A national aboriginal leader is concerned that a light sentence handed to a former B.C. Mountie could cause public outcry against the legal provision that allows for such a sentence.
A judge ruled this week Monty Robinson won’t go to jail for obstruction in a 21-year-old Delta man’s death in part because of his native ancestry.
Chief Ed John of the First Nations Summit says the Criminal Code allows a judge to consider an offender’s native ancestry when sentencing – and it’s not just a way for aboriginals to escape harsh punishment.
“That’s the perception that I was talking about – that this creates this view that there’s a ‘get out of jail’ card called (section) 718, and that’s not the case.”
John points to the inordinate number of aboriginals in Canada’s prisons as reason for the provision.
He agrees, though, that Robinson’s sentence was “very lenient,” considering the aggravating factors in the case.
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