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See all flyer deals online Pembina • Kildonan • Northgate • St James • Bridgwater Under the authority of The City of Winnipeg Charter, the Community Committee listed below will conduct PUBLIC HEARINGS for the purpose of allowing interested persons to make submissions, ask questions or register objections in respect of the application(s) listed below. Information or documents concerning the applications and a description of the procedure to be followed at the public hearings are available for inspection by calling 204-986-2636 to make an appointment at Unit 15-30 Fort Street, or by visiting the City Clerk’s Department, Susan A. Thompson Building, 510 Main Street between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, excluding holidays; or on-line at http://www.winnipeg.ca ASSINIBOIA COMMUNITY COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING Date: Thursday, November 20, 2025 Time: 10:30 A.M. Location: City Hall To participate in the hearing, register online at winnipeg.ca/publichearings or by phoning 204-986-3856 by 12:00 noon the business day preceding the meeting. You may also participate in the process by submitting your comments in writing. THIS HEARING CAN BE VIEWED ON LINE AT: https://winnipeg.ca/council/video.asp Manitoba’s stories about life, wellness, local business, drink n’ dine & more. Read now in Read our stories your way! Amazing things are possible when you support St. Boniface Hospital Foundation. When your need is hope 204-237-2067 bealifeline.ca GIVE TODAY WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● A5 NEWS I TOP NEWS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2025 T HE facts that were stipulated in Elston Bostock’s guilty plea read like the outline for a great HBO limited series on police corruption. Over a period of eight years, Bostock — a veteran Winnipeg Police Service constable with 22 years on the job — admitted he stole evidence from crime scenes, “fixed” traffic tickets for friends and associates, passed on confidential information from police databases to known criminals and shared texts containing a selfie he took with the naked body of a drug-over- dose victim. Three other WPS constables face charges stemming from the same in- vestigation — dubbed Project Fibre — that caught Bostock. It is alleged that the other constables committed their offences while partnered with Bostock. In the wake of the guilty plea, Chris Gamby, a spokesman for the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Man- itoba, said justice officials should per- form some sort of review to determine if anyone was wrongfully convicted of crimes based on evidence provided by Bostock and the co-accused police associates. “Many of these accused who were eventually convicted may have served their sentences already,” Gamby said last week. “There is no way to get that time back … (but) miscarriages of justice are to be investigated wherever possible.” Some justice officials would agree. Last month, Manitoba Prosecution Services sent a letter to every de- fence lawyer in the province who has represented a client convicted in cases involving Bostock and the other three co-accused, asking that counsel review their old cases to see if there might be any viable concerns about a miscar- riage of justice. That message was underlined in a more detailed notice issued by Legal Aid Manitoba, which remind- ed lawyers they have a legal duty to “determine whether the conduct of the officer named in the letter may have committed misconduct and whether that misconduct would have reasonably resulted in a miscarriage of justice.” The notice added that if there is a le- gitimate concern about a miscarriage of justice, Legal Aid would consider that new evidence “and is prepared to fund an appeal.” Provincial governments get a lot of grief — and deservedly so — for the way they respond to possible wrongful convictions, so when one takes a more progressive approach, it should be recognized. And Manitoba Justice is, so far, doing it the right way. In many instances where likely miscarriages of justice have occurred, the wheels of justice turn particular- ly slowly. Rarely, if ever, do justice officials devote time and energy to unearthing miscarriages; by tradition, that has to be done almost entirely by the victim of a wrongful conviction. The result is that it often takes years to overturn a conviction, and years more to get any kind of compensation. In this instance, Manitoba Justice should be applauded for essentially reverse-engineering the miscarriage of justice equation. Rather than having concerns raised by someone already convicted of a crime, WPS did their job by under- taking a lengthy and complex investi- gation — including an “integrity test” sting operation — to catch Bostock and his co-accused. Then, Manitoba Justice followed up with a prosecution that produced a plea agreement. Finally, the department followed through by initiating a campaign to ask defence lawyers to identify poten- tial miscarriages, with a pledge that viable concerns will be supported by Legal Aid funding. The only thing left is to follow through and examine cases that are identified by defence counsel. Not to diminish the importance of everything that has been done to this point, but it won’t mean much unless a thorough review is conducted on potential wrongful convictions. This will be a complex task, in large part because the potential victims of a wrongful conviction could very well have established criminal pasts. Re- member, Bostock admitted to stealing evidence — money, weapons, drugs — from crime scenes. In other words, he was accused of a crime against criminals. In general, the justice system has not demonstrated a lot of enthusiasm about seeking out or even giving thoughtful attention to new cases of wrongful con- viction. You can bet that if the “victim” of the alleged wrongful conviction is a career criminal, there will be even less enthusiasm in some parts of the system. Part of that resistance is based on the fact that wrongful convictions are almost always seen less as human rights violations or systemic issues, and more as inconvenient truths that unfairly shake the public’s confidence in the work done by police, prosecutors and courts, the vast majority of which is fair and just. Those who have studied the phe- nomenon would probably say that both views are correct: the vast majority of the work done in devotion to the ad- ministration of justice is fair and just; but wrongful convictions are more prevalent than most think and are most definitely the result of systemic issues. Some, including critics for the Progressive Conservative opposition, have suggested the system is too overwhelmed to undertake this kind of review. We can only hope that is not a widely held opinion within Manitoba Justice. To this point, participants in the system, from the WPS through to the Prosecution Service, have done all the right things. With a bit of luck, they will follow through to determine if there is other wreckage these police officers have left in their corrupt wake. dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com Province takes progressive action on possible miscarriages of justice DAN LETT OPINION Zane Tessler, the retired director of the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba and a former Crown prosecu- tor, called the ticket fixing “ridiculous” and a “little scary.” “Officers were basically selling their services for a $20 coffee card, to make traffic tickets disappear,” said Tessler. “You have to take a step back and wonder, ‘Do you actually have to teach people to know what should just be obvious and common-sense behaviour, that’s expected of a police officer?’” On one hand, Tessler said, he hoped Bostock’s actions were an aberration in a “supervision-less situation.” “But on the other hand, some of the facts and circumstances indicate that this wasn’t just the single officer’s involvement, but involved many others, who seemed to have a very limited or skewed view of… right and wrong conduct… and acted in such a way that they were in a violation of their duty to the citizens to which they serve,” said Tessler. He said it was fortunate officers came forward to report Bostock’s be- haviour — though it “took longer than you would have hoped for” — and as a result, police put an end to it. “It is that tight-knit culture that exists — the protection of each other’s lives is paramount, but it can sometimes get skewed, that you’re… turning a blind eye to conduct that would otherwise not be acceptable, in the sense that you keep quiet and don’t make a big deal out of it,” said the former police watchdog head. “You can see how it can mushroom, because once someone gets away with the little things, they can easily snow- ball into the bigger things.” He said it’s incumbent on police management to put better controls in place to prevent corruption and root it out when it does happen. “I would hope things like this… once they become public, would be an im- petus for other officers to do the right thing, to do what would be expected of them in their role in the community,” said Tessler. He said he supports the use of body cameras by officers and independent investigatory bodies such as the IIU, as well as other measures to make police work more transparent. “The more transparent police interactions are with the public, the less likely someone’s going to go out of their way to commit acts like this officer did,” said Tessler. Police Chief Gene Bowers has called Bostock’s actions “deeply concerning.” “Our members are aware that we have to earn the public’s trust and confi- dence,” Bowers said in a statement last week. “The majority of our members work hard to keep our community safe with integrity, respect and dignity.” After Bostock’s second arrest in Au- gust, Bowers said he spoke with senior police brass and directed them to meet with their officers to discuss integrity and accountability. He also said he would beef up the professional standards unit and en- hance training for supervisors. The chief has said he wants legisla- tion changed to allow law enforcement to publish disciplinary records. Bostock’s list of crimes is much longer than just ticket fixing. He repeatedly looked up licence plate numbers in police databases to pass on personal and confidential information to drug dealers and other named “associates,” and he admitted to offering an indignity to human remains because he shared a photo he had taken of a partially naked drug-overdose victim. He also stole cannabis during an “in- tegrity test” set up by the professional standards officers who were investi- gating his crimes. Bostock pleaded guilty to five counts of breach of trust and one count each of attempting to obstruct justice, ob- structing a police officer, theft under $5,000 and disseminating confidential information. He is set to be sentenced on all charges Jan. 13. He was first arrested in November 2024, along with two other officers, but was put back in cuffs in August along with a fourth officer. On Wednesday, police and the union for its officers, the Winnipeg Police Association, didn’t reply to requests for comment. erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca WAYNE GLOWACKI / FREE PRESS FILES Zane Tessler, retired director of the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba CORRUPTION ● FROM A1 ;