By Canadian Press

Court says conditional sentence curbs are constitutional in Indigenous case

Nov 4, 2022 | 7:10 AM

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the constitutionality of provisions that prevent an offender from avoiding jail by serving their sentence in the community, finding no evidence they had a disproportionate effect on Indigenous people.

In a 5-4 decision today, the top court overturned an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that found the Criminal Code provisions violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The decision comes in the case of Cheyenne Sharma, a young Indigenous woman who pleaded guilty in 2016 to importing two kilograms of cocaine in exchange for $20,000 from her boyfriend, a task she carried out to avoid eviction for herself and her daughter.

Sharma successfully challenged a Criminal Code provision that called for a two-year mandatory minimum sentence, and she received a term of 18 months in custody.

However, a judge rejected her constitutional challenge of another provision that disallowed a conditional sentence for offences that can entail a stiff prison term.

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Sharma contested the decision and the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that two Criminal Code sections relevant to her case violated the Charter, saying they discriminated against Indigenous people on the basis of race and were overbroad in relation to their purpose.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2022.

The Canadian Press