Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m M A Y 2 0 1 6 49 bench made up mostly of what she once described as "middle-aged white men in pinstriped trousers." However, this issue is especially acute in Nova Scotia. Three decades ago, the province was shaken by the wrongful murder con- viction and 11-year imprisonment of Mi'kmaq Donald Marshall Jr. That trav- esty included an eventual acquittal judg- ment — which blamed Marshall for his own misfortune. Ten years later, in 1989, a federal Royal commission concluded that Marshall was, in fact, blameless and that incompetence and racism at every level in the province's criminal justice system had led to the debacle. Among the commission's recommendations were the appointment of more visible minority judges and prosecutors. Howe wants to know what has changed since then. Nova Scotia has only a handful of black and aboriginal provin- cial court judges, and none on its appeal court or superior court — the very court that wronged Donald Marshall. However critics might question Howe's motives in raising the race card regarding his troubles, it's hard to dispute the picture he paints of the court system: "I was five years old when the Marshall inquiry was done. Since that time, what have they done? We still have zero black judges on the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and zero black judges on the Court of Appeal. "The inmates at the Burnside cor- rectional facility [in Halifax] are close to 40 per cent black would be my guess. If you go to Dartmouth Provincial Court, you see numerous accused black people appearing before judges, but what you don't see is blacks adequately repre- sented as participants in the criminal justice system." Canadian Lawyer asked numer- ous Nova Scotia lawyers to comment on Howe's claims of racial unfairness in the system — including senior criminal defence counsel who practise in Halifax, members of the judiciary, Dalhousie Uni- versity law professors, and members of the NSBS governing council. None would agree to an interview. Among those who declined were John Bodurtha, co-chair- man of the Barristers' Society Racial Equi- ty Committee, and Michelle Williams, a professor at Dalhousie University's Schul- ich School of Law and director of its Indigenous Blacks & Mi'kmaq Initiative. In February, Nova Scotia Justice Minister Diana Whalen addressed the issue with reporters, saying the provin- cial government recognizes the problem and wants more diversity in the prov- ince's courts. "In every appointment we make, we look for diversity on the list of candidates that we have for any posi- tions on the bench," she said. Howe says politicians, and leaders in the legal profession, have been saying the same thing in Nova Scotia for the past quarter-century, ever since the release of the Marshall commission report. "You know how many lawyers make money every day off black people in trouble with the law? Where are these white lawyers, making money off black cli- ents — why aren't they coming out and addressing this problem? What the hell has been done lately? Nothing, nothing has been done. Same for the Barristers Society; they've done nothing." Osgoode's Professional LLM THE LAW IS ALWAYS EVOLVING — ARE YOU? Working full-time and pursuing your professional development goals is possible with Osgoode's Professional LLM programs. We offer you unparalleled flexibility to attend onsite at our downtown Toronto facility or via real-time videoconferencing. CHOOSE FROM 9 SPECIALIZATIONS STARTING IN SEPTEMBER: A WORLD LEADER IN LAW SCHOOL LIFELONG LEARNING > Administrative Law > Business Law > Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution > Constitutional Law > Dispute Resolution* > Energy and Infrastructure Law > General > Intellectual Property Law > Tax Law *formerly Alternative Dispute Resolution Professional legal education the way it was meant to be. Visit www.osgoodepd.ca/apply2016 Fall Application Deadline is June 1 st Untitled-2 1 2016-04-14 11:11 AM

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