Tommy Bassio was 15 days short of his 22^nd birthday on November 25, 1994, when the Sureté du Quebec (SQ) SWAT teams stormed his home in Laval at 6am and arrested him for the mob-styled killing of a Max Jubert who was shot in the back of the head and buried in cement.  Bassio was known to police, but mostly for financial type crimes.

A day earlier Thomas Hartmann was arrested for the same crime and immediately cooperated with authorities.  His statement, written in his own hand, absolved himself of any wrongdoing and placed the blame on Bassio.  According to the SQ, after Bassio was arrested, he confessed to the murder, and his statement was word for word on many points what was written in Hartman’s confession.

There were no eyewitnesses, no DNA, no evidence linking either man to the crime.  The only direct evidence were the two statements, made by the two suspects, and both statements tell the same story.  Bassio was the author of the crime. Usually here’s where Hartmann would become the main prosecuting witness, and Bassio the sole accused.  That didn’t happen.  Both men were placed on trial, charged with first-degree murder.

On April 1, 1996 (April fool’s day) Tommy Bassio was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life-25.

Now the story gets even weirder. The Crown Prosecutors had basically proved their version of events.  Bassio was the person who planned and executed the murder; Hartmann was 100% innocent.  But after Bassio was sentenced and went off to serve his life sentence, the prosecutors continued to go after Hartmann. After nine months of backroom dealings, the Crown struck a deal with this man, a man they proved was innocent, for a 12-year sentence, minus time served, leaving 8 years.

Why would an innocent man accept a 12-year sentence?  More puzzling why would Crown Prosecutors seek to imprison a man they themselves proved to be innocent?  Two men were sent to jail, both convicted under odd circumstances, both convicted for a crime only one could do. Deconstructing this case turned up undisputable facts, and evidence.  The SQ tortured Bassio, refused his right to a lawyer, and lied about the confession. The Crown did in fact knowingly send an innocent man to jail, and that innocent man, as the evidence showed, was Tommy Bassio.

What happened?  Nothing.

Over the years, as he continued to protest his innocence, Tommy Bassio became a prison organizer, reformer and activist.  He complained to all three levels of our federal prison industry (CSC), institutional, regional, and national, about the growing problem of innocent people in Canadian prisons.  The Correctional Service of Canada’s response was that “there are no innocent prisoners in Canadian prisons.”  That’s a problem right there.

According to an essay in the Archambault Report 2.0, the Innocence Project and others like it only take cases where there is newly found evidence that can exonerate an inmate serving time for a crime he/she did not commit.  Bassio’s parole applications were rejected.  His refusal to admit to his crime, his activism, systemic racism, all contributed to Bassio’s continued confinement. 

In the end, on October 14, 2025, and with much persistent community support, Tommy Bassio was released from prison on parole after 31 straight years in jail while being innocent.  In his statement, Bassio wrote that “while much has changed, the truth has not.  Justice did not suddenly correct itself.  Time did not erase what was done, nor did it absolve those responsible.  I did not survive 31 years to live quietly inside another kind of cage.”

Sourced/quoted from helpfreetheinnocent.org and the Archambault Report 2.0

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March 1, 2026

The Honourable Sean Fraser,
Minister of Justice,
House of Commons,
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6

Re:      Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act

Dear Minister Fraser:

This Act, also known as David and Joyce Milgaard’s Law, establishes an independent body with one full-time Chief Commissioner and four to eight commissioner members to review wrongful conviction applications.  It will look at investigations and jury trials that may have been sullied by racism and prejudice, and it will most certainly consider the conduct of law enforcement and prosecutors in securing convictions.

The legislation received Royal Assent on December 17, 2024, and with that the process of appointing commissioners could begin.  As of February, this year, no commissioners or a chair has been appointed, no staff have been hired, and no office space has been secured.

Fourteen months and nothing?  Are you kidding?

Since 2018, the interim process for reviewing miscarriages of justice is handled by the Honourable Morris J. Fish, Special Advisor on Wrongful Convictions.  This is unacceptable, given a few dozen likely cases of the wrongfully convicted are still in our prisons, against what the Special Advisor has been able to accomplish.

Tommy Bassio is a prime example.  He spent 31 straight years in prison for a murder he did not commit.  His innocence was no secret, but it was only through the persistence of supporters that he was finally released on parole last October.  “I did not survive 31 years to live quietly inside another kind of cage,” he said.  I hope he makes lots of noise.

It’s time to execute the law.  It’s time for justice.

Canada needs the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).
It’s been sitting in front of us for the last twenty years, waiting for our ratification.

WHAT DOES OTTAWA FEAR?