PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Meanwhile, two sisters from Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan have been waiting more than a year for the federal justice minister’s decision on whether their case is a miscarriage of justice. Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance spent 30 years in prison for the 1994 killing of farmer Anthony Joseph Dolff. Their cousin has already admitted to the murder."
STORY: "Exoneree supports miscarriage of justice law for ‘other innocent people across Canada,’ by Reporter Kathleen Martens, published by APTN, on November 1, 2024. (Award-winning reporter Kathleen Martens covers western and northern Canada for aptnnews.ca. A veteran of the Brandon Sun, Sun Media and APTN Investigates, she is based in APTN’s head office, specializing in stories about property, women’s rights and community.)
PHOTO CAPTION: "Clarence Woodhouse was acquitted and exonerated on Oct. 3 in Winnipeg."
GIST: "Clarence Woodhouse was barely an adult when homicide detectives accused him of killing a man in 1973.
The false confession and life sentence that followed changed the Anishinabe man’s life for the worse.
“My time in prison was a living hell,” he said in a statement about his 50-year-old wrongful conviction this week, “primarily because of corrections staff who were determined to make me admit to a murder I did not commit or had any part in.
“By the time I was released from prison (on parole), 12 years later in 1983, I was institutionalized and found it extremely difficult to make it in society. I received no help, or direction.”
Woodhouse recorded the statement for the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, which is reviewing Bill C-40 to establish a miscarriage of justice review commission in Canada.
Woodhouse recorded the statement in his own language of Ojibwe after being denied the opportunity in Ottawa last week due to lack of a “qualified translator.” He shared an English version with APTN News.
Now 72, he recalled after his arrest, how he was denied an interpreter and allegedly “brutally assaulted” by Winnipeg police into signing a false confession.
“The prosecutor said I made the confession in English, a language I could not speak, read or write. I testified to that at trial, but no one believed me.”
Woodhouse and two co-accused, Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse, – all of Pinaymootang First Nation in Manitoba – have now been exonerated. A posthumous application for a wrongful conviction has been filed for Russell Woodhouse (Clarence’s brother), who has since died.
Exonerees, lawyers and legal scholars who testified before the committee over the past two weeks agreed Canada needs a faster and simpler system to review cases where people believe they’ve been wrongfully convicted.
It now takes up to six years for the Criminal Conviction Review Group in the Department of Justice to review applications and make recommendations to the minister.
The new process would be called David and Joyce Milgaard’s Law in tribute to the mother and son from Winnipeg who sought reform after David was released in 1992 after 23 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction.
Woodhouse said others like him in prison need Bill C-40.
“If Bill C-40 is passed, there will be a group to hear the cries for help from the innocent and they will not have to wait 50 years for their names to be cleared as we did,” he said in his statement.
“It was 50 years of uncertainty, struggle and unimaginable pain that never seems to end.”
What’s really important, Woodhouse noted, is to replace the minister with an independent commission.
“The group is necessary because it will be separate from the system that convicted and imprisoned me and a lot of other innocent people across Canada,” he said.
The proposed legislation has already passed through the House of Commons. The Senate gives three readings to bills in order to become law.
Meanwhile, two sisters from Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan have been waiting more than a year for the federal justice minister’s decision on whether their case is a miscarriage of justice. Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance spent 30 years in prison for the 1994 killing of farmer Anthony Joseph Dolff. Their cousin has already admitted to the murder."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
- SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
