you have multiple DUI convictions, when there has been a vehicular manslaughter and others. An experienced DUI attorney will know to challenge your Bureau of Motor Vehicles license suspension, based upon the evidence in your case. Our firm could take action to fight to restore your driving privileges.

Before a trial, you will be arraigned with a bond amount set and your plea given to the court. After this is a preliminary hearing at which a judge will make a decision on whether the criminal case against you will proceed.

Through each step of the process, it is vital to have your rights protected and to have an attorney who knows how to seize opportunities to fight to win your case. The alternative can be fines, being unable to drive, time in jail or prison and a criminal record. We want you to have a real chance to reach a positive result to the charges against you.

Call us now to understand what occurs in a DUI case and how your charges can be effectively defended against.

  • Recommendation

    Bill Bly is very professional, does his homework and he is very thorough. And his staff is the same. He and his staff returned all my phone calls and kept us abreast of the progress in our case. I highly recommend him. Read On

  • Thank you for all of your efforts!

    My OUI and criminal speeding charges brought a great deal of stress and hardship to not only myself but my entire family. Having both of the charges against me dismissed was an absolute godsend. Once dropped, it felt as though a dark cloud that had been looming over my head had been lifted. I am ... Read On

  • Job well done

    First and for most I'd like to thank you very much for sorting out the snowmobile OUI bs for me. The outcome could not have been more desirable and the process with you couldn't have been better. On a professional note I give an A+ and will gladly refer you to other unfortunate souls that step in... Read On

Our Attorneys

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    William Bly

    William T. Bly, Esq. is a graduate of Rutgers College where he majo...

The Law Office of William Bly

Here at The Law Office of William T. Bly, we provide professional and aggressive criminal defense representation that exceeds the expectations of our clients and secures their freedom and their future.

Contact Us Today

What distinguishes our firm from the numerous law firms throughout the state is that we genuinely care about the well-being of our clients. Because Attorney Bly is a sole practitioner, every client receives hands-on and personalized attention from Attorney Bly and our staff throughout the entirety of their case.

50 Adams Street
Biddeford, ME 04005
(207) 571-8146
Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri: 08:00am - 05:00pm


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Oct 22, 2012

Eating and Museum-hopping in DC

The baby brother and the baby brother's future wifey came to visit us in August. It gave me, at least, a time to step away from the computer and enjoy some of the things that DC has to offer and I rarely have the free time to take advantage of.

Our first stop was the National Building Museum to see the LEGO Architecture exhibit. This exhibit displayed models of famous structures from around the world, like Fallingwater, the Empire State Building and Burj Khalifa, made entirely of LEGOs! Color me impressed.

Their visit also coincided with DC Restaurant Week, which gave us the perfect opportunity to try a new restaurant. We chose Jose Andres's Zaytinya because their mezze menu is perfect for sharing with a small group.

Since there was four of us, ordering was very easy. We just ordered one of everything from the restaurant week menu, with the exception of dessert which we ordered two of each.

The restaurant's food is inspired by Greek, Turkish and Lebanese cuisine. One thing that stood out to us almost immediately was their never-ending bread basket. We did not stop getting these baskets of puffy, warm pita breads the whole time. They must have switched out our baskets at least four times.

Our first courses consisted of hommus, imam bayildi (Ottoman style roasted eggplant stuffed with onions and tomatoes, karpuzi me feta (compressed watermelon, feta, kalamata olives and mint), and fattoush (tomato, cucumber, red onion, green pepper, radish, pita chips, pomegranate vinegar dressing).

Each dish was light and simple, which was a great place to start for our meal.

For our second course, we had  seared salmon (Samke Harra-style with coriander, cardamom, pickled Lebanese chiles, pine nuts and tahini sauce), kotopoulo youvetsi (chicken, orzo, tomato, kefalograviera cheese), Ottoman pilaf (saffron rice, dates, pistachios) and shish taouk (grille chicken thigh, sumac, onions, garlic tuom, grilled tomatoes).

The orzo dish was by far the most unappealing dish of our entire meal. It was simply unexciting. I was surprised by the flavorfulness of the chicken, however, so that was a welcome surprise.

Then came some heavier dishes of crispy brussels afelia (brussels sprouts, coriander seed, barberries, garlic yogurt),  keftedes kapama (beef meatballs, feta cheese, rustic tomato sauce, cinnamon, allspice), garides me anitho (sauteed shrip, dill, shallots, mustard, lemon juice), and adana kebab (skewered ground lamb, house-made harissa, grilled tomatoes, sumac, onions).

