Ruling is the latest to consider how the particular circumstances of Indigenous offenders should affect everything from sentences to what a jury is allowed to hear about the accused during trial
The Ontario Court of Appeal has rejected a father-son meth dealing team’s request for a sentencing reduction based on their Indigenous background, ruling that deterrence comes before consideration of historical oppression for those convicted of serious drug crimes.
‘Shocking and shameful’: For the first time, Indigenous women make up half the female population in Canada’s federal prisons The Merciers’ case was unusual in that Ontario Court Justice Ann Alder was not aware of the men’s IndigenousThe Merciers ultimately went to Ontario’s highest court, however, and asked to present Gladue reports. The court agreed to let them do so.
“The message has to be,” Justice Alder wrote, “that the profits may be significant but so too will be the loss of liberty. This message is required to attempt to stop or reduce these type of offences … for everyone, and that is because of the devastating consequences of having these drugs on our streets.”
“Indicating that you are Indigenous does not automatically qualify you for a sentencing discount,” said Jonathan Rudin, program director at Aboriginal Legal Services, which was not involved in the case.
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