Justice minister says miscarriage of justice likely occurred in Sask. murder case, orders new appeal

The federal minister of justice has ordered a new appeal in the case of two sisters who were convicted of murder more than 30 years ago.

The appeal was announced on Thursday, after an “in-depth” review by the ministry that took more than four years and found “reasonable grounds to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred.”

Odelia and Neressa Quewezance, sisters from Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan, were convicted in 1994 of second-degree murder in the death of Anthony Joseph Dolff, a farmer from Kamsack, Sask.

“My decision does not decide guilt or innocence, as that will rest with the courts,” Justice Minister Sean Fraser said in a news release.

“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.”

The new information was not before the courts at the time of the sisters’ trial or appeal, the government said.

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Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance hope to make bail pending ministerial decision

In an emailed statement, Odelia Quewezance spoke on behalf of herself and her sister and thanked everyone who has “kept the faith” with them over the years.

“Neressa was 18 when she was arrested and is now 52. I was 21 and am now 55. But we have never stopped fighting,” Odelia said.

“Today’s announcement by the minister is encouraging and now we will continue the fight in the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.”

The murder

On Feb. 25, 1993, Dolff invited the two young Indigenous girls and their teenage cousin to his home in Kamsack, Sask.

Both girls had attended residential school and were victims of institutionalized violence, their lawyers have said. Dolff had worked at the St. Phillips Residential School on Keeseekoose First Nation.

Events that night led to Dolff’s death. The cousin, who cannot be identified under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, confessed to stabbing him.

Odelia and Neressa were also charged with second-degree murder and were convicted after a trial in Yorkton Court of King’s Bench in 1994.

David Milgaard brought the sisters’ cases to Innocence Canada, a non-profit organization that advocates for the exoneration of people who have been wrongly convicted. It filed an application with the justice minister on Dec. 21, 2021, asking for the review.

James Lockyer, a lawyer with Innocence Canada, continues to represent the Quewezance sisters.

He said the new information they’ll be bringing on appeal has to do with the period of time after Odelia and Neressa’s arrest, when they were held in the Kamsack RCMP detachment for five days despite a judge’s order that they be taken to a detention centre.

RCMP officers claimed Odelia and Neressa confessed over five days of questioning.

“We’ve got new information about that period … that we think compels an entire rethinking about the case and a complete rethinking about the reliability of their confessions,” Lockyer said.

“In essence, we’re alleging that the confessions that were put before the court were false confessions.”

New bail application expected

The justice minister’s decision sends the case back to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, where dates will be set to hear the appeal.

But Lockyer said before that happens, he will be making a bail application to the appeal court.

Odelia and Neressa previously applied for release, while the federal review was pending, and were conditionally released from custody in March 2023 after a hearing in Yorkton Court of King’s Bench.

However, Neressa allegedly breached her curfew condition and is being held in a federal institution in B.C., while Odelia was charged this summer with impaired driving and is in a provincial jail.

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Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance spent three decades in-and-out of the Canadian prison system. The Saulteaux sisters have been out on conditional release for nearly five months but now that they’re out they are finding it hard to adjust.

Lockyer said it’s been “very difficult” for them to readjust to life in the community after spending more than 30 years in jail.

“The bottom line is, why are two Indigenous women still serving life sentences 33 years after their convictions, when at their trial, the judge ordered that they be eligible for parole after 10 years?” Lockyer said.

“It’s an indictment of our parole system as well, that they’re still in prison 23 years after they became eligible for parole.”