'Your Conscience Will Be Your Own Punishment': The Racially Motivated Murder of Gus Ninham, London, Ontario, 1902

in G. Blaine Baker and Jim Phillips, eds. Essays in the History of Canadian Law in Honour of R.C.B. Risk (Toronto: The Osgoode Society, 1999) 61-114.

54 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2013

See all articles by Constance Backhouse

Constance Backhouse

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section

Date Written: 1999

Abstract

In June 1902, an Aboriginal man named Gus Ninham was brutally beaten to death by a group of white, working-class men outside London, Ontario, Canada. Professor Constance Backhouse contextualizes the incident by examining the uneasy relationship between the Onyota'a:ka and white peoples in the area. The murder and ensuing trial received extensive media coverage, highlighting the race and masculinity of the “Oneida brave” Gus Ninham and the “giant” accused John McArthur. The four legal proceedings against McArthur were marked with racist and classist assumptions about Aboriginal witnesses, the victim, and the accused. The proceedings showed a growing reluctance to recognize McArthur's culpability. The jurors in the coroner's inquest found the cause of Gus Ninham's death to be “an assault committed by John McArthur.” Medical testimony against the accused wavered in the preliminary inquiry, but a murder charge proceeded to trial. A grand jury recommended charging McArthur of the lesser crime of manslaughter, and energy to pursue McArthur fizzled. In the face of indefinite medical testimony about Gus Ninham's heart condition, the Crown prosecutor abandoned the case mid-trial. To the shock of the media and the joy of McArthur's accumulated supporters, McArthur was acquitted with only a caution from the presiding judge.

Keywords: Canada, Canadian, law, legal, Ontario, Aboriginal, Native, Indian, white, class, classism, racism, murder, homicide, criminal, crime, racist, racism, classist, trial, manslaughter, medical, evidence, media, prosecution, working-class, London, Onyota'a:ka, history, historical, biography, biographical

Suggested Citation

Backhouse, Constance, 'Your Conscience Will Be Your Own Punishment': The Racially Motivated Murder of Gus Ninham, London, Ontario, 1902 (1999). in G. Blaine Baker and Jim Phillips, eds. Essays in the History of Canadian Law in Honour of R.C.B. Risk (Toronto: The Osgoode Society, 1999) 61-114., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2280499 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2280499

Constance Backhouse (Contact Author)

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section ( email )

57 Louis Pasteur Street
Ottawa, K1N 6N5
Canada

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
113
Abstract Views
726
Rank
438,854
PlumX Metrics