Hon. Brent Cotter: Honourable senators, David Milgaard died this past Sunday at the age of 69. David Milgaard was an advocate for justice, but he was no ordinary advocate for justice. His story is well known. At age 17, David Milgaard was convicted of the murder of young nurse Gail Miller in Saskatoon in January 1970 — a crime actually committed by someone else.

He served over 22 years in prison, all the while protesting his innocence. Relentless efforts on the part of his mother, Joyce Milgaard, and on the part of his lawyers — most notably Hersh Wolch and David Asper — resulted in his conviction being reviewed and ultimately set aside by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1992.

After a number of reviews of the case, including one I initiated in 1993, David Milgaard was exonerated and affirmatively found to have been innocent of the murder. His exoneration was achieved by DNA testing — something I hope to return to when we discuss Senator Carignan’s bill in the coming weeks. Our thoughts today are and must be about David Milgaard’s tragic 22-plus-year ordeal — a third of his life — the suffering that should never have been visited upon him, or any of us, and about the man that David Milgaard became.

Almost from the day he was released from prison, David Milgaard began a journey to make the justice system better, and in particular for the wrongly accused and convicted. He spoke everywhere and to anyone who wished to hear his own story. He acknowledged his own suffering but, in a powerful and selfless way, called upon us to work harder to make the system better, fairer and more committed to identifying and addressing the wrongful convictions that will inevitably occur in our justice system.

He spoke many times at our law school, always to standing-room-only audiences, always to standing ovations and always bringing tears to the eyes of the attendees. He became a hero to my students. He became a hero to me. How could he not? Someone who had suffered so grievously, surely with such pain, turned not into that pain and darkness but to the light to try to make the system that took so much from him a better one for others.

There are others who have been wrongly convicted and who have suffered greatly for it. I think of one other from Nova Scotia, Donald Marshall Jr., again aided by courageous lawyers. Donald Marshall pursued a similar path, and the review of his case led to significant changes to the administration of criminal justice throughout our country.

A similar honour is possible for David Milgaard and his devoted family. He long crusaded for the establishment of an independent criminal case review commission to review cases of alleged wrongful convictions. We owe it to his legacy to make that commission a reality. Thank you.