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| Nipawin - March 10, 2001 - by: Mario deSantis | |
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no-fault |
A common theme of a segment of our writing has been the emphasis on individual rights in |
| the face of no-fault governments. Therefore, today I am happy that the good work of lawyer | |
| Tony Merchant has finally surfaced on behalf of the many abused Indians who attended | |
| residential schools. | |
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social |
The law firm of Tony Merchant could gross $100 million in handling the cases of some |
| 4,300 survivors who attended these residential schools(1), while the total liabilities of these | |
| cases will be in the order of few billion dollars(2). If it wouldn't have been for the intelligent | |
| work of some lawyers such as Tony Merchant, this legal social disgrace wouldn't have | |
| surfaced yet and we would have continued with business as usual. | |
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Law |
The outstanding work of Tony Merchant is more appreciated when you consider that he was |
| reprimanded and fined by the Law Society of Saskatchewan for soliciting a former Indian | |
| residential school student in a misleading manner(3). Yet Tony Merchant has not been found | |
| unfair in representing some 4,300 former residential school students. | |
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delay |
Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray has discounted the cultural genocide effected by the |
| residential school programs(4), and the FSIN vice-chief Lawrence Joseph has complained | |
| that lawyers are making so much money at the expense of the school survivors(5). I must | |
| point out, first that so much money is going out to governmental lawyers for dragging | |
| their feet in their delay tactics, and second that Tony Merchant has been charging reasonable | |
| fees after he took the challenge to work with no pay. | |
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justice |
We must thank Tony Merchant for reminding us that the pursuing of justice requires |
| individual initiative rather than the work of our no-fault government. | |
| ------------References/endnotes: | |
| List of relevant political and economics articles http://ensign.ftlcomm.com | |
| Law firm strikes goldmine, by James Parker, The StarPhoenix, March 9, 2001, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | |
| Abuse suits may hit $10B, lawyer says, Richard Foot, February 6, 2001 National Post http://nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20010206/465873.html | |
| Regina lawyer fined by law society, CBC Saskatchewan, December 8, 2000 http://sask.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2000/12/08/merch001208 | |
| Complex issue, by Herb Gray, Deputy Prime Minister, March 7, 2001 Ottawa http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20010307/493583.html | |
| FSIN blames government for lawyers' "appalling" windfall, CBC Saskatchewan, March 9, 2001 http://sask.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/03/09/merchantabu010309 | |