NS chiefs concerned about lawyer’s views on Marshall decision
Mi’kmaq leaders in Nova Scotia want the provincial government to remove one of its senior lawyers from any advisory role on issues affecting Mi’kmaq people.
The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs has concerns about senior crown attorney Alex M. Cameron who recently wrote a book that takes a critical view of the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the Marshall fishing rights case. The book, entitled Power without Law, was released by McGill-Queen’s University Press on Oct. 1st.
In his book, Cameron writes that Mi’kmaq “have no more treaty right to ‘hunt, fish and gather’ than their neighbors of Scottish, Irish, Acadian, and other European descent.” He also writes that Mi’kmaq “do not have treaty rights anything like those described by Justice Binnie” in the Donald Marshall court ruling.
“Our concern is that he’s a government employee who has written a book and publicly stating that the Supreme Court decision is wrong,” Paq’tnkek First Nation Chief and Assembly Co-Chair Gerard Julian told RadioGoogoo.ca on Thursday. “We would like for him not to be consulted on any (Mi’kmaq) issues because of his strong views,” he said.
In September 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned Donald Marshall, Jr.’s fishing conviction for catching and selling eels in Pomquet Harbour, N.S. without a license.
In its ruling, Canada’s highest court ruled that Mi’kmaq people have a treaty right to earn a moderate livelihood from the commercial fishery based on the Peace and Friendship treaties of 1760-61 signed between the Mi’kmaq and the British Crown.
The court ruling eventually prompted Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq leaders to enter into treaty negotiations, called the Made-In-Nova Scotia process, with both the federal and provincial governments.
In a news release issued on Wednesday, the assembly questions whether Cameron can set aside his own personal opinions when it comes to providing legal advice to the provincial government on Mi’kmaq issues, including the on-going treaty negotiations.
“The Assembly has a reasonable apprehension of bias in that professional role and fears he would advocate within Government against following the Supreme Court’s opinion in Donald Marshall and seek its reversal,” Mi’kmaq leaders stated in the news release.
Cameron was one of the Nova Scotia government lawyers involved in the Mi’kmaq logging rights case that made its way to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2005. In that ruling, the highest court upheld the convictions of 35 Mi’kmaq loggers who were charged with harvesting timber on crown without a permit.
Nova Scotia chiefs wrote a letter dated Oct. 23 to both Premier Darrell Dexter and Justice Minister Ross Landry asking that Cameron not be considered when they seek legal advice on Mi’kmaq issues in the province.
“He’s not respecting the Supreme Court decision as a member of the bar and as a member of the Nova Scotia justice department as an advisor on justice,” Julian said when reached by phone in Dartmouth, N.S.
Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry said he received the chiefs’ letter regarding Cameron’s current position within the Department of Justice and the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Services.
“Mr. Cameron has a right to express his opinion in a free society and having that right, I, as the Attorney-General, I have to uphold the rights of citizens to express themselves,” Landry said when reached by phone in Fredericton, N.B. on Thursday.
Landry said in regards to Cameron’s book, the provincial government refers only to the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision in the Marshall fishing rights case in its treaty negotiations with Mi’kmaq leaders.
“I respect the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest court in the land and from that derives the Marshall decision,” Landry said.
Landry said he hoped to set up a meeting with the 13 Nova Scotia chiefs in the near future to discuss the issue.
