Recommendations from the Royal Commission into the wrongful conviction of the late Donald Marshall Junior will be examined today in Membertou. The Donald Marshall Symposium will take place today and tomorrow. The event is sponsored by the Mi’kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum. Representatives from the province’s Mi’kmaq communities, the federal and provincial governments, police and other legal experts will gather to discuss progress and remaining challenges surrounding Mi’kmaq communities and the justice system. Marshall was arrested in 1971 at age 17 for the murder of Sandy Seale in Sydney’s Wentworth Park. He was convicted of murder and spent 11 years in prison before his acquittal by the Court of Appeal in 1983. The Royal Commission into his wrongful conviction in 1989 found that racism and serious shortcomings in the justice system led to Marshall’s wrongful conviction. The commissioners also brought forward 82 wide-ranging recommendations.
