Posted: May 21, 2021 10:58 AM AT | Last Updated: May 21
Ashton Bernard poses in this undated handout photo.(The Canadian Press)
The lawyer for four Mi'kmaw fishermen is trying to back out of a deal he signed earlier this year that was supposed to kick-start a trial on fisheries charges.
The trial for Ashton Joseph Bernard, 31, Arden Joseph Bernard, 22, Rayen Gage Frances, 22 and Zachery Cuevas Nicholas, 34 was supposed to begin Friday morning in Bridgewater provincial court.
By prior agreement, federal Crown prosecutor Denis Lavoie was supposed to enter an agreed statement of facts into the record during Friday's hearing, then close the Crown's case. The stage would then be set for arguments over whether the four men had a treaty right to fish when they were arrested and charged in September 2019.