The Supreme Court of Canada had barely convened for its fall session when it upheld a decision ruling that a Nova Scotia man who badly beat his girlfriend should receive a reduced sentence because he is Indigenous.
asserted
he → convene → sentence
His badly beaten victim is also Indigenous, but in a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that an Indigenous man’s right to be spared “excessive imprisonment” outweighed an Indigenous woman’s right to be spared from “unacceptably high levels of violence and abuse.
asserted
right → beat → violence
It is now stated Canadian law that criminals must be treated (and punished) differently based on immutable factors such as race or country of origin.
asserted
criminals → state → origin
If a criminal is Indigenous, they are provided with a Gladue Report itemizing the various traumas of their marginalized background and how it reduces their “moral blameworthiness” for crime.
asserted
it → provide → crime
If they are a non-citizen, a judge may consider the “immigration consequences” of a conviction and assign a lighter sentence than would be received by a citizen who had committed the same crime.
uncertain
who → consider → crime
Add all these together, and roughly every day a Canadian court is in session, someone is being considered for a reduced sentence because of their race, background or country of origin.
asserted
someone → add → origin
To prove it, we combed through 15 days of rulings on CanLII, an online database of Canadian court decisions.
asserted
we → prove → decisions
Specifically, a period running from Sept. 23 to Oct. 15; omitting weekends and holidays, it represents a block of 15 court days.
asserted
it → run → days
Fifteen days and fifteen identity-based judicial decisions.
The examples are below.
asserted
examples → base → ?
Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Oct. 15
Mouchamar Animer was convicted of trying to traffic crack cocaine through the mail; he’d been caught attempting to send drugs to what was described as a “vulnerable northern Ontario community.”
asserted
what → convict → community
The Crown sought four years, but Animer received a sentence of “two years less a day,” with a judge somewhat ironically claiming that Animer’s moral blameworthiness was reduced in part because he’d grown up in a vulnerable Toronto community afflicted by drugs.
asserted
he → seek → drugs
Born in Chad, Animer was eligible for an Impact of Race and Culture Assessment, which the judge described as outlining a man who “has had significant trauma in his life that at least in part caused him to lose his way.”
asserted
him → bear → way
“When considering moral blameworthiness, I consider Mr. Animer’s personal circumstances, including the fact that he was a low-income young Black man growing up in Regent Park at the time of the offence who witnessed regular violence and substance abuse in his community,” it read.
asserted
it → consider → community
Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, Oct. 15
Kendall Delaney pleaded guilty to trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamines, for which she received a sentence of six years.
asserted
she → plead → years
The decision revealed that Delaney knew her drugs were “literally killing people,” but the longest section of the ruling itemizes Delaney’s Indigenous background and why it made her less culpable.
asserted
her → reveal → background
Included was that her grandmother attended a residential school and that her Indigenous father was absent throughout her childhood, which “left her disconnected from her Indigenous heritage and culture.
asserted
which → attend → heritage
The accused pleaded guilty to child luring.
asserted
accused → accuse → luring
Specifically, of an 11-year-old girl whom he lived with.
asserted
he → live → whom
In rendering a sentence of 25 months, the judge noted the “intergenerational adversity” and “broader social circumstances” that may have compelled the man, who is Indigenous, towards becoming a sex offender.
uncertain
who → render → offender
“The Gladue factors before the Court are substantial and are entitled to significant weight,” it reads.
asserted
it → entitle → weight
While the factors do not “excuse” sexual exploitation of children, the judge wrote, “they do, however, reduce the sentence that would otherwise have been appropriate.”
asserted
that → excuse → sentence
Supreme Court of Canada, Oct. 9
Nova Scotia man Harry Cope attacked his intimate partner on a sidewalk, “repeatedly punching her and throwing her to the ground,” reads the decision.
asserted
decision → attack → ground
Originally sentenced to five years, this was reduced to three years on appeal on the grounds that the sentencing judge hadn’t appropriately considered how the man’s Indigenous background made him less responsible.
asserted
him → sentence → grounds
This is despite the fact that the sentencing judge actually had done this, concluding that Cope’s “moral culpability was less” due to his Indigenous ethnicity.
asserted
culpability → sentence → ethnicity
But the appeals judge — and the Supreme Court — ruled that it hadn’t been enough.
asserted
it → rule → ?
And again, this was done despite the fact that his victim was also Indigenous.
asserted
victim → do → fact
“The Canadian criminal justice system has alienated many Indigenous people, struggled to meet the needs of Indigenous communities and, in some circumstances, exacerbated the intergenerational trauma inflicted upon Indigenous people,” it reads.
asserted
it → alienate → people
Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Oct. 8
Temidayo Olasusi was convicted of eight counts relating to the abuse and sexual trafficking of an Indigenous woman.
asserted
Olasusi → convict → woman
A sentencing decision noted that Olasusi has 13 prior convictions dating back to 2013, including credit card fraud and possession of child pornography.
asserted
Olasusi → note → pornography
Born in Nigeria, Olasusi received an Impact of Race and Culture Assessment, which said he grew up in a stable home and that all of his siblings are successful.
asserted
all → bear → siblings
Nevertheless, it outlined various traumas, such as how “Mr. Olasusi’s educational experience was mostly negative with his parents siding with the views of teachers and administrators when concerns arose.”
asserted
concerns → outline → teachers
“As for Mr. Olasusi’s background as a black man, he has clearly had a difficult upbringing and experienced anti-Black racism,” it reads, adding “although I have found no connection between those systemic issues and Mr. Olasusi’s difficult past to these specific offences, the impact of these factors will be accorded some mitigation and taken into account in determining the appropriate sentence.”
asserted
impact → have → sentence
This decision opens with a pull quote.
asserted
decision → open → quote
“The overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada’s prisons is a present-day product of this country’s colonial past,” reads an introduction printed before any facts of the case are discussed.
asserted
facts → read → case
It adds, “like residential schools before it, this overincarceration is an ongoing source of intergenerational harm to families and communities.”
asserted
overincarceration → add → families
The offender, Kieron Tierney, was a burglar convicted of 16 break-ins committed in a three-month period while he was already on parole.
asserted
he → convict → parole
This is a pretty straightforward case of a man named Cade Morant being caught carrying a loaded illegal handgun.
asserted
This → name → handgun
The Crown sought three years, the judge gave Morant 12 months of house arrest followed by probation, declaring that, as a Jamaican immigrant, his offence was “connected to systemic factors of anti-Black racism.”
asserted
offence → seek → racism
The decision generously cited a 35-page psychological report pointing to Morant’s “lived experiences as a Black man in a high-risk neighborhood” and a life spent navigating “systemic discrimination, racial profiling, and a chronic lack of safety.”
asserted
decision → cite → safety
Provincial Court of British Columbia, Oct. 2
Marek Grundza struck and injured a police officer with his car, and then fled the scene, leaving the officer bleeding on the side of the road.
asserted
Grundza → strike → road
…and 41 more, not listed.
The Aporia
