City legal staff recommend paying $7M in settlements for wrongful conviction of three Indigenous men in 1973 slaying

The city’s legal department is proposing Winnipeg pay $7 million to settle lawsuits filed by three First Nations men wrongfully convicted of the 1973 slaying of a restaurant worker.

Allan Woodhouse and Brian Anderson, members of Pinaymootang First Nation in the Interlake, were formally acquitted of the 1973 slaying of Ting Fong Chan in 2023 and filed lawsuits in Court of King’s Bench in 2024 over the miscarriage of justice.

Clarence Woodhouse, who was formally acquitted of the killing in October 2024, filed his lawsuit last February. A fourth convicted man, Russell Woodhouse, died in 2011.

The federal justice minister has ordered the Manitoba Court of Appeal to review Russell Woodhouse’s conviction.

That review has not yet occurred. His estate is not among the plaintiffs seeking damages from the city and the provincial and federal governments.

The parties and the men’s lawyers met for mediation in front of King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne during the summer in an attempt to settle the matter without going to trial.

The city’s interim director of legal services, Ashley Pledger, recommended council’s executive policy committee vote to approve a $7-million contribution to the potential settlement proposed during those meetings.

“If the recommended settlement is not approved, the city will need to incur significant external legal and related costs to continue the litigation,” Pledger wrote.

Pledger made the recommendation in an administrative report ahead of EPC’s meeting next week.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he expects to vote in favour of the settlement.

“That’s what the courts have said, so the city has an obligation to make good on what the courts have instructed us to do,” Gillingham said. “But first and foremost, we’re going to be having discussions with city staff at the meeting.”

Civic bureaucrats are negotiating with insurance companies that covered the city at the time over the amounts those firms will contribute, but the insurance payout is expected to be less than the settlement figure, meaning some of the money will have to come directly from the municipal government, Pledger wrote in her report, which was made public this week.

If the settlement is approved by all the parties, the lawsuits will be discontinued.

“If the claims are not settled, next steps include the exchange of documentary disclosure, examinations of the parties and the retainer of experts regarding liability and the assessment of damages,” she wrote in the report.

“These steps are expected to take years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Pledger recommended the committee approve an over-expenditure of $500,000 for the city to pay outside lawyers and other costs, if council does not approve the settlement offer.

It was not clear Wednesday what financial figures the federal and provincial governments may have offered as part of the mediation process, known as a judicially assisted dispute resolution.

Ian McLeod, a spokesman for the federal Department of Justice, said the process and anything arising out of it is confidential. He declined further comment.

Ryan Stelter, a provincial government spokesman said he could not comment on the settlement details, “which the parties agreed would be confidential.”

The claims allege misfeasance in public office, false arrest, false imprisonment, conspiracy, negligent investigation, malicious prosecution, constitutional and human rights violations and breaches of statutory duties.

The four men are represented by lawyer James Lockyer of Innocence Canada — a non-profit organization that identifies and advocates for the wrongfully convicted. Lockyer spent years advocating and arguing their convictions were miscarriages of justice.

He would not comment Wednesday.

The three living men, as well as Russell Woodhouse, were convicted in 1974 of the killing of Ting Fong Chan, a 40-year-old father of two, in 1973.

The four were charged based on questionable eyewitness testimony and what later were determined to be fabricated confessions. Despite all four having only a poor grasp of English, police produced a full confession written in English.

The men testified Winnipeg police officers beat them during interviews, but the judge refused to believe them.

The cases were prosecuted by Crown attorney George Dangerfield, who was involved in several wrongful murder convictions. He died in 2023.

Anderson served 10 years behind bars, Clarence Woodhouse spent 12 years in prison and Allan Woodhouse served 23, before they were declared innocent. Russell Woodhouse also served time; he died in 2011.

Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser ordered the Manitoba’s high court to review Russell Woodhouse’s conviction last month. A notice of appeal was filed on Oct. 1, but the matter has not yet been heard.

It’s the first time a federal attorney general has asked for a judicial review after the death of an applicant.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca