Court File and Parties

COURT FILE NO.: CR-23-0043-00 DATE: 2024-10-07 ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

HIS MAJESTY THE KING V. DAVID VOSS

S E N T E N C I N G H E A R I N G

BEFORE THE HONOURABLE MADAM JUSTICE WARKENTIN On September 5, 2024, at THUNDER BAY, Ontario

APPEARANCES: J. Heller, J. Corelli, S. Zhao Counsel for the Crown J. Blanco Counsel for David Voss

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

HIS MAJESTY THE KING V. DIANE CHAMPAGNE

P R O C E E D I N G S

BEFORE THE HONOURABLE MADAM JUSTICE WARKENTIN On September 5, 2024, at THUNDER BAY, Ontario

APPEARANCES: J. Heller, J. Corelli, S. Zhao Counsel for the Crown K. Stanyon Counsel for Diane Champagne

Table of Contents

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S Reasons for Sentence Page 118

• Warkentin, J. (Orally)

Transcript Ordered: September 06, 2024 Transcript Completed: September 28, 2024 Ordering Party Notified: October 07, 2024

Reasons for Sentence

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2024 R E A S O N S F O R S E N T E N C E

WARKENTIN, J. (ORALLY):

[1] As everyone knows this case is of local, national and, in fact, international significance. Now we have heard that Norval Morrisseau was a pioneer for Indigenous art and Indigenous artists. He had a profound influence in creating a new type of art, the Woodland School of Art, and his style is recognizable, and it is recognizable and prized in the art world, and you have heard that he was described as the Picasso of Indigenous art. And I think that is an apt description of his work in creating a style, the Woodland style, which many other Indigenous artists have utilized in their own legitimate artistic expression.

[2] We have heard from many of those who purchased art work they believed to be authentic. We have also heard from Cory Dingle for the administrators of the estate of Norval Morrisseau and the Ontario Regional Chief, Abram Benedict. All have described the financial and emotional toll that they have endured as a result of the discovery of these fraudulent paintings. Some of the victims described their loss of confidence in all Indigenous art and artists. Many victims described the personal, emotional and financial cost, as well as the lasting toll this fraud and the ensuing investigation has taken on their lives.

[3] Cultural appropriation, the adoption of the customs, practices, ideas and spiritual beliefs is a topic that has received wide acknowledgement in recent years. The exploitation of Indigenous people has recently been addressed by Justice Manocchio of Nunavut in the case of Ms. Manji. Justice Manocchio outlined the significance of the damage to Indigenous individuals in communities from fraudulent representations of Indigenous culture and spirituality, and the lasting impact this has on First Nations people. She stressed that courts should denounce frauds of this nature in the strongest terms.

[4] In this case the damage is profound. This is more than just an art fraud, it is an appropriation of a cultural and spiritual identity of one of Canada’s most loved and valued artist.

[5] The court has heard the victim impact statements from all those both before the court today and who submitted them through Crown counsel. Those statements show the damage to individuals, Indigenous artists, Indigenous people, and to the reputation of Norval Morrisseau and his estate, and also to Canadian art and to Canadian art and its legacy.

[6] We heard from Mr. Dingle that a conservative estimate of the losses to the Morrisseau estate are over $100 million, and that it will be many generations before the value of original Morrisseau artwork will regain its value, possibly as long as 100 years or more. And in order to accomplish this, the fake Morrisseau artwork that remains in the public domain must be identified and condemned as forged art.

[7] The purpose of the creation of these fake paintings was to gain an economic benefit, but in the course of creating and selling these fakes, the legacy of Norval Morrisseau has been irrevocably damaged. His spirituality has been undermined and tarnished, so today we have one small opportunity to address this wrong.

[8] As Mr. Heller for the Crown noted, taking this case to trial would have resulted in many weeks, possibly months of trial time, and enormous expenditure of court and judicial resources. By pleading guilty Mr. Voss has acknowledged his role in the fake Morrisseau paintings as it pertained to his significant involvement in creating these paintings. He has also identified many forgeries that remain in the hands of unsuspecting owners who purchased them believing them to be the original artworks of Norval Morrisseau. Thus, there is going to be additional trauma to those individuals and businesses when they hear that their art is not what they were led to believe and is now worthless.

