Russell Woodhouse, an Indigenous Man, has his manslaughter conviction sent to the Manitoba Court of Appeal by Minister of Justice Sean Fraser more than 52 years after his arrest in 1973

More than 52 years ago on July 27, 1973, Russell Woodhouse, a young Indigenous man, and a member of the Pinaymootang First Nation on the Fairford Indian Reserve in Manitoba, was arrested for the murder of Mr. Ting Fong Chan in Winnipeg, a crime he did not commit. He was 19 years of age at the time. On March 5, 1974, more than 51 years ago, he was convicted of manslaughter by a jury in the Manitoba Queen’s Bench Court.  He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment which he served.

On May 21, 2011, Russell passed away at the age of 57.

On July 18, 2023, two of Mr. Woodhouse’s former co-accused, Brian Anderson and A.J. Woodhouse, convicted of murder at the same trial Russell was convicted, were vindicated in the King’s Bench Court by Chief Justice Joyal in Winnipeg. On October 3, 2024, Clarence Woodhouse, too convicted of murder, was also vindicated in the King’s Bench Court by Chief Justice Joyal.

On September 13, 2023, Innocence Canada filed an application with Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani for a ministerial review of Russell Woodhouse’s conviction pursuant to the provisions of the Criminal Code.  

It was an unusual posthumous application on Russell’s behalf. Because he passed away on May 21, 2011, the application was filed on behalf of his surviving sister, Linda Anderson, a school teacher on the Fairford Reserve.

Russell Woodhouse had always proclaimed his innocence but no one listened to him. The prosecution’s case at his trial in 1974 depended on a “confession” that he was supposed to have made in fluent English, despite Saulteaux being the language he spoke. Russell testified that he was assaulted by members of the Winnipeg Police into signing a false confession, but the trial judge and an all-white jury disbelieved him. Innocence Canada adopted his case in 2023.

Today, Justice Minister Sean Fraser has used his ministerial powers to send Russell’s manslaughter conviction to the Manitoba Court of Appeal to be heard as a new appeal based on fresh evidence that his confession was extorted from him. This is the next step in what we hope will be Russell’s road to vindication. His case will be heard by the Manitoba Court of Appeal on a date yet to be determined.   

Jerome Kennedy, a Director of Innocence Canada, who has led the case for Mr. Woodhouse’s vindication, said today:

“52 years has been an interminable wait for Russell’s family. Today will be an extraordinary day for them now that the Minister has ordered his case back to the courts where he was wrongly convicted.”

James Lockyer, another Director of Innocence Canada, who has also been working on Russell’s case, said today:

“Innocence Canada is privileged to be able to help Russell’s family. This is a first time that a Minister has found a miscarriage of justice to have occurred for a wrongly convicted person who has passed away. Despite Russell leaving this world 14 years ago, he has wonderful support from his family and friends who remember him. They all say it was Russell’s dream to be cleared of a terrible crime that he had nothing to do with. Today, that dream is much closer to becoming true.”

For further information, contact: 

James Lockyer at 416-518-7983 or jlockyer@lzzdefence.ca

Jerome Kennedy at 709-725-2966 or jkennedy@makethecall.ca

Thank you to the IWCD Sponsors

Deepest gratitude to the following sponsors:

Harold and Marleen Levy

Greenspan Humphrey Makepeace LLP

Lockyer Zaduk Zeeh

Wrongfully Yours Podcast

The Criminal Lawyers’ Association

King International Advisory Group

David G. Bayliss Professional Corporation

Luka Rados Professional Corporation

Joanne & Perry Catena IG Wealth Management

False Allegations Canada

Rosemary Meier and Family (in memory of Peter Meier)

Réjean Hinse

Rodin Law Firm Litigation Counsel

The Law Society of Ontario

Dan Brown Law

Doyon Avocats – Mtre Félix- Antoine T. Doyon

If you would like to become a sponsor, please get in touch with Win on 647-237-0065 or at wwahrer@innocencecanada.com

To register for the 11th Anniversary IWCD event, please click on the link here.

