Innocence Canada

Last updated

Innocence Canada
Formation1993
TypeLegal Association
Legal statusActive
PurposeAdvocate, Educator and Network
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario
Region served
Canada
Official language
English
French
Budget
$500,000 to $600,000 annually
Website www.innocencecanada.com
Formerly called
Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC)

Innocence Canada (formerly known as the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, or AIDWYC), is a Canadian legal non-profit organization. Based in Toronto, Innocence Canada identifies, advocates for, and helps exonerate wrongly convicted individuals. The organization is also dedicated to preventing future wrongful convictions through education and criminal justice reform. Since its founding in 1993, Innocence Canada has helped to exonerate twenty-nine individuals.

Contents

History

Innocence Canada was established in February 1993 as the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC). [1] The organization was founded as an outgrowth of the volunteer-run Justice for Guy Paul Morin Committee, which was formed following Guy Paul Morin’s wrongful conviction a year prior. [2] [3] Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, an exonoree who was incarcerated for nineteen years in New Jersey following his own wrongful conviction for murder, served as AIDWYC’s founding executive director for more than a decade. [4]

In 2009, AIDWYC received a one million dollar donation from retired Ontario Superior Court Justice Ian Cartwright, which allowed the organization to expand its operations, develop a legal education program on wrongful convictions, and take on additional cases. [1] [5] [6] The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted Foundation (now the Innocence Canada Foundation) was established as a registered charity and sister organization to AIDWYC in July 2010. [7]

In October 2016, AIDWYC rebranded as Innocence Canada and adopted a new logo made up of tally marks. [6] Each mark represents an exoneration that the organization has helped to secure. [6]

In the same year, Innocence Canada experienced a period of financial strain as the Cartwright grant began to dry up and the organization struggled to find new sources of funding. [1] [5] [6] [8] In December 2016, however, Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi announced that the Ontario government would provide $825,000 in funding to Innocence Canada over three years. [9] The Law Society of Ontario committed to contributing $75,000 over the same time period. [9]

Other sources of funding include grants from the Law Foundation of Ontario, as well as private donations. [5] The organization has estimated that its lawyers donate approximately $3.5 million in pro bono hours to the organization each year. [8]

Work

Innocence Canada accepts case review applications from individuals who have been wrongfully convicted of homicide offences. [10] Applications are reviewed by a volunteer committee of lawyers and former judges to determine whether new and significant evidence of innocence can be identified. [11] Where there is a reasonable likelihood that such evidence can be found, a lawyer may be assigned to conduct a full review of the case. [11] Innocence Canada will then determine whether there is sufficient new evidence to submit an application for ministerial review on the grounds of miscarriage of justice to the Minister of Justice. [11]

Innocence Canada has provided expert evidence to several public inquiries tasked with reviewing wrongful convictions in Canada. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] The organization also offers educational resources to increase public knowledge regarding the causes of wrongful convictions. [6] [18]

Innocence Canada is a member of the Innocence Network, an international collective of organizations dedicated to providing pro bono legal and investigative services to individuals who have been wrongly convicted and to preventing wrongful convictions. [19]

Notable cases

As of 2024, Innocence Canada has been directly involved in the exoneration of 29 wrongfully convicted individuals, including David Milgaard, Guy Paul Morin, Glen Assoun, and Steven Truscott. [20]

The organization has represented several individuals whose wrongful convictions for homicide were largely the result of flawed conclusions drawn by disgraced former pediatric forensic pathologist Charles Smith. [21] [22] [23] In each of these cases, the true cause of death was later determined to be either natural causes or accidental. [20]

Innocence Canada also helped to exonerate Robert Baltovich and Anthony Hanemaayer. Both men were convicted of murders that are now believed to have been committed by notorious serial rapist and murderer Paul Bernardo. [24] [25]

Although not officially included among Innocence Canada’s exonorees, the organization provided legal assistance to some members of the Port Hope 8. [26] [27]

Books

Related Research Articles

Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The group cites various studies estimating that in the United States between 1% and 10% of all prisoners are innocent. The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld who gained national attention in the mid-1990s as part of the "Dream Team" of lawyers who formed part of the defense in the O. J. Simpson murder case.

