A little about Donald Marshall, Jr.
Donald Marshall Junior was born on September 13th, 1953, on the Membertou Reserve in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He is the eldest of 13 children of Donald Marshall Senior, the Grand Chief of the Mi'kmaq Nation, and his wife Caroline. He was to inherit his father's honorary title.
Youth
During his youth he was rebellious. At the age of 15 he was expelled from white school for striking a teacher and was sent to Family Court. He was given a choice between working for his father as an apprentice plasterer or go to Shelburne School for Boys, an extremely infamous provincial reformatory. With this decision in mind, Marshall quit school with barely a 6th grade education and worked for his father. Since he had so much more free time he joined the Shipyard Gang, a group of Mi'kmaqs who made a nuisance of themselves. He was tall and physically intimidating for his age. In his gang he was the designated "panhandler" who'd beg for money if they didn't have any. Marshall was well known with the law, even as a youth. When he was 16 years old he spent 4 months in the county jail for giving alcohol to minors.
1993
Donald Marshall, Jr. was charged with breaking federal fishing regulations when he was caught selling 220 kg of eels without a license, fishing out of season and using illegal nets. Marshall admitted to committing all those acts, but argued that, as a Native person, he had treaty rights to catch and sell any kind of fish out of season. During his trial he argued that the treaty made in 1760 between the Mi'kmaq people and the British Crown gave him this right. The trial judge did not agree with his argument and found him guilty. Marshall appealed until he reached the Supreme Court of Canada and he was acquitted. This series of trials resulted in a precedent that meant that the East Coast Native peoples have a right to earn a living from commercial fishing, even if it was done out of season.
Death
On August 4th, 2009, Donald Marshall, Jr., at the age of 55, died after suffering from kidney failure in Sydney, Nova Scotia.