As a result of today's hearing in the Amber Fisher case, the matter has been adjourned to August 14th to give council time to prepare a pre-sentence report.
At the start of the hearing, the defence council made a request to withdraw as council, saying he had ethical and contractual obligations he couldn't fulfil if he continued in the case. The judge determined that was not the case, and refused the request, citing R. v. Cunningham, 2010 SCC 10.
After the request was refused, and after a brief meeting between the defence council and Fisher, she made an admission of guilt in relation to manually making 33 transactions between her personal bank account and the RM of Gilbert Plains.
This hearing was originally scheduled as a Gardiner hearing over 2 days, but has been adjourned to August 14th, with council required to have a pre-sentence report with a Gladue component (to ensure fair sentencing for Indigenous persons) by that date.
The court will also get impact statements, both individual and community from those affected, by May 26th.
