They pled guilty — but were wrongfully convicted. Canada’s courts continue to have a blind spot

Beyond the infamous cases, Canada has a major problem with wrongful convictions, argues Kent Roach. The Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions shows that 15 of the 83 entered a guilty plea. The case recognized that the overrepresentation of Indigenous people — 12 per cent at the time — was a “crisis” that required judges to sentence Indigenous people in a different way. In hindsight, I think the Supreme Court would have shut down any attempt to reopen the manslaughter guilty plea. I had success in arguing the law in her case, but wrongful convictions are almost never about the law.