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A former St. John’s housing advocate is returning to jail for the latest in a long list of criminal convictions.
Michelle Voisey was handed a 10-month sentence with 24 months probation for using her niece’s Canada Revenue Agency account to send $8,000 worth of Canada Emergency Response Benefit payments to her own bank account.
The federal program, known as CERB, provided financial support to people who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The seriousness of the offence lies not only within the amount taken, but also its deliberate nature, the abuse of trust, the impact on the victim and Ms. Voisey’s extensive history of similar offending,” Justice Peter Browne said at Voisey’s sentencing hearing in Supreme Court in St. John’s on Sept. 11.
WATCH | Voisey sentenced to 10 months in prison:
Former St. John’s housing advocate gets jail sentence for fraud
Michelle Voisey was sentenced to 10 months in jail and 24 months of probation on Monday, after pleading guilty to fraud last year. As the CBC’s Darrell Roberts reports, it’s another line in a lengthy criminal record.
Browne ordered Voisey to repay the $8,000 to CRA, and banned her from holding any job or volunteer position where she would have authority over another person’s property or money for a period of 20 years.
Browne said Voisey’s decision to plead guilty was a mitigating factor in his decision, though he also considered her criminal history. Voisey has nearly 160 previous convictions, many involving fraud, forgery or theft.
“This record demonstrates a long standing and deeply entrenched pattern of dishonest conduct,” Browne said.
Voisey charged back in 2021
According to the statement of facts, Voisey’s niece contacted police when her GST payment didn’t arrive on time. She learned that $8,000 in CERB payments had been paid out in her name — even though she hadn’t applied and didn’t qualify for the benefit. Voisey was charged in October 2021.
In 2023, while the case was winding its way through court, Voisey, operating under the name Michelle Gushue, participated in the tent city protest on Confederation Hill. Voisey participated in media interviews and solicited donations of gift cards, cell phones, cash and more through social media.
Voisey’s latest conviction is unrelated to the tent city protest.
Voisey pleaded guilty in June 2025, but a last-minute request for a legal aid lawyer delayed sentencing until 2026.
At Friday’s sentencing, Voisey’s lawyer, Dan Furey, submitted a letter he said is from her family doctor, indicating that she’s been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Browne declined to take the letter into consideration in sentencing, explaining that the defence would need to make an oral application and call in an expert witness, like an oncologist.
“I’m not prepared to entertain any of that without expert evidence and in this courtroom to know if incarceration would affect any type of […] treatment,” he said.
Furey declined to make the application and the sentencing proceeded. After the sentence was handed down, Voisey asked if she could still make the application, but Browne said no. She asked for her sentence to be delayed for two days, but Browne denied that request too.
CBC News has asked Furey if Voisey intends to appeal her sentence.
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