[9] There are also individuals, such as Mr. Matulic, who do not accept that the art they purchased is forged, and there is little this court can do to convince them of the forgeries, however, this damage is also profound. But by pleading guilty and admitting to the extent of and the identification of these forged artworks, it will hopefully serve to reignite interest in the original works of Norval Morrisseau and there will again be confidence in the Norval Morrisseau artwork.

[10] It is also possible that the public interest in this case will assist in reigniting interest in the Woodland style of artwork, and of all Indigenous artists. I hope that there is some comfort to those whose identity, and culture, and spirituality has been wrongly appropriated in the result of this guilty plea and trial. There will be a further hearing in the future where all these forged paintings that have been identified, where the owners will have an opportunity to address the forfeiture issues, and we have already discussed how that will proceed.

[11] So before I pronounce sentence I want to, again, acknowledge the time and commitment by those who investigated these frauds, the Thunder Bay Police Service officers, in particular Staff Sergeant Jason Ryback, the OPP, their Serious Crime Unit, and all the other police departments who investigated this art fraud. I also acknowledge the intrepid work of Kevin Hearn and his determination to see these forged artworks be identified and to be held accountable, also the Morrisseau estate administrators, and other victims who sought to expose the fraud against great personal stress and trauma.

[12] I also want to take a moment to thank Crown counsel, Mr. Heller, Mr. Corelli, Ms. Zhao, and all those others in your office who I know worked countless hours on this prosecution. I acknowledge all the defence counsel involved as well who made the time and effort to review the significant disclosure that was provided to them, that represented their clients well and fairly in this litigation, and gave their clients advice as to the success of continuing the prosecution, and by doing so reaching these guilty verdicts that we are concluding today.

[13] So for those who have purchased the fake Norval Morrisseau paintings, I can only acknowledge the damage that this has caused you, both emotionally and financially. I also note that there are still other prosecutions underway whose cases have not been heard, so I will not be making any further comments on that.

[14] So, Mr. Voss, I ask you to please stand. I hereby sentence you to five years to be served in a penitentiary, for each of charges one and two on the indictment, to be served concurrently on each charge.

[15] The Crown is not seeking restitution. In making submissions on that issue Mr. Heller noted that the complexity of attempting to establish an appropriate amount of restitution would be so complex as to be unmanageable. I accept those submissions, and particularly in light of the complexity and the numerous third parties involved. Additionally there is the fact that, Mr. Voss, you will be serving a lengthy penitentiary sentence and the likelihood of your ability to make restitution of any sort is unlikely. I note there is no satisfactory outcome with respect to the claims for restitution. In this case there is no real possibility of recovery, even if such an order were made. However, the five year penitentiary sentence is significant, and it should not be lowered or reduced in favour of restitution. You may be seated, Mr. Voss.

[16] I just want to point out that we cannot identify all the victims in this case at this time if ever, and it would be impossible to quantify the losses, and to attempt to do so would cause this prosecution to be completely derailed and would not serve the administration of justice. Therefore, the sentence imposed, a five year penitentiary sentence, is one that best reflects both proportionality and is in the best administration of justice interests. Therefore, no restitution order is made, however, I note that this does not preclude those seeking recovery from pursuing civil remedies.

[17] I also order that the artwork identified in the draft order for forfeiture and any other items in that forfeiture order be forfeited, and I am prepared to sign that order today. I do not know if we need to address the victim fine surcharge?

J. BLANCO: Oh, my apologies, Your Honour, I would ask for a waiver of the victim fine surcharge. Mr. Voss is serving a lengthy penitentiary sentence and upon his release, well, he will need some time to get back on his feet, and under those circumstances I would suggest it would impose an undue hardship.

THE COURT: Mr. Heller, Mr. Corelli?

