Canadians were horrified with the murder of 28-year-old OPP constable Grzegorz "Greg" Pierzchala last December..Horror turned to outrage upon the discovery one of the murderers had a long history of violent crimes, including charges for assault against a peace officer. Yet, he had been released on bail. Randall McKenzie had been in and out of prison repeatedly for violent crimes. He was banned from possessing firearms. Despite demonstrating so many signs of violent tendencies, McKenzie was granted bail after a recent arrest where he was found with a firearm. Due to Canada’s lax criminal justice system, an innocent young police officer was murdered by a man who never should have been free to commit the crime..So why was Randall McKenzie repeatedly released despite the clear danger he presented to the public at large?. Grzegorz Pierzchala .It all comes down to something called the Gladue Principles. Those principles were created through a Supreme Court case in 1999. Jamie Tanis Gladue stabbed her common-law husband to death and it was ruled that her indigenous background should be taken into consideration upon sentencing. The precedent and principles set were lighter sentences should be given to indigenous offenders by the courts whenever possible..The Canadian government spent $49.3 million in 2020 to support the further implementation of those principles in the system..During one of Randall McKenzie’s parole hearings, it was stated he “suffered the negative impacts of colonialism” and he believed his grandfather may have attended a residential school. These things may or may not be true, but they don’t have much bearing on whether or not McKenzie would be safe to release. That doesn’t matter when it comes to the Gladue Principles though..In 2012 a case again went to the Supreme Court with a man named Manasie Ipeelee. Ipeelee was a repeat, violent sex offender. The court reaffirmed the Gladue Principles..Ipeelee has since been released, re-arrested and incarcerated several times. People continue to be victimized. .Last May in Calgary, a visually impaired senior citizen named Leonard Smith was randomly attacked while waiting for a to get to work. His throat was cut from ear to ear and he was lucky to survive. The man who tried to kill Smith was a violent, repeat offender named Bobby Crane. Crane will be free in about 14 months as the judge ruled we must take the history of colonialism into account..Last September, Myles Sanderson murdered 11 people on the James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Sanderson had a history of 59 criminal convictions, many of them for violent crimes. Still, he got short sentences and his release ultimately led to the deaths of 11 people..Studying the impacts of indigenous policies and history is important when trying to find ways to prevent crimes. Indigenous people are indeed very overrepresented in the prison system. The reason for that, though, is indigenous people are overrepresented when it comes to committing crimes. The system is clearly failing them and we need to understand why..All that said, it doesn’t mean indigenous people convicted of violent crimes will be any less likely to reoffend upon release. When considering the sentencing, bail or parole of violent offenders, the safety of the public must come first — no matter how rough history may have been upon the offender..Race aside, most child sex-offenders experienced abuse themselves as children. While this is tragic, it doesn’t mean the offender is any less dangerous..The supposed intent of the Gladue Principles was to reduce the number of indigenous people incarcerated. It has been more than 20 years since the Gladue ruling and indigenous people are still as overrepresented in the system as ever, if not more. How long will it take to admit the Gladue Principles have been a failure? How many more have to die?.Race-based policies created the terrible situation many of Canada’s indigenous people are living in. More race-based policies aren’t going to solve the problem..If we seriously want to get to the root of why indigenous people are disproportionately committing and becoming victims of crime, we should be looking at repealing the Indian Act and working away from our system of apartheid, called Indian reserves. There clearly is a problem and Canada’s indigenous people are suffering..In the meantime, though, we need to put public safety first. We need to ensure dangerous offenders remain incarcerated no matter what their race and background..The Gladue Principles have to go.
