This week marks the 10-year anniversary of the death of a Mi’kmaq hero
Posted Aug 8, 2019 09:19:57 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
This week marks the 10 year anniversary of the death of a Mi'kmaq hero.
Donald Marshall Junior passed away on August 6th, 2009.
In 1971 – he was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 11 years in jail before his exoneration revealed his conviction was the result of racism in the Canadian justice system from police officers, prosecutors, and judges. He reached prominence again in the late 1990s with the landmark Supreme Court decision that re-established Mi'kmaq people's right to catch and sell fish.
Dalhousie University Indigenous Studies professor Patti Doyle-Bedwell tells NEWS 95.7 Marshall Junior will be remembered for bringing the Mi'kmaq justice.
“Educating our kids about our treaty rights, and our culture, and he was a fluent Mi'kmaq speaker, his father was a Grand Chief, so he will always be part of the history, and legacy of our nation,” explains Doyle-Bedwell. “And he should be part of the history, and legacy of Canadian history.”
Doyle-Bedwell believes he didn't want his first conviction to be in vain.
“You know, he could have looked at it one of two ways, I give up, I'm not gonna do anything, I lost 11 years of my life,” says Doyle-Bedwell. “Or he chose to do something positive out of that, and fight for our rights.”
If one word had to sum up his life, Doyle-Bedwell says 'hero' would do the trick.
“You know, I don't think that Junior ever started out saying I'm gonna be a hero, and I'm gonna make change, and I'm gonna create positive change for the Mi'kmaq people, I'm gonna fight for our rights,” says Doyle-Bedwell. “I don't when he first started this all out he was thinking along those lines, because he was such a humble person.”
Doyle-Bedwell – who is also a lawyer – says she would have never started practicing law if it were not for Donald Marshall Junior.