The two dishes that I thought I would love were just okay for me due to flavor issues. I typically love brussels sprouts in any preparation. I had a hard time with this version though because I found the sauce to have the consistency of a mayonnaise, which turned me off a bit. I did think that the addition of berries was very interesting and tasty. I also found that they were a little heavy handed with the dill on the shrimp dish as well.

Last but not least were desserts of Greek Yogurt and Apricots (muscat soaked apricots, vanilla yogurt cream, apricot sorbet and pistachio powder) and Turkish Delight (walnut ice cream, yogurt moose, honey gelee, orange-caramel sauce, caramelized pine nuts).

Both were a nice ending to a pleasant meal. I didn't find either dessert to be overly sweet and I was happy that they were both relatively light compared to the meal we had just completed.

Following lunch, we walked across the street to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art to see The Art of Video Games exhibit and walk around the permanent collection. Seeing this exhibit made me realize that I have pretty much been alive through the whole history that is explored in the exhibition. I am so old!

The rest of the day was spend at the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden, eating Korean bbq and watching ParaNorman.

The next day we ventured to Kushi, which had previously been one of my favorite restaurants in DC, for their jazz brunch. The music was slightly too loud and the service was unacceptably slow. If it weren't for those two factors, the meal would have been enjoyable as I thought the food was just as good as it had been every other time I have been there.

The brunch for two people included two cocktails, one starter, two entrees and a dessert. I ordered their Yuzu orange mimosa and ocean's oyako don (salmon sashimi and salmon roe with scallion, nori and wasabi over sushi rice) and shared the 2-piece raw oysters and the sea salt gelato.

After brunch, we visited the Air and Space Museum before we had to drop off the sib and his betrothed to Union Station.

701 9th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Kushi Izakaya & Sushi
465 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

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ONLY three months after launching a desperate appeal combat medic Katrina Brown is less than £30,000 away from her £90,000 target for lifesaving treatment.

Supporters from all over the country as well as Standard readers started raising cash as fast as they could after the 31-year-old from South Cerney revealed in October t was a matter of weeks before it would be too late for her systemic sclerosis to be treated.

“It’s brilliant,” said Katrina, who was exposed to depleted uranium when she served in Iraq ten years ago. “It was a great start to the New Year. I couldn’t believe it when we were starting to add up the figures that are coming in.”

She said taking into account all the money due to come in from fundraising events meant just over £28,000 still needed to be raised.

The treatment, which uses her own stem cells to reboot her immune system, is not available in the UK on the NHS and Katrina had to raise £20,000 just to pay for tests during October in Chicago where expert Dr Richard Burt works.

He warned her that her heart had already been affected by the condition, which hardens skin and organs, and advised her that time was of the essence.

It meant Katrina had to raise another £90,000 as a matter of urgency.

“When I came back from America I was thinking it was such a short space of time to raise a huge amount of money and I didn’t know how we were going to do it,” she told the Standard this week.

But donations have been pouring in and dozens of fundraising efforts have been organised, including a Halloween ball in Cirencester, a saucy calendar featuring Katrina’s ex-army buddies, marathon runs, cycle rides and hikes and sales of wristbands.

“Realistically, we’re looking at the end of February if it continues the way it has been since October,” she said. “It seemed like it was so far away and all of a sudden I’m thinking about actually getting things sorted for when I’m away.”

She paid tribute to the hundreds of friends and supporters in the area and around the UK who had helped so far.

“We just need to think of some more fundraising ideas now,” she added.

Katrina is currently planning a fundraising day at Tetbury Tesco.

Visit for more information and to donate online. Cheques can also be made out to Katrina’s Stem Cell Fund.


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June 24, 2017

9° C, A few clouds

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International affairs his true calling

For Winnipeg businessman Art DeFehr, making the world a better place is the bottom line

Palliser Furniture CEO Art DeFehr has spent the last several decades providing help in global hot spots

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/8/2014 (1043 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not likely Art DeFehr will cause the Canadian government to change its policy on Iran, but that doesn’t stop the 71-year-old Winnipeg businessman from trying.

Art DeFehr

Art DeFehr

His effort has included a detailed, 12-page report called Iran in Transition, which followed an intense 10-day tour of the country in April. Then there was a personal conversation with Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and a meeting with senior ministry officials in Ottawa.

How is it DeFehr, the CEO of Palliser Furniture, would come to even have a position on Iran?