J. HELLER: The Crown takes no position, Your Honour.

THE COURT: In that case I waive the victim fine surcharge. Then we need to address the outstanding counts of the indictment.

J. HELLER: Yes, thank you, Your Honour. The Crowns asks that the counts vis-à-vis Mr. Voss of defrauding the public and fraud against three named victims be withdrawn as against Mr. Voss, and that is counts three, four, five and six in the direct indictment. And the Crown also asks that all charges against Diane Champagne be withdrawn and those charges are contained in counts one, two and three of the direct indictment.

THE COURT: Thank you.

J. HELLER: Thank you, Your Honour.

THE COURT: I noticed Ms. Stanyon may be present for Ms. Champagne via Zoom, but I am assuming she takes no issue with the withdrawal of those charges, and in that case then the charges against Mr. Voss on counts three, four, five and six of the indictment are withdrawn at the request of the Crown, as are counts one, two and three against Diane Champagne. I believe that then concludes all of the charges on this indictment, ...

J. HELLER: Your Honour, there....

THE COURT: ...except for Mr. Benjamin Morrisseau, that is right.

J. HELLER: That is correct.

THE COURT: There is an Assignment Court date set for that I believe?

J. HELLER: Yes, that is correct, Your Honour, in October.

THE COURT: We do not need to deal with that today. Is there anything else we need to address today then, counsel?

J. HELLER: If I could have the court’s indulgence.

K. STANYON: Your Honour, it’s counsel Kendra Stanyon.

THE COURT: Yes.

K. STANYON: I can’t start my video, I don't need to. I just wanted to thank Your Honour and I wanted to thank my friends. I have been in attendance today, but I obviously had no issue with the withdrawal for Ms. Champagne, and I will be following up in communication with her. But I just wanted to thank everyone for their efforts in this, and Legal Aid would not be interested in me being there in person today, that’s why I was over Zoom, but I thank everyone for their work.

THE COURT: Thank you, Ms. Stanyon.

J. HELLER: Thank you, and, Your Honour, just to confirm in terms process for scheduling the hearing, and as discussed the Crown will write Justice Newton seeking first the assignment of a case management judge, and then second a date for a case management conference to be held, and the Crown will reach out with known counsel to try to canvass their availability.

THE COURT: Thank you, and I will draw it to RSJ Newton’s attention that he will be receiving that correspondence in the near future.

J. HELLER: Thank you, Honour.

THE COURT: Thank you.

J. CORELLI: Thank you. Your Honour, if I may so bold, I understand you are retiring shortly...

THE COURT: I am.

J. CORELLI: ...and I do want to thank my friends, Ms. Stanyon and Mr. Blanco, for their work and help in this case, and of course my colleagues. But I do want to thank Your Honour and the court as well for the indulgences you and all the staff that you have given us for the last year. I know it has not been easy dealing with us. It’s been a big case, we have lots of items to bring in the courtroom and decorate it, but it has been truly a pleasure to work with you to get this incredibly difficult case to the finish line, and so I thank you. I wish you the best in your retirement and we hope to see you at some judicial conferences or some speaking engagements as we go forward.

THE COURT: Thank you very much, Mr. Corelli, that is much appreciated and, yes, I am retiring shortly and I am also very pleased that I was able to see this case reach its conclusion to the extent I could, and it has been a pleasure to work with all counsel on this case, so thank you very much. Okay, thank you, I have signed all of the orders but if there is anything that remains outstanding our staff will let me know. Thank you very much, everybody.

J. HELLER: Thank you, Your Honour.

C O U R T A D J O U R N E D

Electronic Certificate of Transcript

FORM 3 Electronic Certificate of Transcript Evidence Act, Subsection 5(2)

I, Elaine Paquette, certify that this document is a true and accurate transcript of the recording of R. v. David Voss in the Superior Court of Justice held at 29 Second Street West, Cornwall, Ontario taken from Recording 4299-CR205-20240905-092058-10-WARKENB, which has been certified in Form 1 by D. Jacobson.

September 28, 2024

Date Elaine Paquette

ACT 8164250397 Ontario, Canada