Turpel-Lafond won't sue CBC over Cree heritage report that took 'heavy toll': lawyer
CTV
The lawyer for a former judge whose claims to be Cree were questioned in a CBC investigation says his client is not considering legal action against the broadcaster after the Law Society of British Columbia this week backed her claims of Indigenous heritage.
The lawyer for a former judge whose claims to be Cree were questioned in a CBC investigation says his client is not considering legal action against the broadcaster after the Law Society of British Columbia this week backed her claims of Indigenous heritage.
Instead, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond wants to “get on with her life,” lawyer David Wotherspoon said Friday, a day after the release of an agreed statement of facts between his client and the society that said an independent geneticist found she "most likely" had very recent ancestors with substantial Indigenous DNA.
It said the DNA test and geneticist's analysis were provided by Turpel-Lafond.
"She's not interested in looking backwards. She wants to go forward," Wotherspoon said in a phone interview.
He said the accusations against her have taken a "heavy toll."
Turpel-Lafond, a lawyer well known for her work on Indigenous rights, previously served as B.C.’s representative for children and youth and was a recipient of the Order of Canada.
She had also worked as the director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, where she was a tenured law professor until late 2022.
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