For the same reason he has substantial and first-hand insightful takes on places as far-flung as Russia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Somalia, Mexico, Burma and a number of other international hot spots, not to mention some of the most vexing domestic issues of the day.

It’s what he does.

Why he does it is not easy for DeFehr — who believes himself to be of superior analytic skills — to answer.

He’s not some well-meaning, good-hearted soul who volunteers for charitable missions in war-torn crisis spots.

"I’m not a missionary with a passion to do that," he said during a couple of extensive discussions about his remarkable career outside business.

His connection with the Mennonite church is a factor, but definitely not the whole story.

He’s got some independence — financial and otherwise — as the CEO of Palliser, but it’s not as if he’s the wealthiest person in town.

After all, Palliser was hit hard in the last recession, and company profits were non-existent for several years. At its peak, Palliser was probably hitting $500 million in sales and had more than 3,000 employees. These days, the employee count is about half that, but the company has been on a growth curve, with revenue up 40 per cent in the last few years.

There’s no question his late mother, the former Mia Reimer, was a major influence. Books have been written about her daring escape from the Soviet Union as a young woman in the 1930s. She made her way through China and on to the United States, where she eventually told her story in public gatherings. (Those talks may have got her onto the McCarthy-era blacklist.)

"I’ve grown up in a certain setting with stories of people... everyone from my family was a refugee," DeFehr said. "You’re highly aware of how challenging the world is for people and how fortunate people like myself are. Certainly my Christian faith with a Mennonite flavour is part of that — it shapes it.

"Another thing is opportunity," he said. "For whatever reason, the opportunities have come my way."

But like all opportunities, you have to be ready, if not out there looking for them.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and supporters of the civil rights movements march through Alabama in March 1965. Art DeFehr was among those who marched.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and supporters of the civil rights movements march through Alabama in March 1965. Art DeFehr was among those who marched.

Originally, DeFehr had decided to go into a career in the Foreign Service after completing a degree at the University of Manitoba. He had a job lined up with the Canadian government in the diplomatic service but chose to spend a year at a Mennonite liberal arts college in Indiana first.

That was in the mid-1960s, the height of the civil rights movement, and DeFehr threw himself into the thick of things. He was part of the Selma to Montgomery march that followed the infamous Bloody Sunday. He befriended Millard Fuller 10 years before he created Habitat for Humanity (the first Habitat Re-Store in the world was in a former Palliser warehouse) and toured the racially segregated south.

That put him on the FBI’s radar, and he soon found out he no longer had a job waiting for him with the Canadian government.

He turned to business, where his father already had a thriving furniture company on the go, and went to Harvard, where he earned an MBA.

"I decided I would go into a career where the FBI would not be my HR manager," he said, "It still lives with me... when the Nexus card came out, my wife got one, but I was turned down twice."

Art DeFehr, working for the United Nations, visits a refugee camp in Somalia in the early 1980s.

Art DeFehr, working for the United Nations, visits a refugee camp in Somalia in the early 1980s.

Getting shut out of the world of diplomacy might have been a blessing in disguise, because it allowed DeFehr to embark on a personal, ad hoc career in international affairs.

It’s still far from over, but it would be hard to find anyone who could match his combination of mainstream business leadership and his significant engagement over the years in a dizzying number of some of the world’s most difficult humanitarian and refugee scenarios.

At least once, he was encouraged to leave on the advice of more circumspect advisers who worried for his safety.

DeFehr says he’s never been in life-threatening situations, but backed off of some close relationships with post-Soviet Kremlin officials in the early 1990s "when they started killing each other."

"Danger is a relative term," he mused recently. "I have been in some tough places, but I’ve never been captured or threatened. I have been in some places that some people would say was not wise to go.

"I have had guns pointed at me a number of times at checkpoints in the middle of the night by drunken soldiers. That is where the danger is. But I am highly aware of my surroundings, and I always have an alternate strategy."

DeFehr is as comfortable rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful — earlier this year he had dinner in The Hague with the brother of the king of the Netherlands — as he is with the most desperate of refugees.

