David Chartrand wants person responsible for forged signature charged
David Chartrand, President of the Manitoba Metis Federation wants the province to investigate and charge the person responsible for allegedly forging the signature on a confession from a man accused of night hunting.
In November 2015 two men, Mitchel LeStrat, 30 and Jordan Thorsteinson, 21 were stopped by conservation officers and charged with using a spotlight to hunt at night near Lundar.
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According to the men’s lawyer Jessica Saunders the Crown produced a signed statement in which Thorsteinson confessed to the crime. Thorsteinson says he never signed a confession. Sanders said, that the document was examined by a handwriting expert from Texas and it was determined that the signature was not Thorsteinson’s.
Two days before the men were set to stand trial the Crown allegedly withdrew the sign confession. Both men were acquitted.
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In January of 2017 Premier Brian Pallister, in speaking to a group of supporters in Virden, said that the fight over indigenous hunting rights was becoming a race war. Chartrand says that because of those comments by the premier tensions between hunters and the province have been rising.
Grand Chief, Derek Nepinak from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is concerned that conservation officers may be cutting corners after Pallister’s comments surrounding night hunting by indigenous hunters. He cautioned the premier to be very very wary of participating in inflammatory rhetoric especially when it is dealing with race.
Manitoba’s Sustainable Development Minister, Cathy Cox who is responsible for Conservation would not commit to investigating the incident claiming the reason was because of possible legal proceeding brought against the government by the Metis Federation.
-News4 Staff-
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