It was a specifying minute in among the many highest attainable account questions in Saskatchewan’s background.
In 2003, Justice Minister Eric Cline purchased a public questions proper into the fatality of 17-year-old Neil Stonechild larger than a years beforehand, consisting of Stonechild’s name with individuals of the Saskatoon Police Service.
Stonechild’s family thought {the teenager} had truly remained in authorities guardianship the night he adhered fatality in November 1990. Defence legal professional Silas Halyk stood for the after that-Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations on the questions.
Halyk revealed close-up photos of Stonechild’s face — his physique had truly been exhumed as element of the occasion’s re-investigation — on a three-metre excessive show within the jam-packed resort ballroom the place the questions occurred, after that laying over manacles onto the accidents on {the teenager}’s face. The handcuff arm bands match precisely proper into the grooves all through the bridge of {the teenager}’s nostril.
“I’m telling you that any reasonable person in my mind, looking at those photographs and the superimposition of the handcuffs, can’t resist coming to a conclusion that those are handcuff markings,” Halyk knowledgeable CBC in a 2005 assembly.
“It says to me that, at some point in time, Neil Stonechild was in police custody.”
Don Worme stood for Stonechild’s family on the questions.
“It had the impact that I think that one could anticipate it would have,” he claimed.
“I think it’s fair to say that Mr. Halyk played that with the kind of skill and delicacy that one would expect.”
Commissioner David Wright inevitably wrapped up that Neil Stonechild had truly remained in authorities guardianship the night he handed away.
Halyk, a story in Saskatchewan’s lawful neighborhood, handed away onDec 2. He was 86.
Civil and prison job
Halyk was likewise an achieved pilot. (CBC)
According to the Law Society of Saskatchewan, Silas Eugene Halyk researched on the University of Saskatchewan and was phoned name to bench in July 1962. Three years afterward he paused to hunt post-graduate researches at University of Michigan.
He went again to Saskatoon in 1966 and returned to an occupation that would definitely cowl the next 5 years.
“He was sort of the last of the people that had a very diverse criminal and civil practice,” claimed Saskatoon safety legal professional Mark Brayford.
“Most people were practising in the area of criminal and civil law prior to Si Halyk’s time. But this was kind of the turning point … where people started specializing in one or the other. Si was known as a first-rate counsel on both sides of the civil and criminal law spectrums.”
The Canadian Legal Information Institute collects court docket judgments from all through the nation in an brazenly out there knowledge supply. Entering Halyk’s title within the search space exposes the breadth of his passions.
His title is related to murders, broken driving conditions, harm conditions and medical negligence matches. He likewise functioned as major authorities arbitrator in land negotiation talks with the Moosomin First Nation and Thunderchild First Nation.
U of S regulation instructor Glen Luther was functioning as a safety legal professional in Alberta when he initially went throughout programs withHalyk In the very early Nineties, each serviced relating to a hundreds conditions with one another, most broken driving, and ended up being shut pals.
“He wasn’t a sort of detailed guy, necessarily, he’s not spending all kinds of time in a library. That was sort of more how I was, I really like doing the legal research,” Luther claimed.
“Si was more just, well, let’s just look at the witnesses. Let’s decide what the issue is and go for the jugular, if I can put it that way.”
In the court docket
Court of King’s Bench Justice Gerald Allbright remembered his impressions of Halyk, that customer talked whereas Allbright remained in regulation establishment.
“A very imposing physical presence with his stature, his looks and his voice,” Allbright claimed.
“He had a command of the subject matter, criminal procedure, that was unique to a highly qualified practitioner.”
Allbright had Halyk initially as an teacher and afterwards, afterward, as a companion of their firm Halyk Allbright
“He was very experienced, I was very energetic,” Allbright claimed.
Allbright ended up being a King’s Bench court docket in 1995. Halyk remained within the trenches.
“He would have been an excellent candidate [to be a judge],” Allbright claimed.
“Si was not one to have a chief justice telling him where to sit, and when … he liked to do the things that he wanted to do, when he wanted to do them. He worked hard, but he wanted to choose what he worked at.”
Mark Brayford likewise remembers seeing Halyk operate a court docket.
“Everyone has their own litigation style and Si was unique in his ability, through words, to manipulate people, whether it was in a negotiation or on the witness stand,” he claimed.
“He just had this ability to push the right mental button to trigger the reaction that he wanted.”
Worme retains in thoughts precisely how Halyk simply gotten in contact with people.
“He could talk to the man on the street or the executive in the highest boardroom with the same sort of casual friendliness, and he would be accepted in the same fashion.”
Luther claimed Halyk had a propensity for recognizing exactly what people required.
“He could really read courts well,” claimed Luther.
“He really knew what a judge wanted, it was just sort of a natural ability. He really had a good rapport with clients and courts and police officers and prosecutors, whoever he had to deal with. Si was one of those guys that people just liked and respected — and, if you didn’t listen to him, you paid the price.”
Paying it forward
Luther went again to Saskatoon in 2003 to instruct on the U of S. He remained in contact with Halyk.
“I can remember when he came to me and was sort of, like, ‘how can I do something about advocacy at the U of S?’” Luther claimed.
“He was really keen to see law students learn about being good advocates in the court, not just good legal learners, but also very good at the courtroom work.”
Halyk, left, and arbitrator Warren Winkler on the 2016 campaigning for lecture. (University of Saskatchewan)
In 2009, the College of Law held the preliminary Silas E. Halyk Q.C. Visiting Scholar in Advocacy Lecture, together with Ontario legal professionalDavid Scott In complying with years, audio audio system consisted of Regina legal professional Aaron Fox, Chief Justice Robert Richards, nationwide arbitrator Warren Winkler and aged lawsuits legal professional Christine Glazer.
“He wanted to get the students not only interested in advocacy, but also to learn from some of the best,” Luther claimed.
“He wanted lawyers to be better.”
Luther claimed you’re nonetheless most certainly to see Halyk’s custom in any form of Saskatchewan court docket in the present day.
“I think there’s probably 50 lawyers out there who would say that he was a serious mentor to them throughout their career,” he claimed.
“Everybody around here has learned a lot of things from Si Halyk.”
Gerald Allbright claimed Halyk will definitely be stored in thoughts “as a superstar lawyer.”
“He was the ultimate leading barrister of his day. And he was a gentleman.”
