Judge grants 82-year-old woman advance costs in case rejected by 18 lawyers – CBC
Nov 25, 2015
Dalles First Nation woman receives costs in ‘bizarre, lamentable’ case.
An 82-year-old woman from Dalles First Nation in northwestern Ontario will receive $70,000 in advance costs for a court case after a judge heard what he described as a “bizarre and lamentable motion.”
Ruth Ann Henry applied to the courts for advance costs in a case that could see former students at the Fort William Indian Hospital Sanatorium School receive compensation under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
Henry was turned down by 18 lawyers who were approached to take the case, according to court documents.
“The sad truth is that Mrs. Henry… cannot afford access to justice because she is too poor to pay for it,” Justice Paul Perell wrote in his decision, issued Nov. 13.
