Andy Peekeekoot is serving a life sentence for a bar room fight. This is not justice!

SASKATCHEWAN COALITION AGAINST RACISM

MEDIA RELEASE January 15, 2010

 

PEEKEEKOOT D.O.’D WITHOUT LEGAL REPRESENTATION

Representatives of the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism sat “stunned” in a Regina Provincial Court room this morning after hearing Judge Deshaye deliver a Dangerous Offender decision to Andy Harold Peekeekoot.

“Peekeekoot, who is a member of the Ahtahkakoop First Nation, was left unrepresented in a finding that is Canada’s equivalent to the Death Penalty,” said Bob Hughes, SCAR Spokesperson, “How can that happen in a so-called civilized society!” “ It can happen because, for the most part, the movers and shakers of our society really don’t seem to give a damn,” said Hughes.

 

“ We are aware that there are psychiatrists that believe that the definition of Dangerous Offender is so broad that the main factor distinguishing those designated as Dangerous Offenders and the majority of other inmates in the federal penitentiary system is that Dangerous Offenders have been unfortunate enough to have become the subject of an application,” Hughes said.

 

“SCAR is deeply concerned with what we are seeing is an alarming increase of D.O. applications (predominately against impoverished aboriginal inmates) by the Saskatchewan Justice Ministry and we believe that it is time for all citizens who truly care about ‘justice’ to rise up and take some responsibility to stop this alarming trend!”, Hughes said.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT BOB HUGHES AT SCAR
(306) 352 -4698

 

 

SASKATCHEWAN COALITION AGAINST RACISM

MEDIA RELEASE JANUARY 13, 2010

SCAR CALLING FOR A HALT TO D.O. HEARING

The Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism has sent a letter to Justice Minister Don Morgan asking him to have his Ministry officials suspend the
Dangerous Offender hearing for Andy Harold Peekeekoot that is scheduled to conclude in Regina Provincial Court on Friday January 15, 2010. ( copy
of letter attached.)

Mr. Peekeekoot, who is from the Ahtahkakoop First Nation, has been told by
Judge Deshaye that a decision will be reached in this case on January 15, even though he is unrepresented by a lawyer and final arguments have not been heard. “This is the sad conclusion of a case that has been totally mis-
handled from the beginning,” said Bob Hughes, SCAR Spokesperson,
“We believe that there is little doubt that this impending decision will be
scathingly over-turned by Appeal Court Judges”, Hughes said. “In fact, I
believe that the Criminal Code of Canada requires that a presiding Judge
is to ensure that the accused receives a fair hearing, does it not?”.

SCAR has observed a sharp increase in the Crown exercising their discretion
to bring forward D.O. applications. As Peekeekoot’s former lawyer so aptly put it, “in Saskatchewan, ….demographically, the overwhelming likelihood is that the offender will be impoverished and aboriginal.” “In this case, we can add, ‘and totally unrepresented’,” said Hughes.

At SCAR we are reminded, by cases such as this, of the words of Martin Luther King Jr. who wrote “ The Negro’s great stumbling block is not …
the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’
than to justice.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT BOB HUGHES AT SCAR
(306) 352-4698