For all of Justice Harry LaForme's legal controversy he holds a deep respect for Canadian law. "I think it's one of the best in the world," he says.

LaForme [LLB '77] was appointed to Ontario's Superior Court in 1994, and is one of only three aboriginal, federally-appointed judges in Canada.

"I was a very fortunate guy," says the 53-year-old LaForme. When he entered Osgoode to pursue a legal degree in the late '70s, there were very few aboriginal students in universities. Only five aboriginal lawyers existed across the nation. Courses on native rights were almost non-existent. Today, there are bookshelves of literature on aboriginal rights, and many law firms specializing in aboriginal rights and issues.

Growing up in Buffalo, New York, away from his Ontario reserve because of his father's work, the Mississaugas of New Credit member still remembers the ridicule and racism directed towards native peoples. And it wasn't until coaching his little brother's basketball team - made up of inner city aboriginal youths - that he found a way to focus his anger. "The kids were so resilient to the ridicule because they had each other ... they were proud of who they were."

Before being named a judge, LaForme was sitting in a different courtroom. From 1992 to 1994 he served as chief commissioner on the Federal Indian Claims Commission, overseeing Canada-wide land disputes. The position came on the heels of a controversial report he supervised and edited on federal land claims policy which accused Ottawa of being unjust for its arbitrary power over the fate of aboriginal land.

LaForme has told reporters he is "a red man dispensing white man's justice." That justice shows its face in unlikely places. He shocked the courtroom last May by exempting a Toronto man dying of AIDS from criminal charges for using marijuana as medical treatment. The year before, he chose not to declare a violent bank robber - with nearly 200 convictions - a dangerous offender, avoiding an indefinite prison sentence for the man.

Photo: Nadia Molinari