BAIL HEARING TOMORROW FOR WOODHOUSE

 Indigenous Man Returns to the Court in Winnipeg where He was Convicted 50 Years Ago

­­­­­______________________________________

 

More than 49 years ago on March 5, 1974, Clarence Woodhouse, a young Indigenous man, and a member of the Pinaymootang First Nation on the Fairford Indian Reserve in Manitoba, was convicted of the murder of Mr. Ting Fong Chan in Winnipeg, a crime he did not commit.

 

On July 18 of this year, two of Mr. Woodhouse’s former co-accused were vindicated in the King’s Bench Court by Chief Justice Joyal in Winnipeg. A fourth accused, Clarence’s brother Russell Woodhouse, sadly died in 2011 before he could be vindicated.

 

On September 13, 2023, Innocence Canada filed an application with Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani for a ministerial review of Clarence Woodhouse’s conviction pursuant to the provisions of the Criminal Code.  We also filed a posthumous application on Russell Woodhouse’s behalf with the support of his surviving sister, Linda Anderson.

 

Clarence Woodhouse, now in his early 70s, has 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. Mr Woodhouse testified that he was assaulted by members of the Winnipeg Police into signing a false confession, but the trial judge and the jury disbelieved him.  Innocence Canada has now adopted his case and brought it before the Justice Minister urging him to quash his conviction.

 

Monday, October 23, 2023, will be the next step on Clarence Woodhouse’s road to vindication.  He will appear at 2:00 p.m. before the King’s Bench Court at 408 York Avenue, Winnipeg asking that he be released on bail pending the Minister’s decision. 

 

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

 

“49 years has been an interminable wait for Clarence Woodhouse, but he never gave up.  Tomorrow will be an extraordinary day for him, to be back in the very same court where he was wrongly convicted.”

 

James Lockyer, also a Director of Innocence Canada, who is assisting Mr. Kennedy with the case, said today:

 

“Innocence Canada is privileged to be able to help Mr. Woodhouse and we will be there for him at his release hearing.”

 

For further information, contact:  

 

Jerome Kennedy at 709-725-2966 or jkennedy@wrmmlaw.com

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

 

BREAKING NEWS from Innocence Canada Two Indigenous Men innocent after 49 Years

 

Justice Minister David Lametti Quashes the Wrongful Convictions for Murder of Two Indigenous Men 49 Years After Their Convictions

____________________________________________________________

Imagine that you are a young Indigenous male in 1973, a member of the Pinaymootang First Nation, who has just moved to Winnipeg from the Fairford Indian Reserve 240 kilometres north-west of Winnipeg.  You speak some English, but Saulteaux/Ojibway is your first language.  You have no criminal record and are gainfully employed.  Then one day you are charged with the brutal murder of a man called Ting Fong Chan, killed by unknown assailants on the streets of Winnipeg as he walked home from work.  You were not there when he was killed and had no involvement in the homicide.  Nevertheless, the police arrest you and force you to sign a false confession.

 

This is what happened to Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse, two young Indigenous men.  They proclaimed their innocence, but no one believed them.  The nightmare continued and they went to trial for murder before an all-white male jury. The police officers, the lawyers and the judge were all white men.

 

They were convicted of murder in 1974 and sent to jail for life.  They kept proclaiming their innocence, but no one listened.  Decades later, they heard about Innocence Canada and asked for their help.  Innocence Canada adopted their case and took it to the Minister of Justice.  No one could give them back the years stolen from them, but they hoped that someone would finally recognize their innocence.

 

This nightmare scenario happened to Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse.  These two young men were the victims of systemic racism.  Today, they take a giant step on their road to vindication.  Minister David Lametti has recognized the injustice wreaked on them decades ago and exercised the greatest power he has under the Criminal Code. He has quashed their convictions for murder and directed a new trial for them both.

 

Their story is one of remarkable courage and perseverance.  They have never wavered in their quest to prove their innocence.

 

Jerome Kennedy, a Director of Innocence Canada, who has led the case for their vindication, said today:

 

“This is a great day for justice for Mr. Anderson and Mr. Woodhouse.  49 years has been an interminable wait for them but they never gave up.  I never doubted their innocence.  I want to thank the Minister and his working group on wrongful convictions for their great work on this case.”

 

James Lockyer, also a Director of Innocence Canada, who assisted Mr. Kennedy with the case, said today:

 

“Innocence Canada is privileged to have been able to help these two men.  Their cases raise important systemic issues that need to be addressed in Manitoba and across Canada.  Innocence Canada looks forward to discussing with the Federal and Provincial Governments the next steps in righting the wrongs done by our criminal justice system to Indigenous peoples in the past, and preventing the same wrongs being done to Indigenous peoples in the future.”

 

No date has yet been set for Mr. Anderson and Mr. Woodhouse to appear before the presiding Justice of the Manitoba King’s Bench Court.  We will advise the media as soon as we know.

Below is the Justice Minister’s announcement regarding their case.

