N.S. Mi'kmaq urge removal of 'unacceptable' lawyer
Last Updated: Monday, November 2, 2009 | 8:25 PM AT
CBC News
Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq leaders are demanding the NDP government remove one of the Justice Department's most senior lawyers from any case involving First Nations.
The Mi'kmaq sent a written request last week to Premier Darrell Dexter and Justice Minister Ross Landry asking that Alex Cameron no longer be allowed to represent Nova Scotia in constitutional cases involving the Mi'kmaq.
"It's totally unacceptable to us," Membertou Chief Terry Paul told CBC News on Monday.
Paul and the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq Chiefs are angry about a book published last month called Power Without Law, written by Cameron during his spare time. It is a blistering attack on a Supreme Court of Canada decision in 1999 that ruled native people had a treaty right to fish commercially.
In the book, Cameron called the decision "a false beacon to native peoples," "full of mistakes," and "undemocratic and constitutionally unsound."
"The decision has wrought more harm than the fractiousness and violence it brought to peaceable communities," Cameron wrote.
"It has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars as the federal government entered into agreements with local native communities that arose from their demands post-Marshall," he wrote, referring to the case of the late Donald Marshall Jr.
Landmark ruling
Marshall, perhaps best known for being wrongfully convicted for the murder of his friend Sandy Seale, was also the central figure in the Supreme Court ruling criticized by Cameron.
The case was launched when Marshall was caught catching and selling 210 kilograms of eels out of season and without a licence in 1996.
After the Supreme Court decision, there were many violent clashes between First Nations and non-First Nations lobster fishermen. There were confrontations on the water and on land. Cameron represented Nova Scotia in the court battles triggered by the decision.
Now, Paul wants that to end.
"There's no way we can see where the process would be fair and objective, where he has these very strong views," Paul said in an interview from Sydney.
Landry said the provincial government is still working on its response to the chiefs' request.
"The government always reserves the right to look at who's the best person to carry on a job when a particular case comes forward," he said. "We will respect that process and the individuals that are responsible for making those decisions will have the freedom to make them."
Landry said he was almost finished reading Cameron's book and called it "an extremely interesting read."
"I understand the Mi'kmaq's position and I respect the decision of the court," he said.
