IWCD Calgary presents: Remembering David Milgaard, a free virtual event honouring David and his significant contributions to bringing awareness to the wrongly convicted and their cases. David fought tirelessly for needed and vital change to our criminal justice system so future heart breaking and devastating wrongful convictions can be avoided.
This is a free virtual event, and you can register here.
Panelists include:
Greg Rodin: Greg Rodin, K.C., received his post-secondary education at the University of Manitoba, where he obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1978. He was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1979. Greg gained extensive trial experience practicing with the highly respected Winnipeg law firm of Wolch Pinx Tapper Scurfield (“WPTS”).
Greg was admitted to partnership in WPTS in 1986 and remained an active partner in the firm until January 1997. He was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1995. He established Rodin Law Firm in Calgary in December 1997, where he practices mainly personal injury litigation, including claims for wrongful conviction. Greg has conducted hundreds of trials and numerous appeals, both criminal and civil, in provincial and superior courts in Manitoba and Alberta.
Greg was part of David Milgaard’s legal team, led by the late Hersh Wolch. In that regard, his focus was on David’s civil claim against police and prosecutors responsible for his wrongful conviction and incarceration which ultimately led to a landmark compensation settlement with the governments of Saskatchewan and Canada.
Gavin Wolch: Gavin is the son of Hersh Wolch, Q.C., who was internationally recognized as one of the preeminent lawyers to ever practice in Canada. They worked closely together on high profile and complex cases including homicides, large scale guns and drugs, frauds, sexual offences, criminal organization, extraditions, wrongful conviction, and many more. Gavin has a bachelor’s degree with majors in English and history, and a master of arts in English literature and language. He was a decorated law student highlighted by earning the Wilson Memorial Scholarship for “Highest standing in those subjects falling in the constitutional law area.” Gavin then began his career as a lawyer in Toronto with Greenspan Partners LLP where he had the privilege of being mentored by Edward L. Greenspan, Q.C., and Julianna A. Greenspan.
Today, Gavin continues his father’s practice and represents clients in every category of criminal case and select civil claims. He conducts trials and appeals, regulatory defence, advises businesses, and will consult on any issue related to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He maintains numerous professional affiliations and annually attends the Federation of Law Societies’ National Criminal Law Program.
In 2019, Gavin made headlines in Canada and the United States after challenging a National Hockey League player to a shootout as a means to settle a real estate contract, and then winning.
James Lockyer: James Lockyer, C.M., is a partner in the Toronto office of Lockyer Zaduk Zeeh.
Mr. Lockyer obtained his LLB at the University of Nottingham in 1971 and is a member of the Bar in England. From 1972 until 1977, he was an assistant professor at the law faculties of McGill University and the University of Windsor. In 1977 he was called to the Ontario Bar and began to practice criminal law. He has been a criminal lawyer for 40 years.
He is the founding partner of Lockyer Campbell Posner and a founding director of Innocence Canada (formerly the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, or AIDWYC), a Canada-wide organization that advocates for the wrongly convicted. In that capacity, he has been involved in several high profile wrongful conviction cases including those of Guy Paul Morin, David Milgaard, Gregory Parsons, Thomas Sophonow, Clayton Johnson, James Driskell, Steven Truscott, William Mullins-Johnson, Erin Walsh, Robert Baltovich, Anthony Hanemaayer, Kyle Unger, Sherry Sherrett-Robinson, Romeo Phillion, Jack White, Dinesh Kumar, Richard Brant, Tammy Marquardt, Leighton Hay, John Salmon, Maria Shepherd, Gordon Folland and Peter Frumusa.
Since 1992, Mr. Lockyer’s practice has been primarily in the field of wrongful convictions.
Valerie Chiniquay: My name is Valerie Chiniquay. I am from Nakoda First Nations. I lived here all my life with my family. I am 57 years old. I was born in the General Hospital in Calgary on May 27, 1965. My parents were Lawrence Chiniquuay and Mildred whose maiden name was House. My mother was from the Paul Band First nations. My father was from Morley. I had three siblings. My oldest brother, Stuward Chiniquay, passed away in 1989, the victim of a hit and run. My sister Natalie passed away in a house fire along with her two children in 1991. I have one living sister, Pamela. Pamela and I live together. I was living in a common-law relationship with my late husband Randy Bearpaws. He passed away in 2001. We had three children together. Butch was our oldest son, then Kevin and daughter Venessa Chiniquay.
Growing up in my family, my parents were affected by alcohol. Both my parents were residential school survivors. My grandmother, Sarah Chiniquay, raised me and my siblings. It was my paternal grandparents who gave us a stable home with strong traditional values and beliefs.
The entire ordeal regarding my late son, Butch Chiniquay, being wrongfully charged and convicted had a huge impact on our lives. Me and my late father, Lawrence Chiniquay, knew that my son was innocent. The girl he was accused and convicted of murdering was a nice girl from a troubled family. My late son was raised with strong family values, the same given to me by my paternal grandparents. My late son was very generous and caring and he loved his family very much. Our lives forever changed when he got wrongfully convicted for something he did not do. My heart was broken for him. I felt that he wasn’t treated fairly by the law. We didn’t understand the legal system and we were very frustrated. Stoney Nakoda is our first language and English our second language. There was a huge language barrier.
My late father and I stood by Butch through it all. To this day my heart is forever broken. My late son had to seek therapy after he came out of prison. He had medical issues and eventually passed away from heart failure just shortly after he turned 35 years old. Emotionally, mentally, and spiritually I was broken from the whole ordeal and from losing my precious son. My paternal grandparents taught me the importance of our spirituality. I pray every day for my own sanity.
I truly believe that my son, Butch Chiniquay, was innocent and only our creator, Father God, knows. I will never, never stop trying to clear my son’s name!
Tammy Marquardt: Tammy was convicted in 1995 of second-degree murder in the 1993 death of her 2-year-old son, Kenneth. Tammy was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 10 years. Dr. Charles Smith, who at the time was considered an expert on criminally suspicious pediatric deaths, conducted the autopsy and concluded that Kenneth had been strangled or smothered. A report released as a result of the Goudge Inquiry stated that Smith’s finding of asphyxia was “illogical and completely against scientific evidence-based reasoning.” It was suggested that Kenneth’s death could have occurred during an epileptic seizure or from natural causes.
Tammy gave birth to two other sons, one while incarcerated, but both sons were removed from her care and adopted. Tammy was released in 2009 after spending 14 years incarcerated to await an appeal. On June 7, 2011, the Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned her conviction and ordered a new trial. Instead of proceeding with a new trial, the Crown withdrew all charges against Tammy. Tammy has, in recent years, seen her sons.
Ron Dalton: Ron Dalton was convicted in 1989 of second-degree murder of his wife and sentenced to life. He served eight and a half years before his conviction was overturned. Ron was acquitted following a second trial in 2000. The case turned on the opinion of an unqualified hospital pathologist that a murder had occurred. The first trial took six weeks with one Crown pathologist and one for the defence. The retrial lasted nine months with the original pathologist for the Crown and nine world-leading board certified forensic pathologists for the defence.
It took twelve years to clear his name.
Ron is an exoneree and co-president of Innocence Canada. Ron advocates tirelessly on behalf of the wrongly convicted.