Nova Scotia’s Jena 6

The "White Tree" above; The "Black Bench" below; The "White Tree" was cut down.

Nova Scotia’s Jena 6
The Last Frontier of Justice
Nova Scotia’s Legal aid Commission

Only in a “legal system” of second class citizens, like feudalism, could the king, playing the neutral role, get away with becoming at once the prosecutor, remove the defense and any opposition, become the judge, hand down his sentence and walk away with impunity.

Such a system exists even today in Nova Scotia’s Legal Aid Commission administered by the king, Walter I Yeadon.

I am referring to a letter I received from Mr. Yeadon dated June 25, 2007 in which he informs me of the following:

“I am responding on behalf of the Commission in my capacity as Case Review Director.


I have reviewed your correspondence and the attachments to same. I am satisfied that Mr. Maurice Bastarache, Barrister & Solicitor, was not in a conflict of interest and should have beenpermitted to continue in his role as defence counsel. Mr. Bastarache was discharged by you unilaterally. I refer to your letter to Mr. Bastarache dated June 21, 2007 in which you state:


"Clearly, I am asking you to step down."


Section 19( d) of the Legal Aid Act states that Legal Aid Services may be refused; suspended or withdrawn, as the case may be, or a certificate cancelled with regard to any person otherwise eligible when that person, without sufficient reason,


(d) refuses to co-operate with the solicitor rendering professional services for him, in the manner that is normal and customary between a solicitor and his client;


Your action in discharging Mr. Bastarache is completely unacceptable so far as the Commission is concerned. I can advise that the Nova Scotia Legal Aid Commission is not prepared at this time to provide further Legal Aid Services either by way of a staff lawyer or a Legal Aid Certificate issued to the private bar."



The fact of the matter is I have never sent any correspondence to Mr. Yeadon whatsoever; the correspondence he refers to was sent to someone else. He took the correspondence and called it his own and used it to revoke my eligibility.



Until that moment in time I was assured of legal aid assistance from the province in a legal matter that has profound civil liberties implications in that a member of parliament brought pressure to bear upon a police officer to lay charges against me. Mr. Yeadon says that I without sufficient reason refused to cooperate with legal counsel and yet nowhere did my legal counsel make that allegation. If that allegation was made by legal counsel, why hasn’t it been produced by the commission’s director? Why isn’t the source of the allegation transparent?

Now without a defense I am in the same position of the now famous Jena 6. Rather than being a young black man possibly with a criminal record, I am a black man, a senior citizen, dealing with a terminal cancer, multiple myeloma, and I have no criminal record. When Mr. Yeadon removed my legal aid coverage based on the charges he levelled above, it was like the Jena 6 prosecutor, LaSalle district attorney Reed Walters, said to Jena 6:

“With the stroke of a pen I can make life miserable on you or ruin your life.”

Now, without a defense, armed with his own allegation and having rendered his own decision, this is exactly what Mr. Yeadon thinks he has the right to do --remove my defense with the stroke of his pen and his rendered decision.

Oh, by the way Mr. Yeadon says I can sit under the “white tree.” I have the right of appeal, even as a second class citizen.

When one tries to find how an appeal is conducted and what the rules are do look for any like transparency. No one seems to know. I do not even know where the appeal will be heard, whether the media can be present and the public attend?

When I called the telephone number given to me to indicate I would appeal there was no answer and I left a message. I waited and the a few hours later I called back and there was no answer. So, I was forced to send a fax yesterday and as yet I have had no response form the Commission. I have as yet to hear from the commission regarding details and the the rules surrounding an appeal. We often hear that legal aid in Nova Scotia is the last frontier of justice. I am beginning to believe it.

What is behind this interference in the justice system is MP Bill Casey who influenced the police in the laying of criminal charges against me in his home town of Amherst, Nova Scotia. These charges against me brought by the Commission are to protect him.

The facts of the case require a thorough investigation. I have been reached by the Commission and the appeal hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 2:30 pm at the office of the Commission at 137 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3S 1B3, 902 420-6578.


Frank Boyd

902 463-0070
fsjboyd@yahoo.com