Canada: Advocates discuss upcoming bail hearing for two Indigenous sisters – November 14, 2022

Justice advocates hold a virtual news conference to discuss their concerns with the upcoming bail hearings for Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance, two sisters from the Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan who were given life sentences for a crime they say they never committed. A Saskatchewan Crown prosecutor has applied for a discretionary publication ban and to seal court records for the bail hearings, which are scheduled to take place on November 24 and 25 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. In 1994, the sisters were convicted of the second-degree murder of Anthony Joseph Dolff, a farmer from Kamsack, Saskatchewan. The sisters’ cousin Jason Keshane, who was at the scene of the crime and was 14 at the time, has admitted numerous times to killing Dolff. In June 2022, federal Justice Minister David Lametti acknowledged that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred in the case and announced the matter was proceeding to the investigation stage of the conviction review process. Taking part in the news conference are Congress of Aboriginal Peoples vice-president Kim Beaudin, Senator Kim Pate, former NDP MP Olivia Chow, and criminal consultant Nicole Porter.