Month: October 2015

Mandatory minimum sentences have been a controversial part of sentencing in Canada. They provide a judge with a starting point from which they have to sentence individuals convicted of a crime, regardless of the circumstances of the offence. Many mandatory minimum...

With the federal election only days away, I had lofty aspirations of providing a concise overview of the parties' platforms with respect to the criminal justice system. However, the campaign has not touched on these issues very much, and it is only the Conservatives...

This week I found myself sitting across from a client at the cellblock in the courthouse, preparing for a guilty plea. He is Inuit, having lived in Ottawa for over a decade. He has long criminal record, mostly made up of petty thefts and breaches of probation. He has...