Speakers

We are hard at work confirming the full lineup of speakers for WC’09. Biographies of our distinguished speakers will be posted here once their attendance has been confirmed.

Confirmed Speakers

Robert Baltovich, Wrongly Convicted

Robert Baltovich was wrongly convicted for the second-degree murder of Elizabeth Bain. He spent 9 years in jail and was re-tried in April 2008 on the grounds of a miscarriage of justice. He was found not-guilty when the prosecution decided not to pursue the case. The Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) advocated for Robert throughout his conviction and represented him in his appeal and acquittal. Robert currently resides in Scarborough, Ontario and is pursuing career opportunities as a librarian. He is involved with AIDWYC, as well as the Innocence Project at Osgoode.

Philip Campbell, Criminal Lawyer

Philip Campbell is a partner in Lockyer Campbell Posner. He and James Lockyer formed Lockyer Campbell in 2003 in order to pursue their ground-breaking work in the reversal of wrongful convictions. He has broad experience in the defence of homicide prosecutions, sexual assault and narcotics cases, and matters with sophisticated constitutional issues. Among the matters in which he has been counsel are R v Clayton Johnson (a Nova Scotia wrongful conviction case which led to exoneration, and compensation, after a first degree murder conviction); Philippines v Pacificador (an extradition request for an alleged political assassination, quashed on constitutional grounds); R v Sauve and Trudel (the successful appeal of murder convictions in Canada’s longest jury trial); R v Lindsay and Bonner (a pending appeal testing the constitutionality of Canada’s new “criminal organization” statute); R v Truscott ; R v Walsh (a successful Ministerial review of a 33 year old conviction on behalf of a dying man); R v Phillion (an appeal referred to the Ontario Court of Appeal by the Minister of Justice, now on reserve); and R v Mahalingan (a recent Supreme Court of Canada case upholding the application of issue estoppel in Canadian criminal law).

Due to a conflict of scheduling, Mr. Cory is no longer able to attend WC’09. He expresses his best wishes for the event. We are currently working on incorporating a taped talk Mr. Cory gave (as part of the McLaughlin Lunch Talk series) on the Sophonow case into the conference program.

James Lockyer, Criminal Lawyer

James Lockyer is the founding director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) a national organization that advocates for justice. He has been involved in a number of high profile wrongful conviction cases and is most recently known for defending Guelph’s Steven Truscott who was acquitted by the Ontario Court of Appeal in August of the 1959 killing of Lynne Harper.

James Lockyer has been involved in exposing more than ten wrongful convictions in Canada, including the cases of Guy Paul Morin, David Milgaard, Clayton Johnson and Gregory Parsons. Several of these cases have become the subject of public inquiries. Mr. Lockyer has received an honorary doctorate of laws from University of Guelph in February 2007. Before moving into private practice as a criminal lawyer, he taught law at McGill University and the University of Windsor.

William Mullins-Johnson, Wrongly Convicted

William Mullins-Johnson made waves in the national media in 2005 when he was released from prison after serving 12 years in jail for a murder he did not commit. William was convicted of the 1993 murder of his 4-year old niece based upon the testimony of pathologists who originally believed she was raped and murdered. Another investigation into the child’s death by two leading Ontario pathologists revealed and concluded that Mullins-Johnson’s niece had never been raped or strangled, and actually died of natural causes.

Romeo Phillion, Wrongly Convicted

Romeo Phillion was wrongly convicted in 1972 and sentenced to life in prison for Leopold Roy’s murder. Romeo Phillion was released after 31 years of wrongful imprisonment, based on the discovery of prosecution reports that concealed proof of his innocence.

Kent Roach, UofT Faculty of Law, Author

Kent Roach is a professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in Law, Public Policy, criminology and political science.  He has written over 100 articles and chapters that have been published worldwide.  He is specifically concerned with the comparative study of miscarriages of justice. He is currently instructing a course dedicated to wrongful convictions at the University of Toronto, which looks at ways in which wrongful convictions occur and what can be done to minimize the risk of these miscarriages of justice. His research is drawn from evidence collected not only from Canada, but the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

Win Wahrer, Director of Client Services, AIDWYC

Win Wahrer is the Director of Client Services at the Association of Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC).  Win Wahrer, along with the help of AIDWYC, helped exonerate individuals such as William Mullins-Johnson, Steven Truscott, David Milgaard, Greg Parsons, Ronald Dalton, and many others. Her life as a career woman took off with the case of Guy Paul Morin, in which she got involved with before being associated with AIDWYC.  Today, she runs the AIDWYC office downtown and is working hard to correct miscarriages of justice.

Alan Young, Director of the Osgoode Innocence Project

Alan Young is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. He received his B.A from York University, his LL.B from Osgoode Hall Law School and his LL.M from Harvard University. Alan Young is Co-Founder and Director of Osgoode’s Innocence Project. He also maintains a private practice specializing in Criminal Law.