 

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-justice/news/2023/06/minister-of-justice-orders-new-trial-in-manitoba-cases-following-conviction-review.html

 

 

For further information, contact:  

 

Jerome Kennedy at 709-725-2966 or jkennedy@wrmmlaw.com

 

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

 

Murder in Toronto the Good (back on February 8, 1915)

  Canadian Best Seller On The Shortlist For The RBC Taylor Prize

99-years ago tomorrow, Bert Massey was shot to death on the steps of his modest 169 Walmer Rd home by his live-in 18-year old housemaid.

Award winning Canadian historian Charlottte Gray's The Massey Murder. A Maid, Her Master And the Trial That Shocked Country is a true Toronto crime story that rolls the curtain back on one of the city's most important families and examines - street address by street address - a city that was growing out of its Toronto-the-Good Victorian roots, into a modern urban centre where women were beginning to get rights and a role in politics and law.

His wife away in the US,  Charles “Bert” Massey—of the Masseys, they of Massey Hall and Massey College—walked towards his Annex home. As he approached the front door, his young English servant, Carrie Davies, burst out, brandishing a revolver. She is reported to have yelled “You ruined my life,” before she pointed the handgun and fired. The first shot missed, the next found his heart. He was dead within seconds.  Davies was arrested, confessed and taken to the Don Jail.

As one reviewer has written, "the irresistible storyline of a poor but virtuous maiden defending herself from disgrace made the ensuing trial a sensational affair, attracting reams of newspaper coverage and packing the courtroom with blue-collar workers and society mavens alike".

Gray tells the story of Carries Davies and the legal team that saved her from the gallows.  We learn about the real Massey Family.  Yes they were good corporate citizens (Massey Hall, Fred Victor Mission etc) but they were less kind to their own.  The Massey Family attempted to have the murder charges thrown out of court and the house-maid sent to a mental institution rather than have the family's dirty laundry aired in the papers.  Massey was a disenfranchised Massey - a "vain ne’er-do-well, a respectable cad". A man who “took much enjoyment out of life,” according to one newspaper, Massey was “quite a popular figure among the younger society set,” said another. Put less charitably, Massey liked sports cars and fast women even though he was married with child.

The case was fodder for a raging newspaper war in the city. In Gray's book we meet John Ross Roberts and Black Jack Robinson (The Toronto Telegram), Joseph Atikinson (Toronto Star) and Toronto's ace female reporter Helen Ball (Evening News).   Despite the horror stories coming from Europe (World War 1), these papers kept the murder story, the  arrest, the inquest, the Supreme court trial and the Massey family on the front pages throughout the month of February.

The house-maid was from England, sent to Canada to raise money for her impoverished UK family. She was little more than an indentured slave.  She shot her master after he made lurid passes at her while his wife was away.

The plight of women like Carrie, both in terms of living/working conditions and treatment by the courts was of concern to Florence Gooderham Hamilton Huestis (Toronto Local Council of Women) and suffragette Nellie McLung.  The two women are featured in this book.

Newspapers debated the merits of the case, and Davies’ character, in extended coverage of the trial and the verdict. The editor of Women’s Century argued: “She was as justified in killing the man for her honour as a soldier is in shooting the enemy for the honour of his country.”

Spoiler Alert - Davies' lawyer Herbert Dewart, brings in medical experts who testify that the house-maid is a virgin.  Supreme Court Judge  Sir William Mulock and the jury find Davies not guilty and on February 27th she walks out of court a free woman!

Naming streets, homes and buildings that still stand, this is a riveting read for Torontonians wanting to know about their Hog Town's roots.  And for those that really want to know about the Massey Family the book includes a fold-out family tree chart, vintage photographs and information on where each Massey family member lived in Toronto and where they all the bodies are literally buried.

Journalists - if you would like to know more about the book, the author and /or the RBC Taylor Prize (formerly the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction) contact Stephen Weir at stephen@stephenweir.com.

Sometimes Public Relations Work Is Murder

No lock on the nitty-gritty when it comes to covering shooting deaths.
Think Local But Some Act Global

Over the past 17-years I have worked on many PR assignments, most (but not all) have revolved around the non-profit culture sector. It is not particularly financially rewarding work, but, the cause is usually just and you don't have to push dubious projects that people don't want or need (like the Irish diaper cream project I crashed and burned on).

Aside from assisting after a terrorist attack, and some pro-bono work I did for the legal team helping the mother of a murdered Jane/Finch student, I have stayed away from the gritty, painful side of crisis communications.

Today (Sunday August 31st) was different. So was Saturday.

On Saturday I spent 10-hours in the searing heat of summer, rescuing news crews stuck inside parade barriers within Toronto's mammoth Caribbean Carnival. When I wasn't doing that I was on the street herding sex crazedphotographers who seemed determined to get their long lenses cameras right into the nether regions of the thousands of women who played Mas at the Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival. A strange profession but it is typical assignment when dealing with the men and women who were cover the annual summer Long Weekend Parade.

The last hour of the day was stressful and dangerous, the attendance was over the top - one official told me 1.5 million. As the parade wound down, thousands of people breached the fences and drunkenly tried to get onto centre stage with the last of the performing Mas players in front of the judging stand on Lakeshore Drive. The police wanted to shut it down; I wanted to get the media out before they got to witness first hand, something really bad happening.

