By: Amy Matychuk
PDF Version: Gladue Factors: Still Not a “Race-Based Discount”
Case Commented On: R v Matchee, 2019 ABCA 251
In R v Matchee, Justices Patricia Rowbotham, Ritu Khullar, and Dawn Pentelechuk of the Alberta Court of Appeal (ABCA) overturned Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Eldon J. Simpson’s sentencing decision because it did not give proper effect to Gladue factors (named for the case that created them, R v Gladue, [1999] 1 SCR 688, 1999 CanLII 679 (SCC)). The ABCA sentenced the offender afresh, substituting a six-year sentence for the original seven-year sentence (though with the deduction of three years 7.5 months credit for pre-sentence custody the remaining sentence was two years 4.5 months). The ABCA also commented on the correct application of Gladue factors, which are frequently misapplied and misunderstood as a “race-based discount” rather than “a partial remedy for the systemic discrimination suffered by [A]boriginal people which has led to their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system” (at para 31).