Supreme Court dismisses appeal for Alberta man convicted in Métis hunter killings

Jacob Sansom and Morris Cardinal (Supplied)

Canada’s top court has dismissed the appeal of an Alberta man convicted of manslaughter for aiding his son in the killings of two Métis hunters.

Roger and Anthony Bilodeau confronted Maurice Cardinal and Jacob Sansom in 2020, shot them and left them on the side of a road near Glendon, Alta.

The pair were found guilty of manslaughter, and Anthony Bilodeau was also convicted of second-degree murder.

Roger Bilodeau was sentenced to 10 years.

The Supreme Court of Canada says it dismissed his conviction appeal for the same reasons outlined by the Alberta Court of Appeal in 2024.

Lawyers had argued the trial judge made errors in instructions to the jury, but the Appeal Court found the errors benefited Roger Bilodeau and there was no miscarriage of justice.

A dissenting Appeal Court judge would have allowed the appeal and ordered a new trial, as she found legal errors in the charge not identified by the majority judges.