Mar 052013
 
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Professor forced to retract, recant, in 2002 civil suit.

by Paul Barnsley

Thomas Flanagan, a former policy advisor to the Reform Party and author of First Nations? Second Thoughts, the Donner Prize winning book that is critical of what the author calls "Aboriginal orthodoxy," is seen by many First Nations leaders as an arch political foe. He was subjected to five grueling days of cross-examination in Federal Court in Calgary in his role as an expert witness called by the Crown in a $1.5 billion lawsuit brought by the Samson Cree and Ermineskin Cree nations.

Ed Molstad, the lawyer for the Samson Cree, told this publication that his approach with this witness was "more detailed" than usual.

The two Alberta bands instructed their lawyers to argue that Flanagan was not an expert on matters related to their actions against the Crown as they seek legal rulings on a number of issues, including oil and gas revenues. They also claim that Flanagan has a bias that renders his opinions of little use to the court. His credibility was challenged on dozens of fronts….

…Molstad spent six hours of court time in January narrowing down the areas where Flanagan can claim to have expertise in Native issues, getting him to admit that he has never done research on reserve and has never spent any time working directly with Native people. Flanagan, who holds a PhD in political science from Duke University in North Carolina, also admitted he has never taken a single course in Canadian history or Canadian Aboriginal history….

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