INNOCENCE CANADA & THE INTERNATIONAL WRONGFUL CONVICTION DAY COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES THE 11th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL WRONGFUL CONVICTION DAY GALA EVENT

TORONTO, ONTARIO – Join Innocence Canada and the International Wrongful Conviction Day Committee (IWCDC) as we recognize, acknowledge, and honour the wrongly convicted, their families, advocates, supporters and sponsors.

Event: 11^th Annual International Wrongful Conviction Day Gala Event

Who: Exonerees from across Canada will be in attendance including new exonerees Clarence Woodhouse (Manitoba), Rob Sanderson (Manitoba), and Roy Sobotiak (Alberta). Other notable attendees include Innocence Canada Board and Foundation members, sponsors, luminaries such as Susan Milgaard and other special guests.

When: October 14, 2025

5:00pm – 9:00pm

Where: The Law Society of Ontario, Convocation Hall 130 Queen Street West, Toronto

The 11^th Annual Gala Event will include the presentation of the Rubin Hurricane Carter Champion of Justice Award, the Tracey Tyler Award, and the Donald Marshall Jr. Award as well as the unveiling of artwork, musical performances and much more!

Innocence Canada seeks to identify, advocate for, and assist in the exoneration of the wrongly convicted through advocacy, awareness initiatives, and justice reform. Since its inception in 1993, Innocence Canada has helped in the exoneration of 33 Canadians from across the country. These innocent individuals have collectively spent in excess of 300 years in prison. Innocence Canada is currently reviewing over 100 cases of possible wrongful convictions.

Innocence Canada and IWCD is supported and sponsored by the Law Foundation of Ontario.

For More Information or to become a sponsor of the event, Contact:

Win Wahrer

Toronto: 416-504-7500 x 5

Mobile: 647-237-0065

Sponsor International Wrongful Conviction Day

People from around the world will be hosting events in recognition of the 11th Annual International Wrongful Conviction Day (IWCD).

Please consider hosting an event and using your social media networks to spread awareness and garner support for this important issue. An issue that dramatically and negatively impacts the lives of the wrongly convicted, their families, and the public.

Please also consider being a sponsor of this important event being hosted by Innocence Canada and the International Wrongful Conviction Day Committee on October 14, 2025, at Convocation Hall, Law Society of Ontario, 130 Queen Street West, Toronto, in recognition of the 11^th Anniversary of International Wrongful Conviction Day.

All sponsors will have:

• Reserved sitting
• Company or individual’s sponsor’s name to be included in the following written and verbal mentions of the event: press release, Innocence Canada website, Wrongful Conviction Day website, event programme, event signage, event slideshow and event poster.
• Acknowledgement at the reception.
• Photo Ops
• Gift

Please plan to attend to support the wrongly convicted and the work that Innocence Canada does on their behalf. 

If you would like to become a sponsor, please reach out to Win Wahrer

416-504-7500 x 5, 647-237-0065, 416-459-2065

11th International Wrongful Conviction Day

Alberta Brings Murder Case Against Roy Sobotiak to an End After 36 Years

Almost 36 years after his arrest and 2 months after his release on bail, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service has stayed the second degree murder charge against Roy Sobotiak.

Arrested on September 27, 1989 for the 1987 murder of 34-year-old Susan Kaminsky, Mr. Sobotiak, then 26, had never had a moment of freedom until his release on bail on May 23 earlier this year. He acknowledged through his counsel then that it would not be easy to adjust to a very different world from what he knew in 1989. “I was 26 when I went in. I am 61 now. Everything will be different.”

After his conviction in 1991 for second degree murder and after losing all his appeals, Mr. Sobotiak tirelessly championed his own cause. He wrote a 1000-page hand-written request to the Parole Board of Canada for a pardon.

In 2021, he was told to write to the Minister of Justice. He did, and Department of Justice officials were sufficiently troubled by his case that they asked Innocence Canada to assist him. We did, and on February 25, 2025, then Minister of Justice Arif Virani quashed the second-degree murder conviction and directed a new trial.

By the time of his release on bail in May, Mr. Sobotiak had spent more years in prison than any other victim of a wrongful conviction in Canadian history, a dubious honour.

