Ma réponse à Me Kerry Scullion directeur du Groupe de révision des condamnations criminelles
My response to Mr. Kerry Scullion, Director/General Counsel
Criminal Conviction Review Group
Saint-Sauveur,
May 2nd 2014
Mr. Kerry Scullion,
Director/General Counsel
Criminal Conviction Review Group
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0H8
Re.
WILBERT COFFIN – REQUEST FOR PARDON
Mr.
Scullion,
I just returned
home after a month of absence. It explains this late response to your letter dated
April 10, 2014.
Your Re.
WILBERT COFFIN – APPLICATION FOR MINISTERIAL REVIEW should read WILBERT COFFIN
– REQUEST FOR PARDON.
Pardon
is requested because a crime was committed. If I had come to the conclusion
that Wilbert Coffin was innocent, I would have requested that his name be
cleared. For example, pardon was granted by the Queen to Alan Turing. He was
never declared innocent but he was granted pardon.
You say
that matters as miscarriage of justice « must be carefully reviewed in
accordance with what the law requires. » You say that this has been done.
But what has been done? You have been requested by the Canadian Parliament to
review this matter seven years ago. You should by now be able to let us know
your conclusions.
You
mention that you are « currently awaiting submissions from counsel with
the Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted (AIDWYC) on behalf of
the Coffin family. My understanding is that AIDWYC has no more interest in this
affair. It would appear consequent after waiting for their submissions for seven
years
2
I do not recall having received any of those letters
you mention having been addressed to me on April 30, 2009, October 23, 2009,
August 18, 2010, December 9, 2010, and February 15, 2012. I would appreciate
receiving a copy of those letters.
Please read again my Request and you will understand
that as a result of my research on this
affair I concluded that Coffin was guilty and that it was not a miscarriage of
justice. So please correct your file accordingly.
Before submitting my request to the Ministers of
Justice and Public Safety, I inquired about the procedure I should follow in
this regard. At the Department of Justice of Canada, I was told to send my
request to the Ministers of Justice and Public Safety.
Since you have not forwarded a copy of the letter you
sent me to those Ministers, I will do so along with this letter and a copy of
my request. To make sure there is no misunderstanding of my request let me
quote the relevant paragraph : « The conclusions I arrived at in a study that I
have made of Wilbert Coffin’s trial before the Court of Queen’s Bench, in
Percé, in 1954, along with those of the Brossard Commission of Inquiry on the Coffin
Affair, in 1964, do not, in my view, permit to clear Coffin’s name. However, to
accomplish, even partially, the promises that many members of parliament have
made to the Coffin family, a pardon granted to Wilbert Coffin would close this
very sad affair.”
I am awaiting a favorable answer from the Ministers of
Justice and Public Safety. At last, this will certainly relieve the Coffin
family.
Yours truly,
Clément Fortin, writer and retired lawyer
40,
de la Marquise Street
Saint-Sauveur
(Québec) J0R 1R4
450 227 5044
C.C. Ministers of Justice and Public Affaire.
Enclosed
My Request for Pardon
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