Another Minimum Sentence Bites the Dust

The Docket

So, episode 113 - a new record. But you know that right? Because you subscribe to the show and have already rated and reviewed the podcast - right? You should.

It happened again. Another minimum sentence was found unconstitutional. This time, in a case before Ontario Court Justice six women from the Pikangikum First Nation pleaded guilty to impaired-driving offences, and in a joint hearing, brought a constitutional challenge to minimum jail sentences because, in practical terms, they couldn’t serve them on weekends, as other people do. The jail was too far away from the remote First Nation.

You can read the decision here: R. v. Turtle, 2020 ONCJ 429

The federal government promised to reform Canada’s minimum sentence laws, but since they first made the promise in 2015, they have done nothing. We better not let Joe Biden beat us to the punch!

And then we talk about the wrongful conviction of Guy Paul Morin. Last week the Toronto Police announced that they solved one of Canada’s most troubling wrongful conviction cases, the 1984 killing of nine-year-old Christine Jessop. It was a backslapping press conference that glossed over the police and Crown’s role in once of Canada’s worst miscarriage of justice.

The police don’t want to talk about it, so we will.

You can read Justice Kaufman’s report on the wrongful conviction here: Report of the Kaufman Commission on Proceedings Involving Guy Paul Morin

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Also a huge thanks to my firm Abergel Goldstein & Partners who have not murdered me for editing the podcast at work!