David Milgaard was a Canadian man who was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 rape and murder of nursing student Gail Miller in Saskatoon and imprisoned for 23 years. He was eventually released and exonerated. Up until his death, he lived in Alberta and was employed as a community support worker. Milgaard was also a public speaker who advocated for the wrongfully convicted and for all prisoners' rights.

Guy Paul Morin is a Canadian who was wrongly convicted of the October 1984 rape and murder of his nine-year-old next-door neighbour, Christine Jessop of Queensville, north of Toronto, Ontario. DNA testing led to a subsequent overturning of this verdict. On October 15, 2020, the Toronto Police Service announced a DNA match identifying Calvin Hoover as the one whose semen was recovered from Jessop’s underwear. Hoover killed himself in 2015.

Robert Baltovich is a Canadian man who was wrongly convicted in 1992 of the murder of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain, in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. He spent eight years in prison and nearly another decade trying to clear his name, before being found not guilty in a retrial on April 22, 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miscarriage of justice</span> Conviction of a person for a crime that they did not commit

A miscarriage of justice occurs when an unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent people have sometimes ended up in prison for years before their conviction has eventually been overturned. They may be exonerated if new evidence comes to light or it is determined that the police or prosecutor committed some kind of misconduct at the original trial. In some jurisdictions this leads to the payment of compensation.

Hersh Wolch was a prominent Canadian lawyer, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

James Lockyer is a lawyer and a prominent social justice activist in Toronto, Canada. He is a founding director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC). He has been involved in exposing more than ten wrongful convictions in Canada, including the cases of Guy Paul Morin, David Milgaard, Clayton Johnson and Gregory Parsons. Several of these cases have become the subject of public inquiries.

Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by opponents of capital punishment, while proponents say that the argument of innocence concerns the credibility of the justice system as a whole and does not solely undermine the use of the death penalty.

Exoneration occurs when the conviction for a crime is reversed, either through demonstration of innocence, a flaw in the conviction, or otherwise. Attempts to exonerate individuals are particularly controversial in death penalty cases, especially where new evidence is put forth after the execution has taken place. The transitive verb, "to exonerate" can also mean to informally absolve one from blame.

Charles Randal Smith is a former Canadian pathologist known for performing flawed child autopsies that resulted in wrongful convictions.

The Innocence Network is an affiliation of organizations dedicated to providing pro bono legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove innocence of crimes for which they have been convicted and working to redress the causes of wrongful convictions. Most organizations involved are in the United States, covering all 50 states; however, the network includes organizations in Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and the UK.

Roméo Phillion was convicted of the 1967 murder of Ottawa firefighter Léopold Roy, after making a confession to police which he recanted two hours later.

The Commission on Proceedings Involving Guy Paul Morin—known as the Kaufman Commission or the Morin Inquiry—was a 1996 royal commission appointed by the Government of Ontario to address the wrongful conviction in 1992 of Guy Paul Morin for the murder of Christine Jessop on 3 October 1984, for which he was exonerated by DNA evidence on 23 January 1995.

Centurion is a non-profit organization located in Princeton, New Jersey, with a mission to exonerate innocent individuals who have been wrongly convicted and sentenced to life sentences or death.

This is a list of notable overturned convictions in Canada.

