ManitobaA Winnipeg lawyer is unsure how he’s going to be able to dedicate enough resources to grapple with a stack of letters he received nearly two weeks ago. The Manitoba Prosecution Service sent letters out to defence lawyers who had cases where Const. Elston Bostock or his three co-accused Winnipeg police offices were involved, and one office is facing down a pile of around 80-100 such letters to process. Law professor calls for public inquiry in wake of guilty plea from WPS officer, compensation for lawyersNathan Liewicki · CBC News · Posted: Nov 10, 2025 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 6 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Some defence layers are concerned that following the guilty plea by Const. Elston Bostock and review of cases he and 3 other officers were involved in, there may be an erosion of trust in institutions like the Winnipeg Police Service. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)A Winnipeg lawyer is unsure how he’s going to be able to dedicate enough resources to grapple with a stack of letters he received from the Manitoba Prosecution Service nearly two weeks ago.“It’s a huge stack. I looked at it and I thought to myself ‘gosh, that’s 80 or 100,’” Brett Gladstone of Brett Gladstone Law Corporation told CBC on Sunday.The pile of letters were sent last month to him and a number of defence lawyers who had cases involving Const. Elston Bostock or his three co-accused Winnipeg police officers.”Out of an abundance of caution, you are receiving this letter because a conviction was entered on the above charge(s), and Officer Bostock had involvement in the incident’s file,” reads part of one of the letters, which Gladstone shared with CBC.The letter, signed by Winnipeg trial director Jennifer Mann, went on to list the charges Bostock was facing at the time. Bostock, 48, pleaded guilty Friday to offences involving corruption, as well as inappropriate and illegal actions, stretching back to 2016. The 22-year police veteran was charged following a lengthy investigation, labelled Project Fibre, that began in April 2024. Gladstone has asked his legal assistant to triage the letters with the utmost urgency. He is hopeful to find some free time to go through old cases files and do the necessary due diligence to ensure that cases which may have potential miscarriage of justice become a priority.“Here’s a multi-week project that’s being dropped into your lap with no regard to your existing schedule, no regard to your obligations toward existing clients and suddenly you are required to spend … weeks of time digging up and going through old files hoping to find something, who knows what that might be relevant,” he said.Brett Gladstone says his law office is working to triage a pile of letters from the Manitoba Prosecution Service, and faces the ‘gargantuan undertaking’ of reviewing files involving police officers who now face criminal charges themselves. (Submitted by Brett Gladstone)There are significant logistical and practical concerns, such as pouring through old cases and tracking down former clients and family members.“It’s quite a gargantuan undertaking and I am no bounty hunter. I do not know how to track these humans down a decade later,” Gladstone said.“There is no clear, easy solution to when a problem arises like this because the system is not designed for something like this. The system is heavily built on trust of the police, and when something like this happens, it really deeply erodes it.”Questions of trustBostock, Const.Jonathan Kiazyk and Const. Matthew Kadyniuk were charged last year and later released from custody. Bostock was arrested on additional charges in August, as was Const. Vernon Strutinsky.Now cases that involved Bostock and his co-accused could potentially head through the appeal process.Const. Elston Bostock, who’s been with the Winnipeg Police Service for over 20 years, is charged with criminal offences including committing indignity to human remains, trafficking of a controlled substance, obstruction of justice and knowingly distributing an intimate image. (Submitted)Gladstone is also concerned about the erosion of trust in police officers and the justice system that could follow these charges.“It’s really disappointing,” he said. “At the end of the day, you want to be able to trust the police, you want to rely on the government institutions that are designed to keep the community safe,” he said.”And when something like this happens it can change that, because you don’t want to walk into every case with a presumption that a police officer might be lying. At the end of the day, there should be a basis by which the community can trust the police, but stuff like this undercuts that.”Legal Aid is prepared to fund appeals from lawyers who believe that there’s been a miscarriage of justice, said Chris Gamby, a spokesperson for the Criminal Defence Lawyer’s Association of Manitoba.Gamby, who is also a practising attorney at Brennan Partners LLP, received one letter from MPS. However, unlike other defence lawyers, he doesn’t expect it to amount to anything.He foresees a multitude of challenges arising from Bostock’s guilty plea, as well as the accusations against Winnipeg police officers.“I think there’s some weight that comes with wearing the uniform of the WPS. By and large as an organization, they are typically quite professional, and so when something happens like this, it’s concerning,” Gamby said.He thinks the fallout will have a major impact on some cases currently in the judicial system involving the four officers, but there’s one thing that can’t be undone.“I think the biggest issue to take away from this is just that if someone was wrongfully convicted and they spent a bunch of time in custody already, there’s nothing that can be done to right that wrong,” Gamby said. “That wrong is that a person’s life has taken the course it’s taken as a result of this, and there’s nothing that I think would be done to fix that problem.”Unprecedented review of casesBrandon Trask understands that justice may not have been served in what he estimates are beyond 1,000 cases involving Bostock and his three co-accused. But the associate professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba believes the legal system values finality.“This is unprecedented, certainly to this extent. And I would have liked to have seen a stronger plan in place essentially, you know, to have involvement, including from the Manitoba Prosecution Service to try to figure out the extent of this,” he said Sunday.“There is no additional funding set aside to compensate the defence lawyers,” he said. “Essentially, they’re being asked for free to go through and do work that really is the responsibility of the entire criminal justice system.” Brandon Trask, associate professor in the faculty of law at the University of Manitoba law, says the review of cases is unprecedented, and is calling on the Winnipeg Police Service to help cover lawyers’ costs. (Warren Kay/CBC)There are two things that he’d like to see: a public inquiry after all of the criminal matters are resolved, and the Winnipeg Police Service footing the bill for all the work that will be done in the future.“Ultimately these were WPS employees, and this is a real stain on the reputation of the WPS,” Trask said. “I think that they have to take steps to make this right.”CBC reached out to Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe for comment, but did not receive a response before publication.ABOUT THE AUTHORNathan Liewicki is an online reporter at CBC Manitoba. He was previously nominated for a national RTDNA Award in digital sports reporting. He worked at several newspapers in sports, including the Brandon Sun, the Regina Leader-Post and the Edmonton Journal.With files from Erin Brohman and Gavin Axelrod
After guilty plea, reviewing cases involving Winnipeg police officers a gargantuan undertaking: Defence lawyer
