Eric St-Pierre

The Supreme Court has formally endorsed a sentencing regime in which punishment depends on your race. In the recent Cope case, the Supreme Court upheld a reduced sentence for an Indigenous offender who brutally assaulted his intimate partner. The trial judge imposed five years. A sentencing circle, an Indigenous conflict-resolution practice, recommended three. The Supreme Court said three was right, scolding the trial judge for not giving enough weight to “Indigenous legal traditions.” There is no such thing as “Indigenous law.” And Indigenous traditions should not override Canadian law as written by Parliament. The result? An offender receives a discount, not because of the facts of his crime, but because of his background. This is not justice. It is racial accounting dressed up as reconciliation. Make no mistake: equality before the law, a foundational principle of Western civilization, no longer applies in Canada. The Supreme Court has replaced it with a system in which justice is administered according to group membership, ancestry, and historical grievance. And it does not stop with Indigenous offenders.  The same logic is being extended through Impact of Race and Culture Assessments to other groups. The principle is always the same: some Canadians are treated as members of groups with historical grievances, while others are treated as individuals responsible for their actions. The People’s Party believes in ONE STANDARD OF JUSTICE FOR EVERY CANADIAN. You do the crime, you do the time. Full stop. We are the only federal party willing to say what the Liberals and fake Conservatives will not: Canada’s courts must treat every victim and every offender equally before the law.