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Tom
Engel | David Ahenikew
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Bruce Clark
Firebrand former
lawyer spars at reinstatement hearing
By KIRK MAKIN , Globe
and Mail JUSTICE REPORTER Oct. 22, 2003
TORONTO -- An Ontario lawyers'
disciplinary panel had barely sat down yesterday when it was
blasted for being "willfully blind" to a continuing
policy of genocide against native Indians.
Bruce Clark -- firebrand lawyer,
radical friend of aboriginals and raging scourge of the legal
system -- was back in town.
When last heard from in 1999,
Mr. Clark was disbarred after criminal convictions for contempt
of court -- related to his repeated raising of the genocide argument
-- and assaulting a police officer in British Columbia during
an aboriginal uprising.
Yesterday, the 59-year-old
man asked the Law Society of Upper Canada to let him back into
the fold -- and pledged not to raise the genocide issue again
if he is reinstated.
"I want to practice law
so that I can get off welfare," Mr. Clark said.
He is arguing that his disbarment
is invalid because the Law Society did not consider his defence
at the time. However, he was anything but contrite as he faced
the three panel members who will decide his fate. Mr. Clark's
submissions were occasionally deft, invariably passionate and
often breathtakingly rude. He taunted the panel and virtually
commandeered the hearing room, shouting down law society lawyer
Maureen Helt and the panel if they tried to protest.
"Genuinely and truly,
you have utterly misconceived the point of this proceeding,"
Mr. Clark lectured panel chair Alan Silverstein in a typical
exchange.
"All procedural requirements
will be followed, Mr. Clark," Mr. Silverstein replied grimly.
"That would be such a
pleasant surprise," Mr. Clark shot back.
"We don't need snide comments,"
Mr. Silverstein said, visibly seething.
Mr. Clark has battled for aboriginal
rights since 1971, including a long-running Ontario land claims
case known as Bear Island and a volatile 1995 standoff at Gustafson
Lake in B.C.
No less a figure than former
Chief Justice Antonio Lamer has denounced his invective, once
telling Mr. Clark he was "a disgrace to the bar."
To the law society, the Clark
case is a unique test. Can obsessive, ill-mannered conduct be
enough to short-circuit a career? Does muting Mr. Clark's voice
simply lend credence to his accusations against the legal establishment?
Mr. Clark pointed out yet another
distinguishing characteristic of his case yesterday. He noted
that most lawyers are disbarred for sins such as theft, incompetent
practice or breach of trust. "In this case, a lawyer was
disbarred for being honest," Mr. Clark said.
However, Ms. Helt insisted
that he was disbarred not for his beliefs, but because his convictions
amounted to professional misconduct. Disbarments are generally
meant to be permanent, she added.
Even Mr. Clark's sporadic apologies
yesterday were laced with contempt. "May I apologize for
the manner of my delivery," he said at one point. "It's
just that this whole process is so profoundly obscene."
Mr. Clark also demanded an
adjournment to recover from being "harassed" by Mr.
Silverstein. Later, he pointedly left the hearing room during
Ms. Helt's closing submissions. At the root of Mr. Clark's quest
is his claim that no court has ever properly addressed a 300-year-old
British proclamation that he says is capable of proving that
Indian land was stolen.
This "blatant judicial
chicanery" proves that judges at every level have furthered
the genocide of aboriginal people, he said.
Mr. Clark accused the law society
of twisting its rules to drum him out simply because he had refused
to let "imperial" judges sanctify the theft of native
land.
The panel reserved judgment
late in the day on the application.
© 2003 Bell Globemedia
Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Handcuffs greet Indians'
lawyer
Stewart Bell , The
Vancouver Sun, February 19, 1997
Controversial aboriginal rights
lawyer Bruce Clark was arrested Tuesday on an outstanding warrant
minutes after his flight from Toronto touched down at Vancouver
International Airport.
As two dozen native Indian
and non-Indian supporters waited for Clark inside the airport
terminal, four RCMP officers boarded the Canadian Airlines flight,
handcuffed the lawyer and took him to the Richmond detachment.
Margaret Clark, who travelled
with her husband, said she did not know when he would be released.
But she said that he hoped to represent his clients, several
defendants in the Gustafsen Lake trial, in court today.
She said her husband knew he
could be arrested if he returned to B.C., but came anyway because
"he had to make the attempt" to defend his clients
against charges related to the 1995 armed stand-off with police.
"Bruce speaks the truth,
he can prove the truth," she said. "Bruce is a brilliant
lawyer. That's the reason he's a threat."
The Mounties waited on the
tarmac for the plane to arrive. After the other passengers had
disembarked, they boarded to arrest Clark. He was led to a marked
police car parked beside the terminal building.
When news of the arrest reached
the protesters, gathered around a buckskin drum near a baggage
carousel, they broke into song and chanted: "Free Bruce
Clark, No Jurisdiction" -- a reference to Clark's argument
that Canadian courts don't have jurisdiction over Indians.
