British Columbia’s top court has broadened the sweep of a sentencing law meant to reduce incarceration rates among Indigenous peoples, ruling that Indigenous-specific sentencing can be applied even to offenders who have become disconnected from Indigenous communities and are only minimally aware of their heritage.
The decision reduces a five-year prison sentence to four in a case involving an unprovoked, near-fatal stabbing. It is not the first appellate ruling to mention disconnection. Ontario’s top court has taken a similar position, but Alberta’s is on the other side, cautioning against expanding sentencing principles “almost to a level of pure ethnicity.” The issue has not been debated at the Supreme Court of Canada, but the disparity in rulings means the nation’s highest court would have a compelling reason to take up the matter in the event of a future appeal.
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