Justice in paradise

"As a newsmaker, Bruce Clark is infamous - not for his discussions of the finer points of the law in relation to Aboriginal rights but for being dragged away by the police at the Native standoff at Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia. He has also challenged the United States' ownership of Liberty Island and the rest of the Hudson River drainage basin - the site of the world's most potent symbol of freedom, the Statue of Liberty.

A jurisprudential adventure story, "Justice in Paradise" recounts how a commitment to Native rights and an extraordinary passion for the rule of law have determined the course of Clark's life. From a childhood in an Indian residential school, to the defence of aboriginal rights before the World Court, to being disbarred, Bruce Clark's struggle has led him to a fight against the justice system itself.

'Justice in Paradise' explains the legal and philosophical position behind Clark's opposition to the Indian rights industry. He argues that the North American legal system causes the genocide of those indigenous peoples who embrace traditional religion and identity and accuses those who administer it of chicanery and abandoning the rule of law.

Smeared in the media for his beliefs and attacked from the bench - he has been called 'a disgrace to the bar' by the Chief Justice of Canada's Supreme Court... Clark turned his back on a comfortable lawyer's life to defend the rule of law and Native rights. He moved with his family to Indian reservations and then to squats while he argued his case before the World Court in Europe. In his extraordinary memoir, "Justice in Paradise," Bruce Clark - hero to some, extremist to others - details the battles of a renegade's life." -- Provided by publisher


  • Call Number:
    KE416 .C53 A3 1999.

  • Title Responsibility:
    Bruce Clark..

  • Author Information:
    Bruce Clark is a Canadian native rights lawyer, writer and activist. He rose to attention as part of the Gustafsen Lake Standoff and its aftermath. Clark graduated LLB from the University of Western Ontario in 1969, being called to the bar in 1971. He returned to higher education with an MA in North American constitutional history also from the UWO in 1987, followed in 1990 by a PhD in comparative law from the Department of Jurisprudence in the Faculty of Law in the University of Aberdeen School of Law, Scotland..

  • Production Place:
    Montreal :.

  • Producer:
    McGill-Queen's University Press,.

  • Production Date:
    c1999..

  • Band Tribe Geography Time:
    Multiple Nations.

  • Recommended For:
    Research.

  • Catalogue Key:
    3321349.

  • Reviews:

    Russell, Peter H. Review of Justice in Paradise, by Bruce Clark. The Canadian Historical Review, vol. 82 no. 2, 2001, p. 363-365. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/590965/summary.

  • Table of Contents:
    justice-paradise-clark-1999.pdf (31.7 KB) .