OTTAWA, Ont. — The federal justice minister has ordered a new appeal in the decades-old second-degree murder convictions of Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance, two Indigenous sisters from Saskatchewan who have maintained their innocence for nearly 30 years.
Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, made the order following a criminal conviction review in the case of Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance under the conviction review provisions of the Criminal Code. The decision to order a new appeal is not a decision about the guilt or innocence of the applicants. It is a decision to return the matter to the courts where the new relevant legal issues may be determined according to the law.
“As Minister of Justice, I have the authority under the Criminal Code to order a new trial or appeal when new evidence shows a miscarriage of justice likely occurred," said Fraser in a media release Sept. 24. "My decision does not decide guilt or innocence, as that will rest with the courts. Our responsibility is to make sure Canadians can trust their justice system, and that means, in rare cases, returning cases to the courts for new information to be considered.”
After an in-depth review, the Minister said he found reasonable grounds to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred in Odelia and Neressa Quewezance’s 1994 convictions. This is the result of the identification of new information that was not before the courts at the time of their trial or appeal. The order returns the case to the courts for the new information to be considered.
Maintained their innocence
Nerissa and Odelia Quewezance have maintained their innocence since their 1994 convictions for the murder of 70-year-old Anthony Dolff near Kamsack. Their 14-year-old cousin confessed to the killing and served a four-year youth sentence. During the sisters’ trial in 1994, he testified that Nerissa tried to stop him.
Dolff knew the sisters from St. Phillips' residential school. On Feb. 24, 1993, he picked up the sisters and their cousin, took them to his home, showed them pornography, and repeatedly pressured Odelia for sex. After Odelia took $700, Dolff threatened to call police. While driving them home, the cousin suggested killing him. He testified that Nerissa tried to stop him and jump out of the vehicle. She testified she blacked out from drugs and alcohol. Odelia testified she intervened when Dolff grabbed her sister. The sisters hit Dolff with a kettle and an ornament. The cousin stabbed him.
In June 2022, then-Justice Minister David Lametti directed the Criminal Conviction Review Group (CCRG) to review their convictions as a possible miscarriage of justice.
Innocence Canada says their case similar to David Milgaard's
In 2021, Innocence Canada lawyer James Lockyer had asked Saskatchewan to reduce their three-decades old second-degree murder convictions to manslaughter and release them, but the province had turned it down.
Innocence Canada, an organization dedicated to helping individuals who have been wrongfully convicted, has drawn parallels between the case of Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance and the wrongful conviction of David Milgaard.
The sisters have support from Senator Kim Pate and the late David Milgaard.
Milgaard, who teamed up with Kim Beaudin, former vice-chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, was the first person to advocate for the sisters' freedom. Even though Milgaard told SaskToday in 2021 that he wanted to retire from his advocacy work, he continued to fight for them until his death in May 2022.
Federal judges say sisters' case 'strongly suggested' miscarriage of justice
Two retired judges who headed the creation of the wrongful conviction commission told SaskToday the sisters' case “strongly suggested” a miscarriage of justice. The new Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission (David and Joyce Milgaard’s Law) isn’t operational yet, so the CCRG continues handling the case.
In October 2022, the Parole Board limited Odelia Quewezance's contact with the media at the request of the victim's family.
A Crown prosecutor applied for a discretionary publication ban and to seal court records in their 2022 bail hearing in Yorkton Court of Queen's Bench. Kim Beaudin, former National Vice-Chief for Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, slammed the Saskatchewan Crown for trying to ban details of their November 2022 bail hearing and seal the records.
The Canadian Association of Journalists called on the Government of Saskatchewan, and the province's minister of justice and attorney general, to withdraw its application for a sweeping publication ban that would prevent journalists from reporting on the upcoming bail hearing for a pair of Saulteaux sisters in a possible wrongful conviction case.
Yorkton Judge Donald Layh rejected the application for a publication ban on the hearing, saying that the proceedings of Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance "Will surely be writ large in the annals of Saskatchewan’s prominent court cases.”
Back in Custody
The sisters were granted bail but have since been remanded in custody.
Odelia Quewezance appeared in Yorkton Provincial Court on July 28 facing new charges of impaired driving and breaching court-ordered conditions. She was remanded in custody.
Nerissa Quewezance is also back in custody for breaching release conditions.
ljoy@sasktoday.ca
