Injustice stampede : the wrongful conviction of Indigenous men in Alberta

Abstract

This research looks at the wrongful conviction of three Indigenous men in Alberta to understand (1) why they were wrongfully convicted and (2) whether the factors that contributed to their wrongful convictions are systemic issues within the Alberta criminal justice system that cause Indigenous men to be more likely to be wrongfully convicted there. The three cases are as follows: Richard McArthur, who was convicted in 1987; Wilfred Beaulieu, who was convicted in 1992; and Clayton Boucher, who was convicted in 2017. Each case has a different year of conviction, which contributes to understanding whether these issues are systemic. These cases were comparatively analyzed alongside relevant Canadian literature as well as the wrongful conviction of Donald Marshall Jr. in order to identify common contributing causes of wrongful convictions in Canada. From this analysis, it was found that one’s prior criminal history creates tunnel vision in investigations, professional misconduct is causal of many other contributing factors to wrongful convictions, and further, that racism is institutional, implicit, and systemic in the Canadian criminal justice system. From these findings, it was made clear that the causes of wrongful convictions of Indigenous men in Alberta are systemic issues that are leading them to be more likely to be wrongfully convicted there.