Donald Marshall Jr., a Mi'kmaq activist from Nova Scotia who was involved in two high profile legal disputes, died this morning. He was 55.

Marshall was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1971. After spending 11 years in prison, he was acquitted and became the focus of a royal commission that said racism against Natives played a role in his case.

"The criminal justice system failed Donald Marshall Jr. at virtually every turn from his arrest and wrongful conviction for murder in 1971 up to and even beyond his acquittal by the Court of Appeal in 1983," the 1991 report from the commission said, CBC News reported.

Marshall later became the central figure in a treaty rights case after he and others were arrested for fishing out of season. The Supreme Court of Canada in 1999 ruled that Mi'kmaq and Maliseet people have a right to earn a living from hunting, fishing and gathering.

Get the Story:
Wrongfully convicted Donald Marshall Jr. dies (CBC 8/6)
Aboriginal icon Donald Marshall Jr. dies (The Cape Breton Post 8/6)
Reluctant Aboriginal champion passed away overnight (DigitalJournal.Com 8/6)