However, the show was allowed to continue - all bands made it onto the street and were judged at the review stand near the Ontario Place parking lot. Somehow we were able to keep the crowds back. The parade ended at 6.10 with only a few minor incidents. Heat. Dehydration. Alcohol.

I left just before 7pm, thinking that once again, the parade had "dodged a bullet". Might be true about the actual parade, but, the same can't be said for one man who was shot dead by the police an hour and a bit after the parade ended.

For a little while the police were quiet about the shooting and the media was unaware of what had happened on Lakeshore Drive. That didn't stop the social media. By the time I got to my home office I already had two cell phone pictures of the dead man lying in the street, sent to me. I also had a link to a cell phone video of the police and dead man.

While following people first hand comments on Twitter and from an associate who is better plugged into the Social Media scene, I was able to brief the festival executive and craft a response (posted on this blog) to the events of the evening before the first media had called.

This morning, the media was on the case. The Sun went big and bloody, the Star stuck to the facts. George Lagogianes at CP24 was tough, ahead of the pack, but respectful for the feelings of the victim’s families and for the devastated organizers of North America's largest Caribbean style event. The same can't be said about Global, who, pushed to try and get the head of the parade to meet her at the scene of the crime to talk on camera about the killing, presumably in front of where he died.

I normally don't push back at a reporter's interview request, but to suggest that we stand on the street in front of a chalked outline of body, seemed to me to be ghoulish. The deeply religious executive members of the parade were still in shock over what had occurred less than 24-hours ago. I refused the interview, telling the reporter that we were shocked at her request. She called to say I misunderstood her request. "I am not that kind of reporter,” said Jennifer Palisoc. " I thought you said that you and Chris (the parade's CAO) were on the Lakeshore!"

I hadn't said we were on the Lakeshore (you can read the exchange below) and told her that I didn't believe her when she said she wasn't "that kind of reporter". I declined the interview. But, after an apology I did set up a streeter in front of a floating restaurant on the Queens Quay. The reporter was curt, didn't talk to me nor shake hands with the man she was to interview. However, the taped exchange did sound fair and balanced.

Later in the day, a female CBC TV reporter managed to dig up a number of long-refuted Sun newspaper stories about murder events that had nothing to do with the parade and attempted to link them to yesterday's tragedy. With titles such as the pre-Caribana murder (a young black make is murdered at a church party in another city 2-weeks before the parade), the Caribana murder (a young black mail skips out of the parade with his friends and two days after the parade is beaten and drown by his companions in Pickering) and the Four Seasons Caribana Murders (two black men, suspected crime syndicate drug dealers, are gunned down in Yorkville over the Caribana weekend) this female reporter was trying to get the festival spokesman to link the event to last night's murder.

When it was pointed out to the reporter that she was simply reading out questions about events that she knew nothing about (she had a list of questions that someone else had penned for her) and that the stories had been labeled raciest by journalists including at least one CBC reporter, she told us that she knew all about racism first hand. " I am from Turkey. I am from Muslim. "

To her credit, the reporter agreed that she would read up on the incidents and advise the newsroom of my objections. She reshot the questions. Waiting to she if is thinking locally or acting Globally.

Global TV tries to get the head of the Caribbean Carnival to conduct an interview at last night's murder scene. E-mail exchange in reverse.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Stephen Weir"
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:27:12
To: Jennifer Palisoc

Here is our exchange: show me where I said I was on the lakeshore. You are the one suggesting we go the murder scene -- no alternatives given
------Original Message------

From: Jennifer Palisoc
To: Stephen
Subject: Re: Interview
Sent: Jul 31, 2011 10:10 AM

My apologies. That was not my intent. Where would you like to meet? We can definitely schedule another location.

Jennifer Palisoc
Reporter, Global News

----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Weir [mailto:sweir5492@rogers.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2011 09:59 AM
To: Jennifer Palisoc
Subject: Re: Interview

No, to scene of crime (that is really sick-weird). Think maybe we will give this interview a pass -- we don't have the mind set that you obviously do.

------Original Message------
From: Jennifer Palisoc
To: Stephen
Subject: Re: Interview
Sent: Jul 31, 2011 9:39 AM

Okay, we will be there at noon. Shall we meet right on scene of the incident? Thank you.
Jennifer Palisoc
Reporter, Global News

----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Weir [mailto:sweir5492@rogers.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2011 09:29 AM
To: Jennifer Palisoc
Subject: Re: Interview

Yes if you would like. Will be at Ontario Place at noon to the end of day. Chris, the head of the festival, is at Fletcher's Field for the carnival rugby match at 1pm. He will return to Ont. Place at 2.30

------Original Message------
From: Jennifer Palisoc
To: stephen weir
To: Chris Alexander
Subject: Interview
Sent: Jul 31, 2011 9:05 AM

Hello,

We arrange an on-camera interview today?

Thanks,
Jen
Jennifer Palisoc
Reporter, Global News

Cutline - crowd scene top
George Lagogianes (CP24) interviews Festival organizer's Chris Alexander and Denise Herrera Jackson about the shooting.