David Milgaard Inquiry |

 

Alan Gold

 

Ex-justice who negotiated Milgaard deal dies at 87
Retired Quebec judge Alan B. Gold known for his skills as a mediator

 

LUANN LASALLE

MONTREAL (CP) - Retired judge Alan B. Gold, known for his skills as a mediator in high-profile cases involving former prime minister Brian Mulroney and David Milgaard, has died. He was 87. In 1990, Gold also mediated between Mohawks and the Quebec government in the Oka crisis, helping bring the lengthy land claims standoff to an end.

He served as chief justice of Quebec Superior Court from 1983 until 1992 when he retired from the bench.
Gold joined the Montreal law firm of Davies, Ward, Phillips and Vineberg in 1993 where he was beloved and respected, senior partner Peter Mendell said Monday.

"We all called him, 'Judge,' " Mendell said, adding that even former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard, who works at the same firm, called Gold by his nickname.

Mendell added that Gold was instrumental in bringing Bouchard to the firm after the Parti Quebecois premier stepped down in 2001.

He said Gold, who died on Sunday, was a private man who wouldn't have wanted the nature of his illness disclosed.

Gold was a successful mediator because he had an attentive ear, Mendell said.

"He was able very well to marry his career as a lawyer and his career as a judge by being an incredibly good listener. He was very respectful of the views of others."

Gold represented the Saskatchewan government in the late 1990s in negotiations for a $10-million financial settlement for Milgaard, who spent 22 years in prison wrongly convicted of murder.

He also reviewed the out-of-court settlement reached in former Tory prime minister Brian Mulroney's lawsuit against the federal government. Mulroney was awarded $2 million for being wrongly accused of receiving millions of dollars in kickbacks in Air Canada's 1988 purchase of Airbus jets as well as from two other contracts.

Gold was a graduate of Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., and returned to his hometown to study law at the University of Montreal. He was called to the bar in 1942 but did Second World War service with the Royal Canadian Artillery for the next four years.

Gold was named as chief judge of provincial court, now renamed Quebec court, in 1970.

He first attracted national attention in 1968 when he was the chief arbitrator who headed off a longshoremen's strike at the Port of Montreal.

Five years later, he mediated a strike by 56,000 rail workers. He also helped settle two national postal strikes - in 1981 and 1991.

Gold's funeral was to be held in Montreal on Tuesday.

His death was noted by Quebec Superior Court Justice John Gomery, presiding over the sponsorship inquiry.
Gomery announced he will take an extra long lunch break Tuesday so he can attend the funeral.

"I heard some sad news at the break," Gomery said.

"Apparently somebody for whom I have great esteem has passed on, the Hon. Alan B. Gold. The funeral will be tomorrow at 11:30 and personally I must attend that funeral. He was my chief justice for many years, and a friend."

Mendell also said Gold was known for his love of the arts, especially classical music.

Gold is survived by his wife, Lynn, and three children.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

 
Oka negotiator and top jurist Gold dies

CBC, May 17, 2005

MONTREAL - Retired judge Alan B. Gold, who helped steer the country out of several crises including the Oka standoff and two national postal strikes, has died.
Gold, who passed away on Sunday at age 87, also represented the Government of Saskatchewan in negotiations to reach a settlement with David Milgaard for wrongful conviction.

He served as chief justice of Quebec's Superior Court from 1983 until 1992, when he retired from the bench.
Justice John Gomery, who is currently presiding over the federal sponsorship inquiry, expressed sadness at word of Gold's death, calling him a friend whom he held in great esteem.
Gold is credited with having helped make the legal system more accessible, rapid, efficient and equitable.
He first attracted national attention in 1968 when he was the chief arbitrator who headed off a longshoremen's strike at the Port of Montreal.
Five years later, he mediated a strike by 56,000 rail workers and helped settle two national postal strikes, in 1981 and 1991.
He was chief arbitrator between the Government of Quebec and its public employees for 17 years and served as mediator and arbitrator in disputes concerning the ports, railways, airlines, Royal Mint, foreign service and many businesses.
In 1990, Gold mediated between Mohawks and the Quebec government in the Oka crisis.
He also represented the Saskatchewan government in the late 1990s in negotiations for a financial settlement for David Milgaard, who spent 22 years in prison wrongly convicted of murder.
In 1995, Gold became a member of the Order of Canada.
Right into his last years, Gold managed a full work schedule.
The $600,000 Alan B. Gold scholarship fund, for the faculty of law at the University of Montreal, is described as a tribute to the brilliant career of a remarkable man.

Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell

Truth suppress'd, whether by courts or crooks, will find an avenue to be told. Sheila Steele, injusticebusters.com

If you hold the mouth of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage. Somali proverb

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Publisher : Sheila Steele

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injusticebusters court advice :

How to walk yourself through the justice system

 

Why you should dump your preliminary hearing (written July 1998 and still valid)

 

Sermonette: The Naked Truth -- (You will find links to many more sermonettes in the sidebar on this page

Another target of Dueck's malice: : Wilf Hathway

Our activism contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the civil trial.

Index to the stories on this website

This is not regularly updated so if you are looking for a particular story and you have a name or keyword, please use the site search engine(at the bottom of the page) which IS regularly updated

Index to Saskatoon Police stories

This is a pretty good scrapbook for the 1998-2002 period.

Inquiry into the malicious prosecution of David Milgaard untanling 36 years of Saskatchewan police and Crown misconduct: : Opening day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

Stephen Williams: Canadian writer subject to Stasi-like treatment by Canadian police

Terry Arnold: : Snitch a suicide?

RCMP scenario stings: Brian Hutchinson starts digging

Gary wells: Faulty eye-witness testimony

Tulia, Texas

Gilmer, Texas

Willie Upshaw

Wrongfully convicted in Canada

Foster Parent false accusations

Martensville

Don Smith obscenity trial: an obscene conviction

James Lockyer

Hurricane Carter

Johnny Cochran speaks up for Bill Sampson

Vopnis

Abdulai Mohamed

Nfld Defamation story:

Wanda Young

Racism in the Federal Civil Service

The Terrible Story behind the Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns convictions

Trial set for June 15

We know part of this disclosure is a forged statement and perjured affidavit from a Winnipeg cop

The Crown is still fighting Fred Poirier -- and they are losing. Secret Commissions Case from Northern B.C.

 

 

2005: In the United States the proven wrongful convictions just keep coming at us!

 

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Brandon Morin:

Convicted in Oregon

of rapes which did not happen

This website has good information about Measure 11 -- Oregon's Mandatory Sentencing requirements which have been in place since 1994. In this case we see how the combination of a flawed grand jury system and prosecutors who seek not justice but convictions is a recipe for wrongful convictions.

 

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Canadians who have been wrongfully convicted because of improper investigations combined with zealous Crown

A round-up of wrongful convictions in Canada

Robert Baltovich

Michael Burns

Sebastian Burns

Rodney Cain

Wilbert Coffin (hanged, 1953)

Jason Dix

Jim Driskell

Jody Druken

Randy Druken

Hugues Duguay

Michel Dumont

Peter Frumusa

Walter Gillespie and Robert Mailman

Clayton Johnson

Yvonne Johnson

Herman Kaglik

Darren Koehn

Kulaveeringsam "Kulam" Karthiresu

Stephen Leadbeater

Donald Marshall

Chris McCullough

Michael McTaggart

Felix Michaud

David Milgaard

Guy Paul Morin

Shannon Murrin

Jamie Nelson

Greg Parsons

Benoit Proulx

Atif Rafay

Louise Reynolds

Thomas Sophonow

Gary Staples

Billy Taillefer

Steven Truscott

Joe Warren

Leon Walchuk

 

AIDWYC

Innocence Project (Canada)

Innocence Project (U.S.)

