Anthony Joseph Dolff, was farmer in

Kamsack Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada is a town in the Assiniboine River Valley, where the Whitesand River joins the Assiniboine River. It is northeast of Yorkton. Highway 8 and Highway 5 intersect in the town. Coté First Nation is located north an ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, who was killed in 1993. He was stabbed 17 times, hit on the head with a television, and strangled with a telephone cord. Three

Saulteaux The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Al ...

people, members of the

Keeseekoose First Nation The Keeseekoose First Nation ( oj, Giizhigoons Anishinaabeg) is a Saulteaux band government located in Kamsack, Saskatchewan. The band is named for Chief Kiishikouse (''kîšîkôns'', ''Giizhigoons'', "little sky"), who signed an adhesion to Trea ...

, were convicted of the crime. One, Jason Keshane, 14 years old at the time of the crime, confessed to the killing and as a juvenile was sentenced to two years in prison for second degree murder. His cousins, sisters Nerissa and Odelia Quewezance, 19 and 21 at the time, were sentenced to life in prison. Neither confessed and both have maintained their innocence at all times. Dolff had been a maintenance man at the residential school the two sisters attended. That night they reportedly drank a great deal of liquor and took prescription sleeping pills at Dolff's house, where he pestered them for sex. When he discovered that Odelia had taken money from his bedroom, a violent confrontation took place, in the course of which he was killed. The sisters' convictions are considered by many people to be a

miscarriage of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal procedure, criminal or civil procedure, civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they actual innocence, did not commit. Mis ...

. Keshane, maintains that his cousins were not involved in the killing. The two sisters asked for a lawyer when they were arrested but were interrogated for five days in

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

custody without one. The

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) (formerly the Native Council of Canada and briefly the Indigenous Peoples Assembly of Canada), founded in 1971, is a national Canadian aboriginal organization, that represents Aboriginal peoples ( Non-Sta ...

has called for their exoneration and release, as has

Innocence Canada Innocence Canada (formerly known as the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, AIDWYC), is a Canadian, non-profit legal organization. Based in Toronto, Innocence Canada identifies, advocates for, and helps exonerate individuals who have ...

. Two retired judges,

Harry LaForme Harry Smith LaForme (born October 31, 1946) is a Canadian judge. A member of the Mississaugas people, LaForme is the first appellate court judge in Canadian history with a First Nations background. He has served as the Commissioner of the Indian ...

, the first indigenous lawyer to serve on an appellate court in Canada, and

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, the first Black judge in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, have also called for their release.

David Milgaard David Milgaard (July 7, 1952 – May 15, 2022) was a Canadian man who was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 rape and murder of nursing student Gail Miller in Saskatoon and imprisoned for 23 years. He was eventually released and exonerated. Up u ...

, who was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder, also believes that they are innocent and has called for their release. In May 2022, Senators

Kim Pate Kimberly Pate (born November 10, 1959) is a Canadian politician who has served as a senator from Ontario since November 10, 2016, sitting with the Independent Senators Group (ISG) caucus. Pate was appointed on the advice of Prime Minister Ju ...

, Dawn Anderson, and

Yvonne Boyer Yvonne Boyer (born October 25, 1953) is a Canadian lawyer who was named to the Senate of Canada on March 25, 2018, as a Senator for Ontario by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. A Métis, Boyer is the first Indigenous person appointed to the Senate fr ...

issued a report calling for the review of the cases of 12 indigenous women including the Quewezance sisters (designated in the report as "N.Q." and "O.Q.") and their exoneration. In June, 2022

Justice Minister A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

David Lametti David T. Lametti (born August 10, 1962) is a Canadian politician who has been the minister of justice and attorney general of Canada since 2019. A member of the Liberal Party, Lametti sits as a member of Parliament (MP) and has represented LaS ...

agreed to review their convictions. The sisters story was the topic of a

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

APTN Investigates two-part documentary called A Life Sentence that introduced the case to the mainstream media. Investigative journalists Holly Moore and John Murray travelled to Keeseekoose First Nation where they tracked down Jason Keshane and he repeated his confession on camera.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolff, Anthony Joseph 1993 murders in Canada 1993 in Saskatchewan Crime in Saskatchewan