Exhibit 6-A
Monday June 19, 200
Portage Daily Graphic
Waterhen residents win retrial
By David Schmeichel
The Daily Graphics
Dissident members of Waterhen First Nations say justice
was served last week, when Canada's highest court granted them a retrial.
"They're very happy with the way it's turned
out," said Donna Gabriel, spokesperson for the former band members.
"We never had any fairness right from day one, and it continued like
that all through the court system - these people just wanted to address
the corruption and abuse that went on on the reserve."
Gabriel was one of 35 Waterhen residents to be charged
after a month long blockade of the reserve in 1996. Twenty-five of
those charges - including Gabriel's - were later dropped, plea-bargained
or dealt with, but the 10 remaining accused received sentences of up to 16
months in jail. The dissident band members have been fighting the
charges from their new homes in Portage la Prairie ever since.
Last Thursday the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a
retrial for the accused, after finding this judge who presided over their
original case to be in a conflict of interest.
The original judge, Court of Queen's Bench Judge John
Menzies, was once a defense lawyer for one of the co-accused in the
Waterhen standoff. He was then appointed a judge and heard evidence
against his former client.
Paul Kammerloch, the dissidents' lawyer, has gone on
record saying Menzies' relationship with the co-accused would have given
him access to confidential police reports and witness statements a judge
normally might not be privy to.
Gabriel said concerns have also been raised about Queen's
Bench Associate Chief Justice Jeffrey Oliphant, who once worked as a law
partner with Menzies.
"Oliphant is the one who signed the order against us
to have us removed from the reserve," she said. "There's a
lot of suspicion as to what it was they were after - whether it was
because they wanted to cover up everything that happened."
The Crown office is expected to decide within the next few
days whether to go ahead with a new trial or not. Gabriel said the
last few years have been an "awful experience" for band members,
but noted they're still prepared for anything.
"I would say it would be stupid for the Crown to try
and put these people back on trail," said Gabriel, who accompanied
six other band members to Ottawa to attend the court hearings in person.
"But we're prepared to tell our story."
Regardless of the decision, Gabriel said band members will
be going ahead with plans to seek financial compensation for the loss of
land and treaty privileges experienced by band members who were forced off
the reserve.
She said the band has no intention of trying to move back
to Waterhen, however. About 350 band members left the reserve for
Portage in the wake of the stand-off.
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