Mr. Sobotiak was to have appeared in King’s Bench Court in Edmonton this morning to set a date for his new trial. Instead, Alberta has entered a stay of proceedings, which means that the case is now over, and Mr. Sobotiak is a free man with no restrictions on him for the first time since the day of his arrest in 1989.

In the 2 months since his release on bail, Ms. Sobotiak has been doing well in an assisted living environment in Fort McMurray. The Director tells Innocence Canada that he is welcome to continue living there, and Mr. Sobotiak intends to do so, at least for the time being, as he continues his readjustment to life in the outside world.

James Lockyer said today: “Of all the cases we have worked on, this is by far the longest a wrongly convicted person has been in prison. All of us at Innocence Canada are delighted by today’s development. We wish Mr. Sobotiak all the best and will be there whenever he needs help in the future.”

Katie Clackson of Legal Aid Alberta said: “There is an important lesson to be learned from Mr. Sobotiak’s case. A justice system can go wrong and when it does, it can do irreparable harm.”

Joanne McLean, another Innocence Canada lawyer who worked on Mr. Sobotiak’s case, said: “Innocence Canada has been helping wrongly convicted individuals for 33 years now. We are pleased to have helped Mr. Sobotiak in his quest to prove that he was wrongly convicted”.

For further information, please contact:

James Lockyer Katie Clackson jwilockyer@yahoo.ca kclackson@legalaid.ab.ca

James Lockyer                                    Katie Clackson

jwilockyer@yahoo.ca                         kclackson@legalaid.ab.ca

416-518-7983                                      780-719-9204

ROBERT SANDERSON’S CONVICTIONS FOR FIRST DEGREE MURDER QUASHED 29 YEARS AFTER THREE HOMICIDES THAT OCCURRED IN 1996

ROBERT SANDERSON’S CONVICTIONS FOR FIRST DEGREE MURDER QUASHED 29 YEARS AFTER THREE HOMICIDES THAT OCCURRED IN 1996

Robert Sanderson’s convictions for three counts of First-Degree Murder were quashed by the Manitoba Court of Appeal, who ordered a new trial.  The Crown has advised the Court of Appeal that it will exercise its discretion and enter a stay of the proceedings on public interest grounds.  It is anticipated that this could occur as soon as later today (May 30 2025).

On August 6, 1996, three men, Stefan Zurstegge, Thomas Krowetz and Jason Gross were found murdered in Mr. Krowetz’s home.  It was the Crown theory that Mr. Krowetz and Mr. Zurstegge were members of the Red Liners gang and were being courted by the Hells Angels and were murdered by members of the Manitoba Warriors, a gang of which Mr. Sanderson was alleged to be a member.

On September 19, 1996, Mr. Sanderson and two other men were charged with the murders.  On June 26, 1997, Mr. Sanderson and one of his co-accused were convicted of the murders and both lost their subsequent appeals.

In 2017, Innocence Canada submitted an application to the Minister of Justice for ministerial review of his convictions based on new evidence.  On February 10, 2023, Justice Minister David Lametti found that there was a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred, and referred Mr. Sanderson’s case to the Manitoba Court of Appeal for a new appeal.

Today, with the agreement of the prosecution, the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions.

The new evidence came in two forms:

1. A crown expert testified that hair seized from the leg of one of the deceased was “more likely” from Mr. Sanderson.  The Crown used this testimony to suggest that Mr. Sanderson “left a piece of himself at the scene of the crime.” Post-conviction DNA testing has established that the hair, as the Court of Appeal puts in their decision today, it “did not and could not have come from Mr. Sanderson.”
2. An eyewitness to events before the homicides who linked Mr. Sanderson to them was given substantial sums of money by the authorities pursuant to an agreement after he testified at the trial, totalling more than $15,000.00.  This was not disclosed to Mr. Sanderson and the prosecution could not explain why it was not disclosed.

Mr. Sanderson’s mother was Ojibway and he is a member of the Métis Nations.  Since his arrest and imprisonment in 1996, he was to become a well-known Aboriginal artist, and his Indigenous artwork includes wood carvings, masks and traditional paintings of extraordinary beauty.  He was released on parole in 2021 and now lives in western Canada.  As the Court of Appeal said in its decision:

“Mr. Sanderson is self-employed as an Indigenous artist with a considerable reputation and has maintained a stable relationship and has positive support in the community.”

