While the U.S. election dominated headlines this month, there were plenty of important criminal law stories north of the border.
November Criminal Law Round-up
"We all share blame": Reconciliation and sentencing in R v. Pelletier
Last month, Justice Nakatsuru of the Ontario Court of justice in Toronto released a decision in the matter of R v. Pelletier. Ms. Pelletier, an Indigenous woman from Regina, Saskatchewan, was before the courts in Ontario for breaching a long-term offender supervision order. The resulting sentencing decision is absolutely worth reading, for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. While many cases describe the factors that should be considered in Indigenous people following R v. Gladue, Justice Nakatsuru manages, in a mere 8 pages, to capture the essence of Gladue in a humanizing way. In my view, the decision is important for a few reasons:
