Logline
Two famous lawyers go head to head in the courtroom, while behind the scenes their personal lives unravel. Real cases which expose the social injustices of the Victorian era.
Synopsis
Victorian Justice focuses on the most historically significant and dramatic legal cases of the Canadian Victorian era. These cases tackle racial issues, gender issues, Indigenous issues and the public’s rush to judgment. At the center of these viral stories, and going head to head in courtroom combat, are the two most famous litigators of the day, M.C. Cameron and Robert Harrison.
Victorian Justice –
Extradition Teaser
After escaping to Canada, a formerly enslaved man, John Anderson, seeks to prevent his extradition to Missouri to be tried there in connection with the “murder” of a white man.
Why now?
The true stories of Victorian Justice are packed with high stakes drama dealing with social justice issues on topics which remain present in Canadian society today. What really happened then? What does it tell us about Canada’s past and what does it say about Canada today?
Victorian Justice is educational and entertaining. The history is accurate and each case delves into the social and political context of the times. The personal stories of the lawyers and the parties caught in the legal web of Victorian Justice provide highly compelling historical drama. Viewers will be asking ‘Why have we never heard these stories before?’ Why wait?
Characters
Season 1 – Extradition
It’s 1860, John Anderson is a fugitive slave from Missouri who is accused of murdering a white man while escaping slavery. He has been apprehended in Upper Canada and, if extradited to Missouri, he faces certain torture and execution. Leading members of the black community in Toronto protest and stir Canadian and English abolitionists to action.
Robert Harrison is retained by John A. Macdonald (on behalf of Canada) to uphold the integrity of the Extradition Treaty and send Anderson back to Missouri, while M.C. Cameron is retained to keep Anderson in Canada and prevent a horrible injustice.
The life of Anderson hangs in the balance. So too does the security of virtually the entire Canadian black community; because if one formerly enslaved person can be extradited to a slave state, what security do any such persons have in Canada?
See the episode breakdown
Why us?
Our team, led by Philip Augustine a senior litigation lawyer, have investigated these cases in depth. We’ve done detailed archival research including combing through contemporary accounts of the cases and personal journals and lawyers’ correspondence. We’ve even visited their graves. We are passionate about the people and their stories. These are great stories, we’re great storytellers and we are determined to tell these stories to the world.
Read about our creative team