Aboriginals not entitled to ‘representative’ jurors, SCC rules – Canadian Lawyer
21 May 2015
Accused at trial are not entitled to a jury that includes members of their own race or religion, but rather only a “fair and honest” process of random jury selection, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled.
Today’s controversial split decision in R. v. Kokopenace — with four judges concurring wholly, one partially and two in dissent — strikes down the successful appeal of an aboriginal man convicted of manslaughter who argued that Ontario’s courts made insufficient efforts to include on-reserve aboriginals when compiling the jury roll.
The key question involved whether government was required to make additional efforts to reach out to aboriginals living on reserve, given their historical reluctance to participate in jury selection.
The answer to this question — at least insofar as the majority was concerned — was that jury selection is “not the appropriate mechanism for repairing the damaged relationship between particular societal groups and our criminal justice system more generally.”
