In order to understand how this miscarriage of justice could have occurred, it is important to situate the Coffin Affair within the context of the politics of Quebec in the 1950s.  This period, termed “Le Grande Noirceur” (the great darkness) reflects the impact in the province of the politics of Maurice Duplessis’ conservative Union Nationale party, rife with patronage, corruption and vote-fixing.  The episode explores the possible role of Duplessis’ government in encouraging and facilitating a quick arrest of anyone for the murder of the hunters.  Many of those interviewed for this podcast held the belief that Quebec politicians feared that tourism during that period would have been greatly affected if the triple homicide of the Americans hunters that summer was not solved quickly.