The mind boggles when you start listing the stuff this guy has done:

  • In the aftermath of the bloody Bangladesh civil war in the early 1970s that left three million dead, he led a massive agricultural-redevelopment project there as director for the Mennonite Central Committee for two years.
  • He was one of the leaders and initiators behind what’s called the Land Bridge, a program that allowed for the return of more than a million Cambodian refugees to their villages in the late 1970s.
  • He took a senior United Nations position in Somalia (one senior, career UN officials were hesitant to take because of the apparent futility of the mission) in the early 1980s when warlords first took over the famine-ravaged country.
  • He started a university in Lithuania in the dying days of the former Soviet Union.
  • Just last year, he helped organize, host and fund a conflict-resolution conference in Myanmar as an important prelude to democratic elections there in 2015.

"Art DeFehr is a phenomenal guy," said Murray Taylor, the CEO of IGM Financial and a co-conspirator with DeFehr on the Myanmar conference.

DeFehr, in Cambodia for the Land Bridge program, tries out local rice-threshing technology.

DeFehr, in Cambodia for the Land Bridge program, tries out local rice-threshing technology.

"He has basically gone into places on an ad hoc basis, lived and served and helped people become industrious after they have come out of civil war and actual war. His ability to jump into circumstances of concern around the world... is outstanding."

DeFehr is an inveterate world traveller. He admits his financial independence lets him travel and keeps him on the radar of a wide network of international-development contacts.

He’s visited 129 countries and counting. Between last fall and early spring, DeFehr was in Myanmar, Kosovo, Iran and North Korea. He has been back and forth to Europe five times since then, including delivering an address about Manitoba’s immigration policy at The Club of The Hague, a refugee and migration think-tank.

He travelled to Kosovo so he could try to understand the Balkan War.

"I was supposed to travel there during the crisis, but I was diagnosed with cancer the week before we were to leave. (His cancer is in remission.) I never really understood that war."

DeFehr (in white hat) next to rice seeds ready to be distributed in Cambodia in the late 1970s.

DeFehr (in white hat) next to rice seeds ready to be distributed in Cambodia in the late 1970s.

His wife, Leona, has accompanied DeFehr on his forays for many years, although she passed on North Korea this year.

He stays closer to home when business requires, has played a leading role in the business community’s support of the Provincial Nominee Program, and has had a strong board role in the creation of Canadian Mennonite University. He has, in fact, donated a significant amount of money to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

"Art has an incredible appetite for world travel," said Jim Carr, former CEO of the Business Council of Manitoba, which DeFehr helped found.

"He just loves the atmosphere of these places and the energy from its people, the dynamism of cultures, the intrigue of different political systems. He stretches the boundaries of his comfort zone in order to experience places that others don’t or won’t."

DeFehr is greeted with flowers while visiting a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

DeFehr is greeted with flowers while visiting a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

While he has aligned himself with organizations over the years, DeFehr operates on his own schedule and agenda. But Don Peters, the executive director of the Mennonite Central Committee, said it wouldn’t be right to call him a "free agent."

"It’s important for him to connect with others doing similar work," Peters said. "His level of connectivity is with all kinds of people. I think that he would be hamstrung if he was only connected to one organization or another. Art is able to make some things happen. Whereas if he is going to go through one of the agencies, there is going to be some protocol."

From 1989 into the early ’90s, DeFehr made about a dozen trips into the former Soviet republics and eventually held a number of conferences on business ethics, among other things.

"I had money strapped to my leg... about $30,000 to $40,000 on my body," he said matter-of-factly. "If you do something, you pay cash. You do it now, not six months from now, no grant applications. In those situations, that is how the world works. You do it now. Two years from now, the problem is solved or you’re back to war."

Peters said, "Referring to him as one of a kind is close to the truth. I’m not sure I know of anybody who has the combination of skills and interests that Art has. He is very active in the business world. But... I suspect his mind and passion is perhaps more in development than it is in business."

DeFehr is more candid than most CEOs. Having a family-owned business helps. But the way DeFehr frames the work he does outside of business is bordering on C-suite blasphemy.

Art DeFehr (right) tours an agricultural program in Bangladesh in the 1970s. The CEO has been visiting some of the world's most troubled places for decades.

Art DeFehr (right) tours an agricultural program in Bangladesh in the 1970s. The CEO has been visiting some of the world's most troubled places for decades.

"I enjoy business, and I do it reasonably well," he said. "But I’m not in business to make money. Business buys me independence, and it buys me access. The reason I maintain my title as CEO — I’m spending 10 to 20 per cent of my time on the business — is that retired guys with money are a dime a dozen, and no one calls them except for donations."

In a birthday lampoon prepared by some friends for his 50th birthday in 1992, they quoted his application to Harvard Business School in the late ’60s. In answer to the questions about his greatest strength and weakness, DeFehr boldly stated, "My greatest strength is self-confidence." To the question of his greatest weakness, Art humbly stated, "My greatest weakness is my self-confidence."

