First Nations men wrongfully convicted in 1973 Winnipeg murder sue over ‘cruel and unusual treatment’

Two First Nations men who were recently acquitted for the 1973 murder of a Winnipeg man are now taking all three levels of government to court, saying police officers and a Crown prosecutor colluded against them to give false evidence during the trial that led to decades in prison for the men.

Allan Woodhouse, 68, and Brian Anderson, 69, are both members of Pinaymootang First Nation in northern Manitoba who received life sentences in 1974, after the fatal stabbing of Winnipeg restaurant worker Ting Fong Chan the year before.

Anderson was released on parole in 1987 and Woodhouse in 1990, but they weren’t acquitted by a Manitoba Court of King’s Bench judge until last year, shortly after then federal justice minister David Lametti ordered a new trial for the two men.

During the hearing last year where the men were acquitted, Manitoba Prosecution Service executive director Michele Jules told court that the men were wrongfully convicted and their confessions were “entirely manufactured by police detectives.”

Systemic racism played heavily in both men’s convictions, she said.

In two statements of claim filed at the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench on Tuesday, Anderson and Woodhouse are suing the federal and provincial attorneys general, the City of Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba for damages that include pain and suffering, and the loss of their reputations, enjoyment of life and developmental experiences. 

“The conduct of the defendants was high-handed, outrageous, scandalous, reckless, entirely without care or consideration” of Anderson and Woodhouse’s rights, and “exploited” their vulnerability as young Indigenous men, the suits say.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. Statements of defence have not yet been filed.

The lawsuits accuse Winnipeg police officers of coercing Anderson, Woodhouse and two others — Clarence Woodhouse and Russell Woodhouse — into signing false confessions to Chan’s murder, after two teams of officers interrogated them using “violence, threats, racial slurs and other racialized abuse.”

Clarence Woodhouse, who was also found guilty of Chan’s murder in 1974, was granted bail by a Manitoba judge last October, while his conviction is reviewed.

His brother, Russell Woodhouse, was also found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years behind bars in connection with the killing. He died several years ago.

Crown had ‘win-at-all-costs attitude’: suit

According to the lawsuits, police officers coerced confessions from  Anderson and Allan Woodhouse by claiming they had evidence to prove their involvement in the homicide, such as witness statements.

The suits say those confessions were the only evidence used by a jury to convict them in March 1974 in the killing of Chan, a 40-year-old chef and father of two who was beaten and stabbed to death near a downtown construction site on July 17, 1973.

The Manitoba Court of Appeal rejected both of their requests to overturn the convictions later in 1974.

The lawsuits accuse the Winnipeg Police Service of negligence and breaching their duty to provide Anderson and Woodhouse with fair and thorough investigations, saying they instead relied on racist attitudes toward Indigenous people and violence to coerce confessions.

The police service failed to properly investigate Anderson and Woodhouse’s alibis, did not provide them with an interpreter despite their first language being Ojibwe/Saulteaux, and failed to have an independent review done of their original investigation, the suits say.

They allege that the City of Winnipeg failed in its duty to properly train and supervise the officers.

Former Crown prosecutor George Dangerfield is also accused in the suits of “deliberate improper” conduct, as he had a “win-at-all-costs attitude” to get convictions against Anderson and Woodhouse, knowingly presenting false evidence and misleading comments to the jury.

Dangerfield was the prosecutor behind four other high-profile murder convictions in Manitoba that were later overturned or quashed.

CBC News could not reach Dangerfield for comment prior to publication.

Anderson and Woodhouse’s suits allege Dangerfield neglected some witness statements and other evidence during their trial, as well as the systemic racism Winnipeg police had inflicted on them.

Dangerfield and the police officers “intentionally withheld information” from Anderson and Woodhouse before and after their trial, the suits allege.

The province and Manitoba’s attorney general are liable for Dangerfield’s actions, the suits claim.

The actions of Dangerfield and the police officers “constituted cruel and unusual treatment and/or punishment” that “outrages society’s sense of decency,” the suits say.

Woodhouse served a total of 23 years in prison, primarily at the Stony Mountain Institution near Winnipeg.

When he was acquitted last year, Woodhouse had been on his last parole stint since 2009, but had been in and out of prison before that due to parole breaches.

He spent 38 years working as an electrician inside and out of prison, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Manitoba in 1990, and started teaching high school math and science courses in Victoria shortly after.

Anderson served nearly 11 years in prison, during which a teacher at one facility advocated his innocence to the government and the Parole Board of Canada, the suit says.

Canada breached its duty of care to Anderson under the Criminal Code because it failed to make steps to investigate those claims of his innocence in a timely manner, the lawsuit alleges.

Canada also failed in its duty to ensure Anderson and Woodhouse were treated fairly as Indigenous people in the justice system and that their Charter rights were not violated, according to the suits.

Representatives for the province and the City of Winnipeg both declined to comment on the suit to CBC News. Canada’s attorney general’s office has not responded to CBC’s request for comment.