Latest news with #GerriWiebe
CBC
28-07-2025
- CBC
Winnipeg lawyer to represent Peter Nygard in Montreal sex assault, forcible confinement case
Former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard will now be represented by a Winnipeg lawyer on charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement he faces in Montreal. Defence lawyer Gerri Wiebe told a Quebec court Monday morning she'd gotten permission from the Quebec bar association to represent Nygard in the Montreal case. "I have communicated to my learned friend, [prosecutor Jérôme] Laflamme, that I will seek the disclosure from previous counsel and review it," said Wiebe, who appeared in court by video. "And then he and I can have a conversation about the expected trial length, as well as any pretrial motions and the scheduling of when those should occur." Wiebe is also representing Nygard on similar charges he faces in Winnipeg, and served as his counsel during sentencing in Toronto after he was convicted of sexual assault there last year. She joins the Montreal case after Nygard's previous legal counsel there ceased to represent him earlier this year. Nygard, who appeared in court Monday by video from the federal institution in Ontario where he is serving time, spoke only to identify himself when he first appeared on-screen and to answer a question about whether he agreed with Wiebe's suggestion to adjourn the case until October. "Yes I do, yes," said Nygard, who wore dark glasses and a baseball cap with what appeared to be a note reading "90% blind/deaf" on it. Nygard, who is in his 80s, previously appeared in court on the same matter in January for a preliminary hearing in the Montreal case. The founder of a defunct international women's clothing company is facing trial for incidents that allegedly took place between Nov. 1, 1997, and Nov. 15, 1998. Quebec prosecutors charged Nygard in March 2022. He was sentenced in September 2024 in the Toronto case to 11 years in prison after he was found guilty on four counts of sexual assault for offences from the 1980s to mid-2000s. During that sentencing, Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Goldstein called Nygard a "sexual predator" and "a Canadian success story gone very wrong." Nygard also faces sex-related charges in Manitoba, and U.S. authorities have sought his extradition on a nine-count indictment filed in New York, alleging he was involved in illegal activity for the purpose of sexually abusing and trafficking women and underage girls. The charges against Nygard in Manitoba and in the U.S. have not been tested in court. In November 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would not hear a request by Nygard for a judicial review of the order to extradite him to the U.S. In 2022, then-federal justice minister David Lametti ruled that Nygard could be extradited once his legal cases in Canada are settled.
CBC
12-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Former attorney general was acting in public interest when ordering review of Nygard case, Crown argues
Social Sharing A former Manitoba attorney general was acting in the public interest and out of concern for victims of sexual assault when he asked for a review of a decision not to charge a former fashion fashion mogul following complaints of sexual assault, the Crown argued in court on Monday. Charles Murray, a Crown attorney, told Provincial Court Judge Mary Kate Harvie that Kelvin Goertzen's request for a second opinion in the Peter Nygard case may have been unusual but it is one within the power of the office of the attorney general. "A case like this, one that's high profile, it's important to get it right," Murray told court. "That's what the attorney general was trying to do because it was already on public display. It had an impact on the public consciousness and the perception of the justice system. It was one of those important cases from an accountability perspective." Nygard's lawyer, Gerri Wiebe, has argued her client's Winnipeg charges should be stayed because there was an abuse of process when Goertzen intervened. She said the decision was "unprecedented," resulting from political pressure and media attention and that the attorney general treated Nygard differently than other people the Crown has decided not to pursue charges against following complaints of sexual assault. "It's a violation of the rule of law on its face to treat one person differently than you treat everyone else simply because their case is high profile," Wiebe told court Monday. "And that's the piece that's missing from my learned friend's submissions is why Peter Nygard? "There's no denying that every day Crown opinions are given in sexual assault cases that there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction. The only difference here is that one is in the media and one is not." Nygard was first arrested in Winnipeg in December 2020 under the Extradition Act, after he was charged with nine counts in New York, including sex trafficking and racketeering. At the time, the Winnipeg Police Service had been investigating Nygard for months. The files of eight women who alleged they'd been assaulted by Nygard were sent to Manitoba's Justice Ministry for review in December 2020, but Manitoba prosecutors decided in 2021 not to lay charges. In 2022, while he was attorney general and justice minister in the previous Progressive Conservative government, Goertzen asked Saskatchewan prosecutors to review the decision by the Manitoba Prosecution Service not to charge Nygard. The review resulted in Nygard being charged in 2023 with sexual assault and unlawful confinement in Winnipeg, in connection with offences allegedly committed in November 1993 involving a then 20-year-old woman. Wiebe has argued there's no Crown policy for the attorney general to review a decision not to charge but Murray told court the lack of a policy doesn't mean Goertzen's conduct was egregious. He also argued there's no evidence of political gain for the government of the day and that the attorney general was "honouring and representing the community's sense of justice." "He hears the public on this, he hears the house," Murray argued. "And he says this is what I'm doing." "That doesn't make it purely partisan. Why is that only good for the PC party and not good for the public because that's the legal test." Victim will 'get their day in court,' Crown argues Murray told the court even if the judge does agree there was something wrong with the process, there should not be a stay of proceedings. "In this case what's happened for Mr. Nygard is he's become subject to a process where he is presumed innocent, he's going to be fairly tried. He has all of the Charter protections that are on offer," Murray argued. "It's simply a decision where he does have to answer to charges and that the victim is going to get their day in court." Goertzen said in a statement on Friday he stands by the decision. Judge Harvie reserved a decision on the matter. No date has been set.
CBC
09-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Peter Nygard's lawyer argues former attorney general undermined judicial process by ordering case review
The lawyer for former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard argued in a Winnipeg court Friday that a review by Saskatchewan prosecutors of a Manitoba Prosecution Service decision not to charge her client with sexual assault was done because of political pressure. Gerri Wiebe, Nygard's lawyer, is asking for a stay of proceedings on charges of sexual assault and unlawful confinement that Nygard faces in Winnipeg. Wiebe told provincial court Judge Mary Kate Harvie that former Manitoba attorney general Kelvin Goertzen felt political pressure to seek a second opinion and ordered the review after getting a briefing on the matter. "This was literally intervention from the top," Wiebe said. "A dictate from Mount Olympus." Nygard was first arrested in Winnipeg in December 2020 under the Extradition Act, after he was charged with nine counts in New York, including sex trafficking and racketeering. At the time, the Winnipeg Police Service had been investigating Nygard for months. The files of eight women who alleged they'd been assaulted by Nygard were sent to Manitoba's Justice Ministry for review in December 2020. Prosecutors decided not to lay charges against Nygard in Manitoba in 2021 and, as is customary, there were no details provided on how that decision was reached. Goertzen announced in late 2022 that Manitoba was going to take a second look at the decision, seeking the advice of Saskatchewan's prosecution services. That review resulted in Nygard being charged with sexual assault and unlawful confinement in Winnipeg in 2023. Nygard's lawyer filed an abuse of process motion, arguing public protests, intense media pressure and questions from other politicians in the Manitoba Legislature put pressure on Goertzen to act. She argued it undermined the integrity of the justice system. "We're saying he was influenced by outside politics," Wiebe told the court. Wiebe told the judge this is the first time in Manitoba history such a decision has been made and questioned why Nygard was singled out among other accused whom the Crown hasn't recommended charges against. The chronology suggests significant political pressure, Wiebe argued. Nygard was sentenced to 11 years in prison in September after he was convicted in Toronto of four counts of sexual assault involving five women who said they were attacked between the late 1980s and the early 2000s. He is also facing charges in Quebec and the United States. He has denied all allegations against him.
