An Ontario judge has ruled that “colonialism” was primarily to blame in a deadly drunk driving crash that saw a First Nations man kill a 12-year-old girl.
asserted
man → rule → girl
According to police reports, Darris Wilson’s Dodge Ram pickup truck was strewn with empty and partially consumed cans of beer when, in 2022, it slammed head-on into a vehicle carrying a mother and daughter en route to a sleepover.
uncertain
it → accord → sleepover
Sierra Beverly, 12, was killed at the scene.
asserted
Beverly → kill → scene
Her mother, Naomi, suffered debilitating brain injuries for which she still requires 24-hour care.
asserted
she → suffer → care
The crash occurred at 4:24 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, and investigators would determine that Wilson seems to have made no attempt to brake before slamming into the Mitsubishi sub-compact carrying the two Beverlys.
asserted
Wilson → occur → Beverlys
He was also driving at about 90 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.
asserted
He → drive → zone
Wilson, he ruled, was suffering from cultural “disconnection” as a result of colonization, which “crystallized into the tragic events of Feb. 11, 2022.”
asserted
which → rule → Feb.
Wilson was convicted of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm, a crime which can carry a maximum jail term of 14 years.
asserted
which → convict → years
Instead, as per a report in the Brantford Expositor, Edward handed down a sentence of two years of house arrest — and specifically cited the offenders’ Indigenous background as the reason for the light sentence.
asserted
Edward → hand → sentence
The Crown had requested a prison sentence of four years, which Edward framed as a government effort to rob Wilson of his heritage.
asserted
Edward → request → heritage
“Mr. Wilson’s efforts to regain his culture, that which was taken from him and his family in a systematic fashion by the Government of Canada, will once again be taken by the state if the court imposes a four-year penitentiary sentence,” he wrote.
asserted
he → regain → sentence
In fact, Edward would even frame the light sentence as a small but necessary gesture to do what he could to “erase this country’s colonial past.”
uncertain
he → frame → past
“I’m left with this simple refrain: ‘If not now, when.
asserted
I → leave → refrain
To which I simply reply: Now, and this case,” he wrote, according to the Brantford Expositor.
uncertain
he → reply → Expositor
Under Canadian “Gladue provisions,” first established in the 1990s, judges have been required to tailor criminal sentencing to the “circumstances” of Indigenous offenders.
asserted
judges → establish → offenders
It’s a principle with which Edward is particularly associated.
asserted
Edward → ’ → which
He championed the creation of a Gladue-focused Indigenous Persons Court in Brantford and has previously been celebrated for his efforts to “decolonize” the Canadian legal system.
asserted
He → champion → system
In 2024, he was made a visiting Indigenous scholar at Wilfrid Laurier University, with school officials declaring in a statement “we have a great deal to learn from Justice Edward’s work to decolonize Canada’s legal system.”
In addition to Gladue sentencing, this has included prior instances in which Edward removed Canadian and Ontario flags from his courtroom to placate an Indigenous witness.
asserted
Edward → make → witness
In 2014, Edward ruled in favour of a Six Nations mother who wanted to stop chemotherapy for her 11-year-old daughter, who was suffering from leukemia.
asserted
who → rule → leukemia
The mother wished instead to pursue traditional remedies.
asserted
mother → wish → remedies
McMaster Children’s Hospital went to court to argue that the child was being denied potentially life-saving care and was in need of state protection, but Edward ruled that the effort was a violation of the family’s constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights.
asserted
effort → go → rights
“Such a right cannot be qualified as a right only if it is proven to work by employing the Western medical paradigm.
asserted
it → qualify → paradigm
To do so would be to leave open the opportunity to perpetually erode aboriginal rights,” he wrote.
asserted
he → leave → rights
In a social media post on Sunday, former Alberta premier Jason Kenney called the sentencing decision for Wilson an “absolute moral outrage,” and denounced Edward as a “robed political activist cosplaying as a judge.”
asserted
Kenney → call → judge
The Aporia
