The Manitoba Bar Association has pulled out of the upcoming Taman Inquiry because of a lack of money to hire a lawyer, association president Mike Law said today.
The bar association, a volunteer organization that represents all lawyers, won standing at the inquiry but was denied funding by the province to hire a lawyer, Law said.
The result is the association won't be able to represent the profession when the inquiry begins June 2.
"The public suffers from our lack of input," Law said. "The public is served by a well-run justice system."
The inquiry was ordered by the province last year to examine the police investigation and prosecution of former city police officer Derek Harvey-Zenk for his involvement in the death of Crystal Taman in a car crash more than two years ago.
Taman was killed on her way to work Feb. 25, 2005. She was sitting in her small car on Lagimodiere Boulevard at the north Perimeter Highway, waiting for the light to change, when a truck driven by Harvey-Zenk rear-ended her vehicle.
Harvey-Zenk was later given a conditional sentence -- essentially house arrest with a curfew -- last fall after a joint recommendation by the special prosecutor and Harvey-Zenk's lawyer.
Public outrage over that sentence, and trial judge Ray Wyant's publicly expressed concerns about the police investigation, resulted in the Doer government calling the inquiry commission.
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