NDP riles lawyers in fallout over MLA ouster

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This article was published 16/09/2024 (388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba and the Manitoba Bar Association were quick to condemn the provincial NDP caucus for ousting MLA Mark Wasyliw because of his connection to the lawyer for convicted sex-offender Peter Nygard.

“Frankly, it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” said Chris Gamby, spokesman for the defence lawyers association.

He said Gerri Wiebe, who’s representing Nygard, is a former law partner of Wasyliw, the member for Fort Garry.

“I don’t know how her choice to represent Mr. Nygard has any bearing on this,” he said about the backbencher’s ouster.

“Is the suggestion here that Mr. Nygard doesn’t deserve a defence?” asked Gamby, noting that defence lawyers perform a constitutionally mandated role.

The caucus of the governing NDP deemed that Wasyliw’s judgment doesn’t align with its principles of “mutual respect and trust,” said a statement from chairman Mike Moyes on Monday.

The bar association president said the rationale for kicking out Wasyliw “raises serious concerns about the role and perception of defence lawyers in our justice system.”

“It is disappointing that the work of a partner in Mr. Wasyliw’s office has been used as the basis of his removal from caucus,” Jessica Schofield said in a news release.

“Criminal defence lawyers play a crucial role in safeguarding the rights of individuals and ensuring a fair and just legal system. This decision undermines the essential function of criminal defence lawyers, whose work ensures that the justice system remains balanced and accessible to all.”

It’s not the first time Wasyliw’s role as a criminal defence lawyer has been attacked. Ads on his firm’s website came under fire from Progressive Conservatives last year when the NDP was in opposition.

“I don’t know how her choice to represent Mr. Nygard has any bearing on this.”–Chris Gamby

A PC caucus statement at the time suggested defence lawyers such as Wasyliw make society less safe when they advocate on behalf of accused persons. The Tories also took issue with advertising by Wasyliw that included phrases such as “drinking and driving is not against the law” and “facing sexual assault charges in Winnipeg? We can help… we’ll fight to keep you out of jail.”

The defence lawyers association responded by saying the Tory caucus “crossed the line” for attacking its members and the rule of law.

On Monday, Gamby said the decision by the NDP caucus to remove Wasyliw is of no concern to the defence lawyers association.

“Our concern is the fact that now they’re turning (to) his profession — our profession — and suggesting that by virtue of him being involved in it, and being involved with other people in it, that somehow he has a lack of mutual respect and poor judgment.”

Gamby said he hopes others are concerned about it, as well, and that the matter generates public discussion.

“At the end of the day, we’re here to make sure that the justice system runs smoothly and we don’t have problems like wrongful convictions… that we’re not allowing the state to devolve into a system that makes Manitoba and Canada not a place we want to be,” said Gamby.

“This decision undermines the essential function of criminal defence lawyers, whose work ensures that the justice system remains balanced and accessible to all.”–Jessica Schofield

“Sometimes you have to go to court and advocate for some people who might be maligned, some justly, in particular after they’ve been convicted. That’s what you sign up for when you do this job.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

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Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.