PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Arif Virani, the current justice minister, appeared before the committee on Wednesday. “This legislation will change lives,” Virani told senators. “An independent commission for reviewing potential miscarriages of justice will rescue innocent, wrongfully convicted people who are unfairly stuck in prison.” He noted it would be better for victims of crime as well because it would correct errors. “Bringing them one step closer to actual justice,” he added. Virani acknowledged the system – as it works now – fails to adequately address wrongful convictions. He said it doesn’t help women, Indigenous Peoples and Black Canadians “in the same proportion as they are represented in Canada’s prisons.” An Indigenous adult may represent five per cent of the Canadian population, said Virani, but “you represent 33 per cent of admissions to federal custody.”
----------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Woodhouse, Anderson appear before Senate justice committee," by Reporter Kathleen Martens, published by APTN News, on October 24, 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.)
SUB-HEADING: "The committee is reviewing Bill C-40, an amendment to Canada’s Criminal Code to create a new Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Clarence Woodhouse waits for a Senate justice committee hearing to start in Ottawa. The committee is examining Bill C40 that will amend the Criminal Code and set up a miscarriage of justice commission.
GIST: "Clarence Woodhouse was rendered speechless in the Senate Thursday by the lack of an Ojibwe interpreter – 50 years after being wrongly convicted in Manitoba on a false confession in English.
Sen. Brent Cotter apologized to the Anishinabe man, who was exonerated on a murder charge earlier this month, for not having a “qualified translator” ready.
Woodhouse sat mutely as his fellow exonerees Brian Anderson, a former co-accused also from Pinaymootang, and Guy Paul Morin, of Ontario, shared their wrongful conviction experiences with the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
The committee is reviewing Bill C-40, an amendment to Canada’s Criminal Code to create a new Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act.
The act, also known as David and Joyce Milgaard’s Law, would, among other things, create an independent body to review miscarriage of justice applications as “expeditiously as possible”. Presently, applications are reviewed by lawyers under the justice minister in a process that takes between 20 months and six years, the committee heard.
The senate committee needs to give the bill, which has already been approved by a majority of MPs, third and final reading to make it law.
“It took 50 years to prove my innocence,” Anderson told the committee in Ottawa. “That is time I cannot get back.
“I am almost 70 years old.”
Anderson, who was exonerated in 2023, was 18 when he says Winnipeg police officers coerced him into signing a false statement in the 1973 murder of a restaurant chef.
Woodhouse, now 72, also supposedly confessed to the killing in fluent English, despite primarily speaking Ojibwe or Saulteaux. He said the White judge and jury didn’t believe he was intimidated by Winnipeg police officers.
Woodhouse, Anderson and two other co-accused, one of whom has since died, were in the city looking for work. They are now suing all three levels of government for compensation citing racism and intimidation by police and collusion between the police and Crown prosecutor.
Their confessions were entirely manufactured by police detectives, a Crown prosecutor told their acquittal hearing.
“None of us had ever been in trouble with the criminal justice system,” Anderson told the committee. “When we were brought in for questioning, we didn’t know what was happening.
“English was not our first language … I only spoke my language which is Ojibwe.”
The senators gave the men a standing ovation for their at-times emotional statements about being wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
“The police took advantage of our young age and unknowing of the criminal justice system,” added Anderson, 69, “and the fact we were Anishinaabe and did not speak English well.”
Anderson was released on parole in 1987, but wasn’t acquitted until last year after then-federal justice minister David Lametti ordered a new trial.
Lametti, now a private lawyer in Quebec, and former prime minister Kim Campbell also addressed the senate committee Thursday.
They said it was time Canada had a similar commission to those in the UK and New Zealand staffed by former judges and lawyers to investigate potential wrongful convictions in a quicker and more streamlined way.
Campbell, also a former justice minister, said systemic racism, tunnel vision, unconscious bias and police coercion have long been faulted for miscarriages of justice but it was people who caused those errors.
People, she noted, who needed training and exposure to diverse opinions and experiences that should be part of the new commission.
Arif Virani, the current justice minister, appeared before the committee on Wednesday.
“This legislation will change lives,” Virani told senators. “An independent commission for reviewing potential miscarriages of justice will rescue innocent, wrongfully convicted people who are unfairly stuck in prison.”
He noted it would be better for victims of crime as well because it would correct errors.
“Bringing them one step closer to actual justice,” he added.
Virani acknowledged the system – as it works now – fails to adequately address wrongful convictions.
He said it doesn’t help women, Indigenous Peoples and Black Canadians “in the same proportion as they are represented in Canada’s prisons.”
An Indigenous adult may represent five per cent of the Canadian population, said Virani, but “you represent 33 per cent of admissions to federal custody.”
Woodhouse, once one of those statistics, said he would submit a statement in Ojibwe for the committee to translate."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/woodhouse-anderson-appear-before-senate-justice-committee/
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 ——————————————————————————————— 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; —————————————————————————————- 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;
-----------------------------------------------------------------