Even if it is true — as some of his longtime colleagues can’t help but point out — that he has a larger-than-life ego, it is probably just as true that he deserves more acclaim than he’s received considering the incredible accomplishments and impact he’s had around the world.

"I have some natural inclination about how to get into these things, to recognize them and do something with them," he said. "I don’t do them because I want acclaim. It is just what I do."

Providing help in global hot spots

DeFehr speaking at Lithuanian Christian College.

DeFehr speaking at Lithuanian Christian College.

Lithuanian Christian College

The main academic/administration building on the campus of the English-language LCC (Lithuanian Christian College) International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, is called the DeFehr Centre.

It’s named after the school’s founder.

Starting an independent post-secondary institution in 1990, before the Soviet Union disintegrated, is one of Art DeFehr’s more unlikely, and enduring, accomplishments.

More than 20 years later, it is fully accredited and has 600 students from various countries, with a number of PhDs on staff.

When the recent sabre-rattling started in eastern Ukraine and the ethnic divisions between Ukrainians and pro-Russian rebels boiled over into violence, Russian and Ukrainian students were sharing dorm rooms at LCC.

"It (the former Soviet Union in the late ’80s and early ’90s) was a pretty tough place to operate in," DeFehr said. "The Soviet universities didn’t want the competition; neither did the Catholics. There were six or seven years (of difficulties). But I am the kind of guy that if you want to push, I’ll push back."

He backstopped much of the funding for the first few years of the school’s existence and developed a formula where instructors provided their time for free.

"We don’t use the word volunteer (we provide housing and airfare). We call it a collaborative funding model," said Marlene Wall, the president of LCC, in an interview this summer while she was on vacation in Mexico.

"It’s part of the mind-blowing uniqueness at LCC," she said. "It’s not there for people who just want a job or (to) move forward in their career path. It’s for people who truly understand the mission of the school."

That mission is about the development of civil society that was missing — and is still missing — in large part during the Soviet era.

"We are a school that believes in leadership development in an environment of a country struggling to regain its identity," said Wall, who grew up in Winnipeg as a child and earned her PhD in the U.S. "It’s grounded in the idea of a free-market economy without corruption."

While DeFehr’s foundation still contributes, the school is in good financial shape and would not go away if he stopped giving.

"Art is always a step ahead," Wall said. "He usually has a strategy in mind that we only catch up to in a year or more. Then we realize Art said this some time ago."

Said DeFehr: "There were about 100 of these private schools that started, but most of them did not make it. This is the best of them."

DeFehr in Bangladesh, using a new type of pump developed by Mennonite Central Committee

DeFehr in Bangladesh, using a new type of pump developed by Mennonite Central Committee

Bangladesh in the early 1970s was Art DeFehr’s first significant time abroad.

"It was a pretty awful scene," he recently recalled. "It was more of a genocide than Rwanda, with about three million dead in nine months. But I found I could work almost immediately on the national stage there."

It was the Mennonite Central Committee that put the call to DeFehr, a recent Harvard graduate known to the relief agency. MCC had raised more than $1 million, and they needed someone with the management skills to administer a large-scale agricultural rehabilitation program.

"I was able to think of things no one had thought of before," DeFehr said. "I would organize things, and then many of the other agencies would form a line under the umbrella. But I would tend to originate things. I was organizing everyone else."

He got the international-development bug in Bangladesh. It is also where he and his wife, Leona, adopted their two daughters. They spent two years there.

"The civil rights movement created my political radicalization," he said. "I always tell people to go to the toughest place, because that is where you will learn the most. The people who do well come from the toughest places. It’s a test of fire."

DeFehr at the Cambodia border

DeFehr at the Cambodia border

In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, DeFehr was invited to study the international refugee crisis characterized by the boat people. This visit to the region led to an invitation to become involved in the equally serious refugee problem on the border between Thailand and Cambodia.

In the late 1970s, there were nearly a million starving Cambodians fleeing the vicious Khmer Rouge regime. They ended up in refugee camps where the borders of Cambodia and Thailand meet.

Because of various bureaucratic issues regarding jurisdiction, the people would be fed in the refugee camps, but they would not be able to return to their villages.

"They had no tools and no seed. They could go back home, but they would starve," DeFehr said.