Northwest Law Center on Wrongful Convictions

 

Kirstin Lobato

Jeffrey Scott Hornoff

Willie Upshaw

Hurricane Carter

Guildford 4

Birmingham 6

Amirault

Houston

U.S. wrongful convictions: Exonerateed

Kirk Bloodsworth

Laurence Adams

Ludrate Burton

Stephen Cowans

Wilton Dedge

Albert Johnson

Kenneth Marsh

Dwayne McKinney

James Bernard Parker

Peter Reilly

Peter Rose

Sylvester Smith

Clifford St. Joseph

John Stoll

Marty Tankleff

Wilton Dedge

Ray Krone

 

Still working on it:

Dennis Deschaine

Dennis Perry

Tim Sandfort

 

 

Revitalizing the archives From 1998 until 2002, injusticebusters was in the throes of identity crisis. What was it? What were we doing? We grappled with editorial policy at the same time we were learning the nuts and bolts of building and posting a website. Once we had a secure, paid site I had full editorial control, although I talked regularly to Richard Klassen who was forced to move his family several times and did not always have access to the internet. Rick's pages: one | two We posted our earliest and later actions. Early versions of the site can be found on the Wayback Machine. I began following other threads to stories of police and prosecutorial misconduct and the site's character took on another facet: a newsclipping scrapbook where stories could live longer than they would in print form. I also began picking up other stories of wrongfully convicted people. It was an explosion. By 2003 there were over 700 pages. I also had contact with several other people (Don Smith, Leon Walchuk, Monique Turenne, the Vopnis) and kept these stories going. It was the story of the Ross children's treatment at the hands of the Saskatchewan government which grabbed the attention of The Fifth Estate. The civil claim (The $10M Lawsuit as we called it) was only mentioned briefly at the end of their show which aired in November, 2000. When Richard Klassen began to make progress in bringing his civil claim to court, the government and police defendants alleged he was breaking the rules of court by publishing discovery material on the internet. MacNeil clinic (the document which started it all) The Thompson Papers Carol Bunko-Ruys reports This claim was absolutely false. However, rather than risk being thrown out of his civil claim, Klassen undertook before Judge Mona Dovall to sever all ties with the website. The court fights: Les Perreaux report QB271 These pages have links which lead to other pages from that era. Now that some of the dust has settled, I have been going back through the material we had posted in the early days. In the spirit of keeping the scrapbook alive, I have been reformatting and placing links. The original material remains intact. I hope the information, which chronicles our struggle is useful to you. The identity crisis is over. We know who we are --Sheila Steele, March 28, 2005

 

Blogging

Blogging has been in the news. It is the new, trendy thing with 40,000 new blogs being created each day. I established a blog for this website last September and it is now "taking off." These are a few of the pages with ongoing discussions.

Tasering Mary Lutz

Saskatchewan Centenary

Quint Blog discussion

Rotten apples in the Saskatoon Police

Blogging for choice

Michael Cardamone witch hunt

Implement recommendations of public inquiries

Stealing from the poor

Vancouver's killer cops

Tisdale rapists appeal

Winnipeg police misdeeds

Milgaard Inquiry

Chief Sabo: can he be trusted?

The Old Boys' Club Must Go!

Vancouver activists

John Hudak: Falsely accused mountie

City of intolerance

Constable Larry Lockwood: Exciteable!

Eric Cline

This is a great way for like-minded people to communicate and share our views. It is easier than making a website and marginally more difficult than a forum.

People who want to contribute simply have to punch the "comment" link and they will be taken to a page with a box which allows them to write their comment, preview and post it. It takes a while for the comment to show up and some people get impatient and repost. That's fine, I trash the duplicate posts and no harm done.

Please, please give it a try. The internet is distinguished from other media in that it is really and truly interactive. Blogging makes it possible to express your viewpoint even if you don't have a computer. You can go to the library or a friend's place or an internet cafe. Once you've mastered the basics (and believe me, if I can do it, you can do it) you will be participating in one of the most democratic -- and potentially powerful -- media the world as we know it has ever seen.

Come on. Don't be shy. Join the Weblog World! -- Sheila Steele, March 20, 2005

Toronto Police paid out $30M in secretly resolved claims over last five years