Supreme Court upholds Harper-era rule denying conditional sentences for serious crimes

[The_Foxer]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-conditional-setencing-1.6640049

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that sentencing an Indigenous person to a jail term instead of a conditional sentence does not violate the Constitution in cases of crimes involving maximum sentences of at least 14 years in prison, or 10 years in drug-related cases.

The ruling stems from the 2016 case of Cheyenne Sharma, a young Indigenous woman who pleaded guilty to importing two kilograms of cocaine in exchange for $20,000 from her boyfriend — a task she said she carried out to avoid seeing her and her daughter evicted.

This is nice to see. Not specifically for this case particularly but in general. The dissenting opinion is disturbing - once again clearly that judge believes that THEY make the laws and the decisions. But they don't, they're operating within the parameters set by the ACTUAL people who make the laws, and who were elected by the people of the country to represent them. The majority ruling specifically reflects that premise and it's nice to see judges acknowledging that and not overstepping their bounds for a change.