The lawyer's arrest stems from
an incident in 1995 when Clark left his home in an upscale Ottawa
neighborhood and flew to B.C. to represent several Indians who
were encamped near Gustafsen Lake.
After refusing for weeks to
surrender to police to face charges of shooting an officer, the
protesters finally gave up. During a bail hearing that September,
Clark accused a 100 Mile House judge of running a "kangaroo
court" and struggled with police.
Rather than facing the charges
-- contempt of court and assaulting a police officer -- Clark
fled to the Netherlands. But he returned to Canada and last month
appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of aboriginal
groups in Ontario and New Brunswick.
Supporters gathered at the
airport said they believed Clark was arrested because the government
is afraid of him. "He's the best there is in Canada,"
said Glenn Deneault, a defendant in the Gustafsen Lake case.
Bill Lightbowm questioned whether
a "judicial conspiracy" was behind Clark's arrest.
"Why are the RCMP, on
orders from the governments, so determined to intercept and stop
Dr. Bruce Clark from attending and participating as the lawyer
of choice of most of the defendants as their defence attorney?"
Lightbowm [sic] said.
"Is the B.C. law society
and the judiciary complicit in a conspiracy to use illegal and
immoral tactics to block Dr. Bruce Clark from presenting his
legal arguments in the B.C. courts? If it is, this is the worst
case of chicanery in Canadian legal history."
Clark, once a small town Ontario
lawyer, has spent most of his career arguing that Canada is engaged
in a campaign of "genocide" against Indians and that
conflicts between aboriginals and the Crown should be settled
by an international tribunal.
His theories have been largely
dismissed by the courts and by mainstream aboriginal groups such
as the Assembly of First Nations. But that has only fueled accusations
by his supporters that they are victims of a government conspiracy.
Adding to conspiracy theories
are a series of embarrassing scenes captured on an RCMP training
video, and raised as evidence in the trial, in which police refer
to a "smear and disinformation campaign" against Clark
and the protesters.
Flo Sampson, the wife of Jones
(Wolverine) William Ignace, appeared briefly before reporters
at the airport to say she wanted Clark freed so he could represent
her husband in court in Surrey today.
In a letter to the attorney-general's
ministry dated Feb. 13, and released Tuesday by his supporters,
Clark offers to apologize for his actions in 100 Mile House,
but says he will not "acknowledge any criminal intent to
show contempt."
Lawyer arrested when
he lands at airport
Vancouver Province, February
19, 1997
Controversial lawyer Bruce
Clark was arrested at Vancouver International Airport yesterday
after flying from his New Brunswick home.
He was taken into custody on
outstanding warrants for contempt of court and assaulting a police
officer.
A familiar figure, with his
bald head and imposing eyeglasses, during the 1995 Gustafsen
Lake standoff, Clark was escorted by three RCMP officers to a
police car and driven to the nearby Richmond RCMP detachment.
Police spokesman Sgt. Willy
Laurie said Clark would be held overnight and likely taken today
to Williams Lake to appear before the judge who issued the warrants
in October 1995.
Clark was returning to B.C.
to make submissions today when the defence opens its case in
the B.C. Supreme Court trial of 18 people accused in the one-month
standoff that pitted natives against the RCMP.
The Gustafsen Lake trial is
now in its ninth month, with 14 native and four non-native defendants
on trial for weapons and mischief charges. Two defendants are
also charged with attempted murder. Clark acted for many of the
accused.
After he was taken away yesterday,
native and non-native supporters held a protest, chanting and
beating drums in the domestic-arrivals terminal.
Clark was detained on outstanding
warrants that stem from an incident at the 100 Mile House provincial
courthouse in 1995.
He was wrestled to the ground
by deputy sheriffs following an outburst and charged with contempt
of court and assaulting a police officer. Clark fled the country
and later returned to live in New Brunswick.
Gustafsen Lake Defendant
asks for imprisoned lawyer
Vancouver Sun, February
20, 1997, By Neal Hall and Mark Hume
One of the people on trial
for his part in the Gustafsen Lake standoff told B.C. Supreme
Court Justice Bruce Josephson he wants an imprisoned native-rights
lawyer to appear on his behalf.
"He's the only one who
can do the job and he's my counsel of choice," Jones (Wolverine)
Ignace said Wednesday. Ignace is charged with weapons offences
and attempted murder for allegedly firing at police during the
month-long standoff in 1995 at Gustafsen Lake near 100 Mile House.
"If I don't have Bruce
Clark as my counsel, then I'm being denied justice in this country,"
he added.
Clark spent the day in custody
after returning to B.C on Tuesday to represent Ignace and other
defendants in the Gustafsen Lake case.
The controversial lawyer was
arrested at Vancouver International Airport on two outstanding
warrants and was transferred to Williams Lake. He will be taken
to 100 Mile House today to make his first court appearance.
Defence lawyer Don Campbell
suggested the court could issue an order to allow Clark out of
jail so he could appear as a witness for Ignace on Friday.