Innocence Canada counsel Jerome Kennedy and James Lockyer said today:

“We are grateful to Minister Lametti and the Manitoba Court of Appeal for their decisions in Mr. Sanderson’s case.  We spoke to Mr. Sanderson this morning and he is delighted that his case is almost over.  It has, he said, been a long time coming.”

For further information, please contact:

Jerome Kennedy at 709-725-2966 or jkennedy@makethecall.ca

James Lockyer at 416-518-7983 or jlockyer@lzzdefence.ca

2024 Annual Impact Report

We are pleased to share our first Impact Report! This report highlights our progress and the impact of our work over the past year. We plan to produce these reports annually to keep our supporters informed and engaged in our mission to prevent and address wrongful convictions. You can find copies of the report here in English and French.

UPDATE: WRONGLY CONVICTED MAN GRANTED BAIL AFTER SPENDING 36 YEARS IN PRISON

UPDATE:

On May 23, 2025, Roy Sobotiak, who has been in prison for more than three decades, was granted bail months after his conviction was quashed by the federal justice minister.

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Innocence Canada May 23, 2025

Today, Roy Sobotiak who has been in prison since September 27, 1989, has a bail hearing in the King’s Bench Court in Edmonton at 10:00 a.m.

After his arrest in 1989, Mr. Sobotiak was convicted on July 11, 1991, of the murder of Susan Kaminsky in Edmonton, Alberta. He was never granted bail before his trial. On February 26, 2025, the then Minister of Justice Arif Virani quashed Mr. Sobotiak’s conviction for second degree murder and directed a new trial.

Innocence Canada assisted Mr. Sobotiak in his application to the Minster of Justice to set aside his conviction.

Mr. Sobotiak was immediately transferred from Bowden Penitentiary in Alberta to the local detention centre in Edmonton to await his new trial. Today will be the first time he has ever sought bail and Innocence Canada Counsel will be representing him at today’s bail hearing.

Mr. Sobotiak is the longest serving wrongly convicted person in Canadian history. The previous longest serving person was Romeo Phillion who spent more than 32 years in prison before the justice system accepted that he had been wrongly convicted.

For further information, please contact:

James Lockyer at 416-613-0416 or jwilockyer@yahoo.ca.

Katie Clackson at 780-719-9204 or kclackson@legalaid.ab.ca.

Sad Passing of Billy Wine a respected friend

It is with great sadness that I must share the passing of Billy Wine, not only a long-time personal friend, but a friend to the wrongly convicted and the organization.

Billy was one of a kind!

I was honoured and blest that he was my dear and loyal friend.

Please see a tribute to Billy that was written in 2009 with deepest respect and love.

Please find below is the funeral information:

William (Billy) Wine

Death Date:  Sunday, March 23, 2025

Yahrzeit Date:  23 Adar 5785

Funeral Date:  Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Funeral Time:  1:00 PM

Funeral Place:   Graveside

Cemetery:   St. John’s Norway Cemetery

Cemetery Section:  

Shiva Address:

103 Boardwalk Drive,Toronto, Ontario,M4L 3X9

Shiva information:  Shiva visits are welcome Tuesday following the interment until 5:00 pm, resuming 7:00 to 9:30 pm, then Wednesday and Thursday from 2:00 to 5:00 pm and 7:00 to 9:30 pm and Friday from 2:00 to 5:00 pm. Evening services will be held at 7:30 pm. Shiva visits will conclude Friday afternoon at 5:00 pm on March 28th.

Notice: 

WINE, William (Billy) – Passed on March 23, 2025, peacefully surrounded by family. Loving father of Audrey, son of the late Esther and Harold Wine, brother and brother-in-law of Mitchell and Judy Wine, and the late Shelley Wine. He also leaves behind Audrey’s mother, Beth. In addition to the burial and shiva, a gathering to celebrate the life of Billy Wine will be announced at a later date. Memorial donations may be made to Innocence Canada Foundation, www.innocencecanada.com 1-800-249- 1329

Sincere Regards,

Win Wahrer

Director of Client Services, Innocence Canada