Digest: R v McKenzie, 2018 SKPC 53

• Date: September 18, 2019

Reported as: 2018 SKPC 53

Docket Number: PC18053 , 24539882

Court: Provincial Court

Date: 2019-09-18

Judges:

• MacKenzie

Subjects:

• Criminal Law � Sentencing � Aboriginal Offender
• Criminal Law � Sentencing � Controlled Drugs and Substances Act � Trafficking Cocaine
• Criminal Law � Sentencing � Pre-Sentence Report
• Criminal Law � Sentencing � Sentencing Principles

Digest: The accused pled guilty to one count of trafficking cocaine, contrary to s. 5(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Gladue factors were canvassed in the pre-sentence report. The court also ordered a supplementary report looking into rehabilitative options. At the time of the incident, the accused was addicted to cocaine. She had an arrangement with her cocaine dealer to receive one gram of cocaine for each two grams she sold for him. The accused was arrested shortly after the arrangement began. The accused sold two undercover officers a total of 3.6 grams on two occasions. The Crown sought 12 months in jail followed by two years of supervised probation. The accused wanted a 90-day intermittent jail sentence followed by one year of supervised probation. The accused was a status member of an Indian band. Her parents were caring parents who had been gainfully employed throughout her youth. They had separated before she was born. The accused was exposed to drinking and marijuana use at her mother�s home; the accused�s mother had a drinking problem. The accused abstained from drugs for a short period of time following her arrest. She then began doing cocaine again until September 2017, when she attended the treatment centre. The accused abstained from the use of drugs since being released from the centre. The accused was released on conditions shortly after her arrest, which was on June 16, 2017.
HELD: The court considered the accused�s time on bail to be a minor mitigating factor. The court also considered the Gladue factors, specifically that the accused�s mother and her mother�s parents were residential school survivors. The accused attributed her mother�s ongoing drinking problems partially to her residential school experience. The accused was also sexually abused by a stepbrother. The court recognized the direct connection between the residential school experience and the accused�s difficulties with her mother. The offence was motivated by an addiction. The factors mentioned were found to bear directly on the accused�s culpability. The...