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Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser has ordered the courts to reopen the case of two Saskatchewan sisters who spent almost three decades in prison for what may be wrongful murder convictions.
Fraser says he is sending the case of Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance back to an Appeal Court for a review.
Odelia was 21 when arrested. She is now 55.
Nerissa was 18 at the time and is now 52.
Fraser, in a statement Thursday, cited reasonable grounds to conclude that a miscarriage of justice occurred in the 1994 convictions.
“My decision does not decide guilt or innocence, as that will rest with the courts,” Fraser said.
“Our responsibility is to make sure Canadians can trust their justice system, and that means, in rare cases, returning cases to the courts.”
Fraser noted there is new information that was not before the courts during the trial or during the appeal.
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The two were found guilty of second-degree murder in the 1993 stabbing death of 70-year-old farmer Anthony Dolff near Kamsack, Sask., about 270 kilometres northeast of Regina.
The sisters from the Keeseekoose First Nation have always maintained their innocence. Another person, who was a youth at the time, confessed to the killing.
They have been fighting for years to overturn the convictions.
In 2022, the federal Justice Department launched a review, saying there may be a reasonable basis to conclude there was a miscarriage of justice.
While that process played out, a Saskatchewan judge granted the sisters bail in early 2023, citing concerns surrounding the convictions.
The bail decision came after the sisters’ lawyer, James Lockyer, argued in court that the women were victims of racism in the justice system and false confessions.
Lockyer told court at the time that the sisters encountered “a police station full of white men” after their arrest. He said they were held in the Kamsack police station for days despite court orders to have them moved, and their statements were never recorded.
In granting bail, Justice Donald Layh noted those concerns.
“For example, they were young Indigenous women who had engaged in substantial drug and alcohol consumption within hours of their statements,” Layh said at the time.
“Their statements were neither audio nor video recorded.”
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