And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 07:22:47 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: "how a native judge dispenses white man's justice"
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JUDGE HARRY LAFORME
TORONTO July 19, 1999
How a native judge dispenses the `white man's justice'
Rulings sometimes are controversial, often spark debate
By Donovan Vincent Toronto Star Staff Reporter
He's controversial, driven and walks a fine cultural line.
Mr. Justice Harry LaForme - a federally appointed judge and a Mississauga
Indian born and raised on a reserve near Brantford - is, in his own words:
``A red man dispensing white man's justice.''
Sometimes that justice raises eyebrows.
Most recently, LaForme, 52, sparked a legal clamour when he reserved
judgment June 30 on whether convicted murderer Adrian Kinkead should serve
two life sentences consecutively or concurrently for his part in slaying
Toronto sisters Marsha and Tamara Ottey.
The move came as Parliament considers a bill that would allow life
sentences to be served one after the other. Some lawyers called LaForme's
decision unconstitutional, arguing that a convicted person must be
sentenced under the laws in place at the time.
In May, LaForme made headlines with a landmark ruling on marijuana. He
granted Jim Wakeford, a Toronto man dying of AIDS, a constitutional
exemption from prosecution for using marijuana as medical treatment to
relieve symptoms of his disease.
Late last year, he sparked controversy by not declaring a violent bank
robber a dangerous offender. Even though Micky McArthur had four
convictions for attempted murder against police officers, and 187
convictions over 30 years, LaForme said he didn't think McArthur fit the
dangerous offender category - which would have meant an indefinite prison
sentence.
Appointed to what is now the Superior Court of Justice in 1994, LaForme
sincerely believes Canada's justice system is ``the envy of the world,''
but still advocates a separate aboriginal justice system to address what he
feels are the special needs of others in his community. Native leaders have
voiced concerns about the high number of young people, especially males,
who end up in jail.
One of only three aboriginal people - along with Madame Justice Rose Boyko
of the Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket and Mr. Justice Rejean Paul
of the Quebec Superior Court - who hold positions at his level, LaForme
holds his native heritage close to his soul.
After the exhausting Ottey trial, the Toronto resident returned home to the
reserve. ``My community still follows my career very closely,'' LaForme,
who has chaired two royal commissions on native issues, says modestly.
``His heart lies with the native community here,'' says his father Maurice,
a former Mississaugas of New Credit band chief. LaForme's grandfather and
uncle were also chiefs. ``When he wants to relax and let his hair down, he
comes home.''
LaForme, who is married with two daughters, a stepson and a stepdaughter,
graduated in law from Osgoode Hall in 1977 and was called to the bar in 1979.
After a stint on Bay St., he established a name for himself as an activist
lawyer with a straight-ahead attitude.
Outside court, LaForme is known as a stylish dresser, friendly and
approachable. In the courtroom, he can be sharp and to the point.
When Kinkead was convicted, LaForme called him an ``evil fiend.'' He told
the killer to pray that he doesn't run into someone in prison who has as
little regard for human beings.
He can also show his compassionate side. LaForme had everyone at the
Kinkead trial - police, reporters and spectators - wiping back tears when
he implored Avis Ottey, the mother of the dead girls, to try to find peace
despite her tragic loss.
``Mrs. Ottey, you are brave beyond words. Please find the peace you so
richly deserve,'' he said, reflecting the community's outrage over the
senseless killings.
He is, after all, a man who knows the importance of community.
He keeps a golden eagle feather - a sacred symbol - in his chambers. A
native elder gave it to him as a token of the high esteem in which he is
held by native people.
``He is so particular about the eagle feather,'' his father says.
He was also honoured with a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, handed
out in 1997 by the Canadian Native Arts foundation.
Being a judge, especially one from the Indian community, means carrying an
added responsibility and coming under more scrutiny, LaForme says. ``You
learn that life is not as private as you thought. Your goals, the manner in
which you conduct yourself, are being watched. It adds pressure, but it's a
good pressure.''
He has presided over a few cases relating to First Nations issues. Last
year, he ruled that Conservative MPP Marcel Beaubien remain a defendant in
a lawsuit over the fatal shooting of native activist Anthony (Dudley)
George at Ipperwash Provincial Park.
