The owner of the region's largest organic farm is going to jail on Wednesday.
Stuart Collins, the founder of Shawville's Bryson Farms, is facing extradition to the United States on fraud charges.
It's not Collins' organic farm business that has him in trouble with the law, though -- it's his past life as a lawyer in Texas that has him appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada to allow him to stay in the country.
"If the Canadian government had helped me, this could all be resolved. It's not like I'm a mass murderer or something. These are two theft charges. I've offered to pay them back, let's get it over and done with and move on," Collins told CTV Ottawa.
The Supreme Court will reveal whether it will hear Collins' case on Thursday. As part of his bail condition, Collins is scheduled to be jailed at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
"It's a dreadful place and I'm not looking forward to it," he said.
Human rights issue
Leading up to Thursday's decision, Collins' lawyer told CTV Ottawa he isn't holding a lot of hope the Supreme Court will hear his client's case.
John Norris does say, however, that while the Supreme Court typically focuses on issues of national importance, Collins' case could have issues of human rights violations because he's an openly gay man and might be targeted in a Texas prison.
Bryson Farms customers offer support
Collins' customers are doing their part to keep the founder of Bryson Farms in Canada by writing petitions and urging the federal justice minister to overturn the extradition order.
"We don't want to lose him," said Tracey Black, owner of Epicuria store.
Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson refused to comment, saying it would be inappropriate while the case is before the Supreme Court.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Joanne Schnurr
