Native rights lawyer Bruce Clark flew to Vancouver on Feb. 18 to represent his clients in the Gustafsen Lake trials that have been going on for 10 months.
Upon arrival, he was arrested, immediately flown to 100 Mile House, tried and found guilty of contempt of court, and sentenced to three months in jail. Clark was not allowed to defend himself nor enter a plea. The sentence was appealed but he was refused bail.
On March 6, the lawyer was transferred to a jail in Surrey to appear as a witness for Jonesy Wolverine Ignace at the Gustafsen Lake trial.
At 4:00 a.m. that morning, his wife’s car was fire-bombed in front of the house she was staying in.
Clark appeared in court anyway and delivered a “rule of law” explanation of the position taken by Wolverine that the B.C. court has no jurisdiction over unceded Native land, violating the sovereign powers of the First Nations.
Clark’s argument laid out the “treasonous, fraudulent and genocidal” practices of the Canadian state.
– Statement from the Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with the Native People