Anthony Joseph Dolff, was farmer in Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada, who was killed in 1993. He was stabbed 17 times, hit on the head with a television, and strangled with a telephone cord. Three Saulteaux people, members of the Keeseekoose First Nation, were convicted of the crime. One, Jason Keshane, 14 years old at the time of the crime, confessed to the killing and as a juvenile was sentenced to two years in prison for second degree murder. His cousins, sisters Nerissa and Odelia Quewezance, 19 and 21 at the time, were sentenced to life in prison. Neither confessed and both have maintained their innocence at all times. Dolff had been a maintenance man at the residential school the two sisters attended. That night they reportedly drank a great deal of liquor and took prescription sleeping pills at Dolff's house, where he pestered them for sex. When he discovered that Odelia had taken money from his bedroom, a violent confrontation took place, in the course of which he was killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jia Rizivi</span>

Jia Rizivi is aka WertzRizvi is a Canadian filmmaker, Founder and fashion designer of Studio 15. She is known for her debut documentary film, Conviction: a true story based on the life of 16-year-old Jeffrey Deskovic who was wrongly convicted for the rape and murder of Angela Correa, his high school classmate. Jia won Digital trends media group DEI award for her work to show the flaws in the American Justice system through Conviction.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gillis, Wendy (21 October 2016). "Innocence Canada becoming 'shadow of its former self'". Toronto Star . Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  2. ↑ Wahrer, Win (18 June 2018). "Rule of Law Report | Issue 2 | LexisNexis Canada". www.lexisnexis.ca. Lexis Nexis . Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Kathryn M. (2018). Miscarriages of Justice in Canada: Causes, Responses, Remedies. University of Toronto Press. p. 256. ISBN   9780802094063.
  4. ↑ "Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter and the virtue of stubbornness". The Globe and Mail . 21 April 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Gibson, Victoria (13 December 2016). "Innocence Canada wins funding from Ontario, law society". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Andrew-Gee, Eric (21 October 2016). "Circumstances are 'dire' for Canada's defender of the wrongfully convicted". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Funding - Innocence Canada". Innocence Canada. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  8. 1 2 Perkel, Colin (13 December 2016). "Innocence Canada gets critical funding in fight for the wrongfully convicted". CityNews Toronto . Canadian Press . Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  9. 1 2 McGillivray, Kate (13 December 2016). "Innocence Canada gets $900K from Ontario, law society for 'vital' work". CBC News . Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  10. ↑ "Eligibility Criteria". Innocence Canada. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 "Case Review Process". Innocence Canada. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  12. ↑ "Report of the Kaufman Commission on Proceedings Involving Guy Paul Morin - Ministry of the Attorney General". www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca.
  13. ↑ "Home - Commission of Inquiry Into Certain Aspects of the Trial and Conviction of James Driskell". www.driskellinquiry.ca.
  14. ↑ "Province of Manitoba | Manitoba Justice | Publications | Thomas Sophonow Inquiry". Archived from the original on 12 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  15. ↑ www.AUTCON.net. "Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario - Home Page". www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca.
  16. ↑ "Commission of Inquiry into the Wrongful Conviction of David Milgaard". Archived from the original on 3 June 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  17. ↑ "The Lamer Commission of Inquiry Pertaining to the Cases of: Ronald Dalton, Gregory Parsons, Randy Druken" (PDF). justice.gov.nl.ca. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  18. ↑ "Continuing Legal Education - Innocence Canada". Innocence Canada. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  19. ↑ "Innocence Network: Member Organizations". Archived from the original on 11 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  20. 1 2 "Exonerations". Innocence Canada. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  21. ↑ "Maria Shepherd's 1992 manslaughter conviction quashed". CBC News. The Canadian Press. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  22. ↑ Edwards, Peter (27 June 2021). "She got life in prison for killing her two-year-old son, Kenneth. There was no murder". Toronto Star. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  23. ↑ Tyler, Tracey (4 May 2011). "Conviction quashed in case involving disgraced pathologist Charles Smith". Toronto Star. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  24. ↑ Tyler, Tracy (26 June 2008). "Acquitted man demands justice reforms". Toronto Star . Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  25. ↑ "'I get to live the rest my life free': Baltovich acquitted". CBC News. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  26. ↑ Lowe 2013, p. 956.
  27. ↑ Braiden, Patricia Lynn. "Wrongful convictions and Section 690 of the Criminal Code: An Analysis of Canada's Last-Resort Remedy" (PDF). National Library of Canada. Simon Fraser University. p. 183. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
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