City denies liability in wrongful conviction lawsuit

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This article was published 24/03/2025 (194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg has again denied liability in the latest lawsuit over the wrongful convictions of First Nations men falsely accused of killing a restaurant worker in 1973.

Lawyers working on behalf of Clarence Clifford Woodhouse — including James Lockyer of Innocence Canada, a legal organization that advocates on behalf of the wrongfully convicted — filed the statement of claim in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench in February, naming the provincial government and its attorney general, the City of Winnipeg and the federal attorney general as defendants.

The 73-year-old’s legal claim is the third lawsuit filed by the men from Pinaymootang First Nation, who were convicted of the fatal stabbing of 43-year-old Ting Fong Chan and sentenced to life, but have since been declared innocent.

The claims accuse city police and notorious Crown prosecutor George Dangerfield of colluding to bring faulty evidence — coerced false confessions from the four accused — about the murder to trial.

In a statement of defence filed in late February by lawyers Brandon Trickett and Tom Nichini on behalf of the city, the municipal government argues it can’t be held liable.

“Winnipeg asserts that the claim, in its entirety, as against Winnipeg, is barred by the operation of the applicable limitations regime,” reads the defence filings.

The city argues the claim against can’t move ahead under the City of Winnipeg Act, limitations legislation that sets out time frames for when lawsuits can be filed and provincial legislation governing police.

The city has asked the court to dismiss the claim.

The municipal government, in a cross claim, also argues if Woodhouse suffered any losses, those losses were the result of the Crown’s prosecution, rather than the actions of police.

“Police officers, in this instance and in every instance, do not and did not manage or oversee the conduct of criminal prosecutions. The Crown has that responsibility.”

Chan, a 40-year-old father of two, was beaten and stabbed while walking home from his downtown job as a chef around midnight on July 17, 1973.

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Woodhouse was convicted, along with three others, in 1974 for the murder of Chan. He spent 12 years in prison before he was paroled in 1987.

He was formally acquitted in October last year after the federal justice minister tossed his conviction in July.

The earlier lawsuits were filed in 2024 by the same lawyers on behalf of Allan Woodhouse and Brian Anderson, who were formally acquitted of the murder in 2023.

All three lawsuits have yet to be decided, but court documents indicate lawyers for the governments and the three men’s lawyers will mediate and discuss potential monetary settlements later this year.

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In response to the earlier lawsuits, the provincial government said in court filings it is not responsible for the wrongful convictions because its prosecutors didn’t know Winnipeg police officers had obtained false confessions.

Lawyers for the city and the federal government have denied liability in separate statements of defence in response to the 2024 lawsuits.

Clarence Woodhouse’s now-deceased brother, Russell Woodhouse, was also convicted in the killing.

Innocence Canada has asked Ottawa to quash Russell Woodhouse’s conviction so he, too, can be declared innocent. He died in 2011.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.