He helped devise a program where rice seed and tools were distributed to hundreds of thousands of Cambodian villagers, allowing them to return to their homes. It is referred to as the Land Bridge.

"Probably the most significant thing I did was in Cambodia," he said.

As committed as he is to his Mennonite faith, DeFehr’s interests in international affairs could be said to be Catholic, and he lets himself be influenced by some amazing characters he meets.

In April, he and his wife, Leona, helped host and sponsor a seminar and workshop on conflict resolution and peace-building in Yangon, Myanmar (once known as Rangoon, Burma).

The five-day event was attended by senior leaders from more than a dozen ethnic groups in Myanmar who have been at odds (if not war) with each other for decades. It was heavily covered by the local media and featured presentations by conflict-resolution experts from Menno Simons College in Winnipeg.

Myanmar was not necessarily on DeFehr’s radar until he agreed to attend a fundraiser organized by IGM Financial CEO Murray Taylor and his wife, Charlotte. They were raising money to assist in Taylor’s church’s efforts to send some Winnipeggers to Myanmar refugee camps to provide eye care.

A very smart Myanmar immigrant named Zaceu Lian was DeFehr’s waiter at the fundraiser, and he spoke to DeFehr.

"A young guy approached me," DeFehr said. "He had ideas about going back when the generals started opening up the country and some of the exiles were going back. He had an idea. After 60 years of fighting, he said, ‘We know how to fight — we do not know how to talk or how to negotiate.’ That is a different skill."

Getting people with no history of doing so to listen and talk to each other is a theme that runs through a lot of DeFehr’s work.

It also is an example of his willingness to go it alone, officialdom be damned.

"He (Lian) was going to go to government (for some assistance), but the Canadian government is not into peacemaking these days. By the time they fund you, either the war is back on or the opportunity is passed and it is too late. These are the things you do quickly or not at all."

Taylor had been involved in helping many Burmese immigrants settle in Winnipeg for many years but was never engaged in the political details. The idea of organizing an event took flight, and it was determined it would take about $70,000 to pull it off.

"We told Art, ‘We love the Burmese people, and we’re in if you are,’ " said Taylor.

"I do stuff like this," DeFehr said. "I’m willing to place a bet on a young man like this. These are the kinds of things, if done at the right time, they really mean something."

After a few calls, five other prominent Winnipeg business leaders all put in $10,000. "Art and Leona went, which was quite amazing," Taylor said. "His fascination with people who are in distress, his ability to come and help people figure out solutions, and his interest in travelling to places that people would never even dream of is outstanding."

DeFehr visiting an irrigation settlement project in Somalia.

DeFehr visiting an irrigation settlement project in Somalia.

In 1983, DeFehr, with his family’s endorsement, chose to take a hardship assignment with the United Nations in Somalia rather than accept a position as president of a small California college.

"At the time, one of my daughters said we could go to California any time," DeFehr remembers.

In accepting the job, DeFehr became a high-ranking United Nations official for the one year he lasted in Somalia, something that is still rare in the UN bureaucracy. (The unwritten understanding of his employment with the UN was he would agree to resign the position when the mission was over.)

It was after his work in Bangladesh, which had caught the eye of many in the international refugee community.

"I had a reputation," said DeFehr, as if he was referring to his ability to deliver quality furniture on time at the agreed-upon price.

Those were the beginnings of the failed state Somalia was to become. DeFehr was trying to deal with massive corruption and quickly became a threat to many people whose vested interests he was challenging.

François Fouinat, the Geneva-based senior adviser to the special representative of the secretary general for migration and development and a former senior official with the UN High Commission for Refugees, worked with DeFehr in Somalia.

"Art’s landing in Somalia was a shock, as he was not one of us and came parachuted, from his Manitoba business, to handle one of the most complicated refugee situations of that time in Africa," Fouinat said in an email exchange.

Al Doerksen, a longtime colleague in international-development efforts and a former vice-president at Palliser, said: "He is a quick study, but he probably underestimated how deeply entrenched some of the interests were. He kind of became persona non grata very quickly; he was ruffling so many feathers, stepping on so many toes."

DeFehr was forced to leave when his safety was in doubt.

"I was in too much danger," he said. "I had gored too many oxen at that time."

After Somalia, he travelled farther in Africa and witnessed the beginnings of the terrible Ethiopian famine before it became an international issue.

Read more by Martin Cash.

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Updated on Wednesday, August 20, 2014 at 10:53 AM CDT: Clarifies donations to the CMHR.

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