B.C. NDP unveils election platform, focusing on ‘tough challenges’ — and John Rustad

WINNIPEG – An Indigenous man convicted of killing a restaurant worker 50 years ago was acquitted Thursday by a judge who called the case a wrongful conviction that involved systemic discrimination.

Clarence Woodhouse, 72, held up his court papers, along with a T-shirt that said “Innocent”, outside court. He told reporters he is looking forward to spending time with his son and grandchildren.

“I’ll probably just relax,” Woodhouse said in a quiet voice.

Woodhouse is the third man to be exonerated in the 1973 death of Ting Fong Chan, a chef who was beaten and stabbed near a downtown construction site. Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse were acquitted last year.

The federal justice minister ordered a review of their case as likely miscarriages of justice. Their 1974 convictions were based largely on statements given to police that were fluent in English, including what prosecutors called a signed confession by Anderson.

The men’s lawyers argued that the statements to police were not legitimate. Clarence Woodhouse and Anderson were not fluent in English and spoke Salteaux as a first language.

A Crown attorney told court Thursday that police coerced and manufactured the statement from Woodhouse, whose limited English was evident at trial. He was not provided an interpreter.

“Our justice system failed to provide Mr. Woodhouse and his co-accused a fair trial,” Michele Jules said.

Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Court of King’s Bench apologized on behalf of the justice system to Woodhouse, who spent more than a decade behind bars before being released on parole.

“There’s nothing I can say to you that can give you back those 12 years,” Joyal said.

“You were wrongfully convicted. You were innocent.”

Joyal spoke at length about past wrongdoings of the justice system and efforts being made to move toward “judicial reconciliation.”

Anderson served almost 11 years and was given full parole in 1987. Allan Woodhouse served 23 years. The two are suing three levels of government, saying their imprisonment was the result of racial discrimination.

A fourth man — Russell Woodhouse, Clarence Woodhouse’s brother — was also convicted. He died in 2011.

James Lockyer, a lawyer and director with Innocence Canada, which has represented all three men, has said there needs to be an examination of homicide convictions involving Indigenous people over the last five decades in Manitoba.

Jerome Kennedy, another lawyer with the group, said outside court Thursday that Innocence Canada is also working on cases involving Indigenous men in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario that are moving toward a request for a review by the federal justice minister

He said he’d like to see a national effort, led by the federal government, to take on wrongful convictions and reach out to people behind bars.

“There appears to be a deeper systemic issue that requires a targeted approach,” Kennedy said.

“Statistically, we know that with the disproportionate number of Indigenous people in jail that there has to be wrongful convictions. Oftentimes, these people don’t know who to reach out to or how to reach out.”

Later Thursday, Woodhouse met with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew at the legislature.

“I think the main thing we want to get across is to apologize and say we’re sorry,” Kinew said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Ting Fong Chan was killed in 1974.

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HALIFAX – Federal fisheries officers in Nova Scotia say they’re refusing some enforcement duties because of threats to their safety, as they await Ottawa’s response to their complaints.

The union representing the officers says its members have been shot at, that people have tried to steal their firearms, and that officers — and their families — have been threatened for trying to stop illegal fishing.

“They’ve been exposed to firearms such as automatic weapons (against) which their current body armour does not protect them,” Shimen Fayad, president of the Union of Health and Environment Workers, said in an email Wednesday.

She said a federal labour investigator is reviewing documents from the Fisheries Department and from officers who have refused some enforcement duties on the water and on wharfs in the province.

We expect to hear something next week,” Fayad said regarding the process authorized under the Canada Labour Code to refuse dangerous work.

Commercial fishers, meanwhile, are calling for increased enforcement, saying that illegal and unregulated fishing is becoming more frequent across the province.

“We want real, tangible enforcement activity placed upon the illegal, black market lobster activity that’s ongoing throughout the Maritimes,” said Dan Fleck, executive director of the Brazil Rock 33/34 Lobster Association, in a recent telephone interview.

Under provisions of the Canada Labour Code, the fisheries minister is empowered to decide after an investigation whether “danger exists,” and issue mandatory directions for safety changes.

But if Steven MacKinnon’s office finds that there isn’t any danger on the water, then department employees aren’t entitled to refuse work, according to the law. That decision can be appealed, however.

Fayad said that when her members first brought their concerns to the government, the Fisheries Department found there was “no danger” to the workers, which led to the labour minister’s review.

Doug Wentzell, the federal Fisheries Department’s regional manager for the Maritimes, said in a recent interview, “we do have a number of officers that have refused field work …. and we’re working through that process with the (federal) ministry of labour.”

The civil service manager said that despite the refusals “the majority of our officers are in the field in the region and we’re also supplementing those resources with officers from other DFO regions.” He estimated there are about 100 field officers in the Maritimes.

A government source with knowledge of the refusal to work applications said that about half of field officers in southwestern Nova Scotia — home to the region’s most lucrative lobster fishery — are not carrying out enforcement duties in the field due to the safety concerns.

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the risk of employment reprisals, said the work has become more violent as fishers are increasingly unwilling to accept officers’ authority. He also said tensions with some Indigenous fishers are rising.

“We’ve raised our problems with management. Management has chosen to ignore the issues,” he said.

“As we go through this problem, officers have found themselves in dangerous situations. There have been three officers hit by vehicles. We’ve had a struggle where a person tried to take an officer’s firearm. There’s been very serious altercations,” he said.

Efforts to enforce fisheries regulations in the lucrative fishing of baby eels, known as elvers, in East Coast rivers over the spring were also a source of tension with First Nations, he said.

However, the chief of a First Nation whose members fish lobster off southwestern Nova Scotia said Indigenous fishers are not aggressors, but rather are continuing to fish to support and feed their families.

“Our Mi’kmaq fishers have been through enough. DFO Officers are not the victims, and we will not accept this narrative,” wrote Chief Michelle Glasgow, the leader of Sipekne’katik First Nation, in an email.

She said the lobster fishers from her community are exercising their treaty rights and will continue to do so. “All they (federal fisheries officers) need to do is respect this. They cannot continue to harass our people and tell us how much we can eat and how much we can feed our people. If they are afraid, it is not by our actions.”

Chief Wilbert Marshall, co-lead of fisheries for the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, said in an emailed statement that “violence on the water is unacceptable. No one should have to be concerned about their safety when going to work — whether they work for (DFO) conservation and protection, or if they are fishing.”

“We have seen these types of conflicts for over 20 years and things need to change. We have been working to build bridges with DFO and conservation and protection officers on the treaty rights protected fishery to help create a more coherent environment for everyone. We want a future where these types of safety issues can be avoided, but we need true collaboration to get there,” said the statement.

In 2020, the tensions flared in southwestern Nova Scotia to the point where Indigenous traps were cut, one boat was destroyed and a lobster pound that handled Mi’kmaq catch was burned to the ground.

RCMP Supt. Jason Popik, the recently appointed senior officer for Southwest Nova district, said in an interview that DFO officers continue to be “out on the water” off Meteghan, N.S., and that there were two significant enforcement efforts in recent weeks in southern Nova Scotia.

“It’s showing the community that they’re working, they’re trying … I’m not seeing a big (work) stoppage down there.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.