But Clark, an Ontario lawyer,
is not licensed to practice in B.C and would need to get approval
from the Law Society of B.C. and the trial judge in order to
represent Ignace.
In the fall of 1995, Clark
appeared at a raucous bail hearing in 100 Mile House, where he
accused a judge of running a kangaroo court. The lawyer also
got in a scuffle with police officers.
Those incidents led to charges
of assaulting a police officer and contempt of court. Clark fled
Canada before he could be brought to court to face them.
He said in an interview this
week that he wants to challenge the jurisdiction of the courts
with an argument that cases involving native Indian claims to
land must be dealt with by an independent, third-party tribunal,
not by a court appointed by the state.
To date, no Canadian court
has accepted that the argument has any merit.
The expectation of Clark's
appearance Wednesday at the Gustafsen Lake trial attracted about
a dozen members of the media to the high-security courtroom in
Surrey. But when it quickly became evident Clark would be a no-show,
most of the media lost interest and left before the lunch break.
The trial involves 14 native
Indians and four non-Indians who were charged mainly with weapons
offences and criminal mischief at the end of the armed standoff,
which came during a summer of native Indian unrest in B.C.
Up to 400 RCMP officers and
military personnel were employed at Gustafsen Lake. It became
the largest police operation in B.C. history, costing taxpayers
more than $5 million.
Ignace's son, Joseph, 25, is
charged with two counts of attempted murder for shooting at RCMP
Constable Ray Wilby on Aug. 18, 1995, and at a number of other
officers during an alleged gun battle on Sept. 11, shortly before
the armed standoff ended.
His lawyer, George Wool, said
in his opening address to the jury Wednesday that he plans to
prove his client was not at Gustafsen Lake when Wilby was shot
at.
He said a defence witness,
Danny Ford, will testify he phoned the Ignace home in Chase that
day and talked to "Jo-Jo," as the young man is called
by his family.
Outside court, Wool said he
estimates the defence may wrap up its case in three weeks.
That would be welcome news
for the jury, which was originally told the case would take two
months -- it is now in its 29th week.
One former defence lawyer,
Harry Rankin, estimated the trial is costing taxpayers about
$50,000 a day. Part of the cost is the $60 a day paid to the
accused, who are mostly from out of town, to cover food and accommodation
expenses.
The standoff during August
and September 1995 was triggered by rising tensions between a
rancher and native Indians who took part in an annual religious
sundance ceremony that had been held since 1989.
The ceremony was held on remote
land near 100 Mile House owned by cattle rancher Lyle James.
But James served an eviction notice on one of the sundancers
after the Indians erected a fence, saying the area was a sacred
site.
The standoff escalated when
shots were allegedly fired at a forestry worker and police.
Jones Ignace, who is charged
with weapons offenses and attempted murder, says he is being
denied justice if Bruce Clark cannot represent him.
Notorious lawyer out
of court
By Clare Ogilvie, Staff
Reporter, The Province, February 20, 1997
Everyone was there except the
man they'd all come to see.
Television crews from local
and national stations, newspaper and radio reporters and native
supporters lined the steps of the Surrey courthouse yesterday
to see if lawyer Bruce Clark would make it to the Gustafsen Lake
trial.
But the flamboyant lawyer,
easily recognizable with his shaved head and space-age eye-glasses,
was due to leave for 100 Mile House, courtesy of the RCMP.
Clark is to face charges there
today of contempt of court and assaulting a police officer.
He was charged after a fracas
at 100 Mile courthouse in September 1995 and was wanted on B.C.-wide
warrants. He was arrested Tuesday when he returned to B.C. from
New Brunswick.
Clark was representing many
of the natives charged after the 30-day Gustafsen Lake standoff
ended Sept. 17, 1995.
Camp leader William Jones Ignace
(Wolverine) told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Josephson yesterday
that preventing Clark from representing him showed there was
no justice in Canada. Ignace, who is defending himself, said
if Clark can't be his lawyer he will call him to testify as early
as tomorrow.
George Wool, defending five
of the protesters, told the jury, which has been hearing Crown
evidence for the past 128 days, that one of his clients, Joseph
(JoJo) Ignace, was not at the Gustafsen Lake Camp on Aug. 18,
the day he is alleged to have fired at a Mountie.
Wool said Joseph Ignace, William
Ignace's son, was at home at the time. He said two medical experts
will testify that Joseph suffers from severe fetal alcohol syndrome,
which can impair brain function.
Defence witness Barry Holden,
who has been fishing at Gustafsen for almost 40 years, testified
that he was visited by RCMP officers every day while camping
at the lake in June, just before the standoff.
"(A Mountie) said there
may be trouble," said Holden.
"He said that shots had
been fired at a forestry officer, or something, in the weeks
prior."
Not long after one of the visits,
Holden heard and saw a cowboy ride into the native camp and scream
at the occupants. The cowboy then rode to Holden's camp.
"He said you guys better
get out of here," Holden testified.
"There is going to be
trouble and shooting around here."
The trial continues.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
