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‘Radical’ British lawyer barred from Alberta oilsands case
News Articles Featured | Canada.com | August 11, 2011
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CALGARY — He's likely Britain's most famous crusading lawyer, a barrister who represented both the families of protesters killed on Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland and billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed at the inquest into the deaths of his son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales.
But the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench this summer has prevented English civil rights lawyer Michael Mansfield from representing the small Beaver Lake Cree Nation in their treaty case against the growth of oilsands operations in the province.
"I cannot speak in court," Mansfield, 69, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "This is a highly politicized case. There's a lot at stake for a lot of people."
In the arguments that led to the decision in June to prevent Mansfield from appearing in Alberta courtrooms, provincial and federal lawyers — alongside the province's law society — said the laws here clearly state that foreign lawyers are not allowed to argue cases pertaining to Canadian laws.
Don Thompson, executive director of the Law Society of Alberta, said it's simply a matter of keeping standards in place to protect the public. Lawyers need to be qualified to practise here.
It wouldn't be allowed, he said, "if someone wants to come in and say 'I want to be a neurosurgeon, because somebody (in Alberta) needs neurosurgery.' "
The main treaty case originated in May 2008, when the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, located near Lac La Biche, filed a lawsuit alleging that oilsands development is overtaking their traditional hunting and fishing territories. The terms of Treaty 6 saw First Nations living in what is now the central areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan sign over their lands in exchange for supplies, payments, reserve lands, and the right to pursue hunting and fishing as they had before the treaty.
Jack Woodward, the Victoria-based First Nations lawyer also representing the band on the case, argues there's enough leeway in the law to allow a foreign lawyer to work here.
He noted Mansfield is an expert in the British legal system, on which English Canada's system is built. He also said the cash-strapped First Nation of less than 500 people has the right to the lawyer of its choice, and needs all the help it can get.
"I had no idea that both Canada and Alberta would so vigorously oppose this British lawyer — he's an eminent British barrister," Woodward said. "It's embarrassing and shocking . . . They're fighting the case in a petty, technical way."
Woodward is now appealing the Mansfield decision. But that appeal is not likely to go ahead before the case returns to court in Edmonton on Oct. 17th.
In the meantime, lawyers from Mansfield's firm are still allowed to work behind the scenes to help prepare the case.
The issue has now been taken up by University of Calgary law professor Alice Woolley, who argues in a recent blog post that the benefits of the experienced British firm representing the First Nation band on a pro bono basis outweigh any objections from government or the law society.
"Can there not be a more nuanced or careful approach to the provision of legal services, in which consumer and public interests are protected, but the availability of competent and helpful legal advice is not irrationally restricted?" Woolley said.
Mansfield, a self-described socialist and "radical lawyer," has often made headlines for his involvement in high profile cases. Last month Scotland Yard told he may have been targeted — because of his work on the Diana inquiry — by phone hackers working for the News of the World tabloid.
He said he was first drawn to the Beaver Lake Cree case last year after seeing a London photo display of the open mining pits of the oilsands, and hearing from the band. Last month Mansfield travelled to the Fort McMurray, Alta., region, where he said he was "horrified" by environmental damage caused by the oilsands, and attended a powwow at the Beaver Lake reserve.
He said the Canadian government has no idea how badly its global reputation has been damaged as a result of the oilsands.
"It is viewed as some kind of environmental vandal."
For its part, the Alberta government has filed a preliminary motion in the Court of Queen's Bench to have the claim or parts of the claim struck out.
"Alberta believes that aspects of the claim are not proper," said Alberta Justice spokeswoman Carla Jones.
She added that "Alberta does not believe that oil and gas development has made it impossible for First Nations to exercise their rights to hunt, fish and trap."
This is not the only oilsands case the Beaver Lake Cree and Woodward's firm are working on. At the end of July, a Federal Court judge ruled that Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent must explain his reasoning for not issuing an emergency order to protect at-risk boreal caribou populations in northeastern Alberta.
The minister has until Sept. 1st to respond.
Beaver Lake Cree Nation Chief Henry Gladue wasn't available for comment.
Tagged with: first nations, beaver lake cree, michael mansfield
