The family of two mixed-race hunters who were shot to death on a rural road in Alberta say they would have liked harsher sentences for the men who killed their loved ones, but are satisfied those responsible will be behind bars.
A jury found Anthony Bilodeau, 33, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Jacob Sansom on Tuesday and guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Maurice Cardinal, who was Sansom’s uncle.
Anthony Bilodeau’s father, Roger Bilodeau, 58, was convicted of two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
“It’s time to heal,” said Sarah Sansom, wife of Jacob Sansom, outside Queen’s Bench Court in Edmonton.
She said the family felt hurt throughout the court process as defense attorneys and media reports focused on her husband and Cardinal’s drinking.
“Are we back in the 19th century? Is this cowboys vs. indians? Sarah Sansom said. “The things they said and the lies, for us, it was frustrating because we know them so well and we thought, ‘They would never say things like that.’ ”
She said that her husband did not have a drinking problem when they were married and that did not cause problems in their marriage.
“He has never been violent, he has always been a wonderful man, he has always treated me and my children with love and respect,” Sarah Sansom said. “He is the love of my life.”
Anthony and Roger Bilodeau were charged with two counts of second-degree murder and have pleaded not guilty. His lawyers had argued that the shooting was self-defense.
The Crown argued that the father and son took the law into their own hands when they went after Sansom and Cardinal because they believed the hunters had been to the family farm before and were trying to steal.
Jurors heard that Sansom, 39, and Cardinal, 57, had been hunting moose before they were found dead on the side of a road near Glendon, Alta., on March 28, 2020.
Sansom was shot in the chest and Cardinal was hit three times in the shoulder.
The court heard that on the night of March 27, 2020, Anthony Bilodeau received a call from his father and younger brother, who were chasing a white Dodge pickup that they suspected had been on the family farm earlier that day.
Roger Bilodeau told his eldest son to meet them and bring a gun to protect himself, the court was told.
Anthony Bilodeau testified that his phone was still connected to his father’s Bluetooth speaker when he heard banging and glass breaking before his brother yelled for someone not to kill or hurt their father.
The court heard that Sansom broke the passenger window of Roger Bilodeau’s Ford F-150 with his bare fists and then allegedly attacked Joseph and Roger Bilodeau in the truck.
When he arrived, Anthony Bilodeau said, he shot Sansom because the man had charged at him. He also said that he heard Sansom call Cardinal to get a gun so they could kill him.
Anthony Bilodeau said he shot Cardinal after the hunter attacked him with a large gun. He said that Cardinal told him that he was going to kill him in retaliation for shooting Sansom.
Anthony Bilodeau testified that he could see that Cardinal’s gun had a magazine and he feared for everyone’s safety. He said that he shot Cardinal two more times in the back of the shoulder.
Showing surveillance footage from a nearby gas plant the night of the shooting, prosecutors argued that Anthony Bilodeau did not need to shoot Cardinal two more times because he was injured and some distance to the side of the Dodge pickup.
Prosecutors said Roger Bilodeau had turned his truck around at the time and Anthony Bilodeau could have left the scene but instead walked over with the intent to kill Cardinal.
The court also heard that after the shooting, Anthony Bilodeau cut up his gun and dumped it in a landfill. He also disposed of his bumper lights in another landfill. He testified that he did it because he was in shock and didn’t want to go to jail to protect the family from him.
The court heard that a toxicology report showed Sansom’s blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal driving limit, while Cardinal’s was nearly twice the limit.
Brian Beresh, Anthony Bilodeau’s attorney, said outside court Tuesday that he always questions witnesses about alcohol, regardless of their background.
“We know that alcohol affects a lot of things that are important in a trial, like perception, judgment and response,” Beresh said.
He said he and his client were disappointed with the verdict and that the shooting was not racially motivated.
“I think this was a misunderstanding in rural Alberta,” he said. “It wasn’t about vigilantism at all, there was no suggestion of that and I think some people exaggerated it.”
Andrea Sandmaier of the Metis Nation of Alberta said Sansom and Cardinal were important members of the Metis community and their deaths were “a great loss.”
“You can’t even imagine the strength of this family and what they’ve endured: the ugliness, ugliness, ugliness of the keyboard warriors,” Sandmaier said Tuesday outside court. “Shame, shame, shame on you.”
Debbie Baptiste, the mother of Colten Boushie, was also outside the courthouse to support the family of Sansom and Cardinal.
Boushie, a young Cree, was killed in 2016 after a van he was traveling in drove into a Saskatchewan farm. Gerald Stanley testified that he thought the people in the truck were trying to steal his ATV and that his gun accidentally went off. He was acquitted of second degree murder.
A sentencing hearing date for Anthony and Roger Bilodeau is expected to be set for June 17.
The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 10 years. Sentences can be as long as life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
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