FOREWORD
Eric Wright 
Chief Executive Officer
LexisNexis Canada

Canada's legal system is both bilingual and bijural. Private law in Quebec is subject to a Civil Code modelled on the French system; the rest of Canada applies the principles of Britain's common law to resolve private disputes. Our legal system works well, despite these divergent colonial legacies.

The situation is tragically different in the African republic of Cameroon. After World War I the victorious powers divided the former German colony of Kamerun between France and Britain. Each colonial power imposed its own language and legal system in its assigned region. By the early 1960s, when Cameroon gained its independence, French-speaking citizens outnumbered Anglophones by roughly three to one. Initially, Cameroon was a federation with two autonomous regions: English-speaking and common law in the west, Francophone and civil law in the east. But federalism was abolished by referendum in 1972. Since then, constitutional protections for the English language and the common law have been increasingly disregarded.

Felix Agbor Nkongho, the founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, was among the lawyers detained in 2017. He spent eight months in detention, three of them in a cell with accused members of the Boko Haram terrorist network, until the charges against him were dropped by Presidential decree. Other distinguished English-speaking lawyers were convicted of various offences against the state and given lengthy prison terms.

On October 25, 2018, the Law Society of Ontario Human Rights Monitoring Group and Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada hosted a conversation between Mr. Nkongho and Gavin Magrath, a Toronto lawyer and Chair of Lawyer's Rights Watch (Legal Research) Canada. Mr. Nkongho described some of the obstacles confronting Anglophones in the Cameroonian legal system. There is no English-speaking law school in Cameroon; an Anglophone wishing to practice law has to study and gain accreditation in another country before being admitted to the Bar in Cameroon. The institute that trains the country's judges and magistrates does not teach the common law. Fewer and fewer judges sitting in Western Cameroonian courts are fluent in English and trained in the common law. Access to justice is systematically denied. Yet these violations of human rights and the rule of law are barely noticed by the outside world.

Mr. Nkongho reminded the audience at the Law Society of Ontario of the similarities – at least on paper – between the legal systems of Canada and Cameroon. Few countries can match Canada's experience in reconciling common law and civil law systems. Canadian lawyers and judges are uniquely positioned to help restore the rule of law in Cameroon.

A T-shirt boldly printed with the word "INNOCENT" was held high to a rousing round of applause by O'Neil Blackett, Innocence Canada's most recently exonerated client, at the start of the Fifth International Wrongful Conviction Day reception.

Blackett, who was wrongfully convicted of killing a 13-month-old girl that was in his care, was exonerated on Oct. 2 after serving over four years in jail. His story has been added to the list of 22 exonerees that Innocence Canada, a non-profit organization, has fought for over its 25-year history.

The reception, held Oct. 3 at the Law Society of Ontario, drew attention to the plight of the wrongfully convicted as well as the efforts of the legal professionals who advocate on their behalf. Stories were shared, awards given and promises were made to never give up on fighting for the innocent.

In her acceptance speech, Edwardh said that the administration of criminal justice has "bitterly failed" each of the wrongfully convicted in attendance. She noted that when she turned to the practice of law in 1976 after completing a "law school education" the picture painted in her mind was that the "criminal justice system was finely tuned."

Upon receiving the award in Carter's name, Edwardh thanked the room and said this "means more to me than you'll ever know."

Two other awards were handed out that night, the Tracey Tyler Award and the first Donald Marshall Jr. Wrongly Convicted Award.

The Tracey Tyler Award is named for the Toronto Star's former legal affairs reporter who spent most of her career helping shed light on the stories of the wrongfully convicted. The 2018 recipient was Tim Bousquet, of the Halifax Examiner, who was honoured for his investigative journalism.

Bousquet started a series called "Dead Wrong", which examined the murders of women and girls in the Halifax area. While accepting his award, Bousquet drew attention to Glen Assoun, a man who has maintained his innocence while being convicted of killing his former girlfriend, Brenda Way.

Although Assoun was released in 2014, Bousquet said he has not been exonerated.

"He's living in a legal limbo and for him it's a living hell," he explained, adding that this has led to mental health issues for Assoun.

"It's up to us to work on his file," Bousquet said, while thanking Innocence Canada for the award.

The Donald Marshall Jr. Wrongly Convicted Award was awarded posthumously to its namesake, who was wrongly convicted of murder when he was 17 years old. Marshall ended up spending 11 years in prison before he was exonerated in 1983.

Innocence Canada highlighted Marshall's case as the first to be recognized as a wrongful conviction in Canada, which led to the first inquiry into the cause of a wrongful conviction. The organization created the award to honour individuals who, despite devastating consequences, did not give up on the fight to clear their name.

Marshall died in August 2009. The award was accepted on his behalf by his brother, Terrance, his nephew, Paul and his former partner, Jane McMillan.

Edwardh said, "Junior was a man who symbolized the struggle for justice." She noted that the commissioners who led the inquiry into the wrongful conviction received Marshall's "full participation," which led to a list of important recommendations.

"A remarkable thing that they said was that the administration of criminal justice in Nova Scotia had failed Donald Marshall Jr. at every turn. They went on to say, in part, that failure was because he was a native man. Junior's shoulders were broad. He understood what the struggle for justice was for. He never wavered and never stepped back. And this is why today some of the important changes in the administration of justice have taken place," she explained.

"We still need to recognize that our appeal courts across the country aren't doing their job because most of the people we have in front of us, they lost their appeals," said Lockyer, stressing that the courts need to catch these cases.

Lockyer asked everyone in the room to say to themselves, " 'if I'm still around 25 years from now, I'll still be here fighting this cause.' Because then we'll know that we will still be here in 25 years making a small, but a very important contribution to the cause of justice in Canada."

This article was originally published in Law360^™ Canada . Event photos by Fardeen Firoze. LexisNexis Canada is a supporter of Innocence Canada.