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Donald Marshall Jr.

Mi'kmaw fisherman · 1953-2009

Spent eleven years in prison for a murder he did not commit, then won the case that affirmed treaty fishing rights.

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Life story

  1. September 13, 1953 · Membertou, Nova Scotia
    Born at Membertou, son of the Grand Chief of the Mi'kmaq
  2. November 1971 · Sydney, Nova Scotia
    Convicted of a murder he did not commit at seventeen
  3. May 10, 1983 · Halifax
    Acquitted after eleven years in prison
  4. 1989 · Halifax
    A royal commission found the justice system had failed him at every level, largely because he was Indigenous
  5. September 17, 1999 · Ottawa
    The Supreme Court upheld the 1760 treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood
  6. August 6, 2009 · Sydney, Nova Scotia
    Died at Sydney

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