Immediately before the Sept. 6, 1995, shooting, Beaubien, MPP for Lambton,
dismissed negotiating with native protesters and sent out a news release
calling for swift action to ``take back control'' of the park, LaForme
wrote in his decision at the time.
Beaubien's lawyer had argued his client wasn't in a position to exercise
authority.
LaForme's interest in law was sparked by the aboriginal rights movement
that began in the early '70s. A key event was the fallout over the Trudeau
government's 1969 White Paper on Indian Policy, which called for the
scrapping of the Indian Act, reserves, treaties and the Department of
Indian Affairs.
``The reaction was `No,''' LaForme recalls. ``(Indian people) have an
identity. A lot of political activity took place after that.''
`I feel like I've deserted my people. They'll say, ``No, that's not true.''
' -Mr. Justice Harry LaForme
The political movement was fuelled further by events spilling over from the
United States, such as the American Indian Movement's armed occupation of
Wounded Knee in South Dakota in 1973.
LaForme admits that law school was at times a painful experience, being one
of so few aboriginal lawyers or law students. ``I felt like I was in a
place I didn't belong.''
Some of his fellow students made him feel he was there only because of some
kind of ``free pass,'' not merit. But he found a mentor in Harry Arthurs,
the man who was then dean of Osgoode Hall. ``He made me feel I was there on
a mission, to change things in this country,'' LaForme says.
Arthurs, now a law professor at Osgoode, remembers LaForme as a young man
with natural leadership skills. LaForme became president of the Legal and
Literary Society, the student government of the law school.
He articled with the prestigious firm Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt for one
year starting in 1977, and landed a job there after being called to the bar
in 1979. He stayed only a year.
``I predicted he wouldn't be totally happy on Bay St.,'' Arthurs says. ``He
struck me as a person of social responsibility. Bay St. is not the ideal
location for people with that particular bent.
``He could have made a good contribution, but my feeling was he wanted
more, wanted to use his talents for the public good, and the good of First
Nations people.''
LaForme immersed himself in First Nations law and politics.
In private practice from 1980 to 1989, he specialized in aboriginal rights
and constitutional law, with an emphasis on land claims and treaty rights.
He was part of an aboriginal delegation that flew to England to lobby for
changes before the 1982 repatriation of the Constitution.
He rose to prominence from 1990 to 1992, as chair of the Indian Commission
of Ontario, a tripartite body consisting of First Nations, federal and
Ontario representatives, that mediates issues like policing, education and
land claims in Ontario.
He supervised the writing and edited a significant report on federal land
claims policy that led to Ottawa creating the federal Indian Claims
Commission, a federal body set up to deal with Canada-wide aboriginal land
claims disputes. From 1992 to 1994, he served as its chief commissioner.
Land claims continue to be a complex issue, he says, offering the example
of one economically depressed Indian community involved in a claim. Members
of the community had the choice of land or cash to settle the dispute. They
chose cash.
``For a family of four or five, that meant $15,000, which was more money
than they'd ever seen in their lifetime in one shot. They bought a few new
trucks, did some repairs, then the money was gone and in the end they were
worse off than when they started.''
Economic development and education are other key issues for aboriginals,
LaForme says. Sometimes, he says, he feels helpless to address these issues
because of his role as a judge. ``I feel like I've deserted my people.
They'll say, `No, that's not true.' ''
He adds that his rise to Superior Court judge has at times been a ``lonely
and exhausting journey.''
Roberta Jamieson, Ontario's ombudsman, says it's important that others
follow in LaForme's footsteps. Jamieson, who is also aboriginal, says she
knows LaForme well and believes the role he serves is a vital one.
``It's important that you have someone on the bench who has an
understanding of some of the hardships that people who are not of the
dominant culture face.''
With files from Sara Jean Green
"Let Us Consider The Human Brain As
A Very Complex Photographic Plate"
1957 G.H. Estabrooks
www.angelfire.com/mn/mcap/bc.html
FOR K A R E N #01182
who died fighting 4/23/99
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.aches-mc.org
807-622-5407
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE
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