January 26, 1990 - Donald Marshall - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Racism caused 11 years of wrongful imprisonment for Donald Marshall, judge rules. When he was 17 years old, a Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq First Nations named Donald Marshall Jr. and his friend Sandy Seale tried to rob a man who pulled a knife on them, killing Seale. Marshall was convicted of the murder and spent 11 years in jail before the actual killer bragged about his actions, leading the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal to quash the conviction. Marshall became part of a process that exposed racism in the Nova Scotia police and judicial system. On January 26, 1990, the report of the Royal Commission on Donald Marshall, Jr. was released with harsh words for the entire justice system. The judges filing the report found grave injustices for non-Caucasians, especially black and Mi’kmaq Canadians. Their findings spotlighted complete incompetence, investigations designed to support their theory and discount others, police using oppressive tactics on witnesses, and Crown lawyers failing to disclose statements from witnesses supporting Marshall. Racism was at the heart of the problem, and Nova Scotia took action to repair some of the damage.

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