It is an injustice to all to have the wrong person convicted of a crime. If you have any information about this wrongful conviction, please come forward. You can contact the UBC Innocence Project by writing: [email protected]
Please feel free to also download and share this case overview. It is a resource that has been created from several sources of information to help people to learn about her case.
The Wrongful Conviction Problem in Canada: Long and Uncertain Roads to Justice
Canada has a deeply ineffective system to remedy wrongful convictions, comparative to other democratic nations. To address this, in 2024, Canada passed Bill C – 40, which aims to increase access to justice by establishing an independent Miscarriage of Justice Commission. Bill C-40 was the result of a report authored by the Hon. Harry LaForme and Hon. Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré. The report was informed by David Milgaard, by his mother Joyce Milgaard, and by many experts related to wrongful convictions. David Milgaard himself was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for 23 years prior to his release.
Sustained advocacy by Joyce Milgaard led to David’s ultimate release, and to the establishment of the current Ministerial Review process, which is now the only available avenue that wrongfully convicted people can pursue post appeal.
A Ministerial Review can be considered only when new and significant evidence that was not available at the time of a trial is found, and the process itself is flawed. David had his first Ministerial Review rejected, leaving him in prison under his wrongful conviction.
Nyki’s mother, Christine Lewis, has advocated for many years for her daughter’s exoneration. She is pictured above with both Joyce and David, and another exonerated Canadian man, Williams Mullins-Johnson.
Justice Cannot be Not Realized in Canada until the Prevalence of Wrongful Convictions here are Addressed
The new commission to address wrongful convictions has not been established yet, while many people in Canada wait with active and outstanding claims of wrongful convictions. A registry of wrongfully convicted people who have been officially exonerated in Canada demonstrates the high chance of validity to these claims, and the fallibility of the law: Canada’s Wrongful Conviction Registry. The registry confirms that no women have been exonerated through the Ministerial Review process which Joyce Milgaard’s advocacy established.
Many innocence clinics emphasize that the difficulty in accessing the Ministerial Review process stems from the incredible amount of resources and time it can take to uncover new evidence that was not available at the time of a trial.