Canada Case Law

R. v. White

Court

Nova Scotia Court of Appeal

The sentencing judge erred as a matter of law by relying on Bratzer, an exceptional and materially distinguishable precedent, which led to a failure to apply the proportionality principle and the primacy of denunciation and deterrence; the Court allowed the Crown appeals, set aside the conditional sentence and substituted a fit global sentence of four years' imprisonment with specified surrender and credit directions.

Source excerpt

• Sentencing principles
• Proportionality
• Denunciation
• Deterrence
• Conditional sentence
• Irca/social context evidence

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R. v. Da Silveira

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

Given the aggravating factors (breach of trust, violence against intimate partner and child, presence of loaded firearm and bear spray, evidence of planning in making weapons accessible, significant victim impacts including PTSD in victims and children), and balancing mitigation (first offender, remediation while on remand, guilty pleas, cooperation), the appropriate aggregate custodial sentence was fixed at 8 years before credit but reduced under totality and Summers remand credit to a resultant effective term of 1,688 days (4 years, 7 months and 14 days). Sentence was allocated to counts as…

Source excerpt

• Sentencing
• Aggravated assault
• Unlawful confinement
• Reckless discharge of a firearm
• Pointing a firearm
• Threats to kill

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R. v. Greer

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed Kenneth Greer’s sentence appeal and upheld a five-year global sentence for offences arising from escalating intimate partner violence and firearms offenses.

• Intimate partner violence
• Breach of probation
• Criminal harassment
• Break and enter
• Possession of firearm
• Victim impact statement

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R. v. Holland

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Viewing the circumstantial evidence as a whole, the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused had knowledge of and some measure of control over the drugs and firearm because alternative reasonable inferences existed (including that they had just arrived or that another occupant had control), items were not clearly in plain view or linked to the accused, and forensic or contextual evidence (tenancy, surveillance, keys, fingerprints, personal effects) was absent; therefore guilt was not the only reasonable inference and the accused must be acquitted.

Source excerpt

• Possession for the purpose of trafficking
• Constructive and joint possession
• Wilful blindness
• Circumstantial evidence
• Reasonable doubt

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R. v. Aronson

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Judge balanced the primacy of denunciation, deterrence and public protection for serious firearms offences against mitigating Gladue factors and evidence of rehabilitation in custody, found the defence explanation of accidental possession not credible, applied enhanced pretrial credit of 1,294 days to concurrent primary counts, concluded a federal sentence was necessary and imposed a global sentence of five years four months on Count 1 with a consecutive one year on Count 5 (global six years four months), together with ancillary orders including forfeiture, lifetime firearms prohibition, DNA…

Source excerpt

• Possession of loaded firearm
• Possession while prohibited
• Careless handling/storage of firearm
• Breach of probation
• Forfeiture
• Firearms prohibition

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R. v. Farac

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

The sentencing judge lawfully considered collateral immigration consequences but reasonably concluded that given the gravity of the firearms and threatening offences, the appellant's high moral culpability, lack of remorse and limited rehabilitative information, there was no principled, proportionate way to impose a conditional or artificially reduced sentence to avoid deportation; the judge did not err in declining a CSO nor in the aggregate sentence, and the appeal is dismissed.

Source excerpt

• Firearms offences
• Uttering threats
• Conditional sentence orders
• Collateral immigration consequences (deportation)
• Totality principle
• Proportionality

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Canada (Attorney General) v. Raymond

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The appeal is dismissed because counsel invited the Reference Judge to exclude Dr. Sheppard's reports, the judge properly exercised discretion to refuse a late statement after the evidentiary hearing concluded, the Reference Judge's findings about the appellant's mental health were reasonably supported by the record, and the firearms officer's refusal to issue a PAL was reasonable under the deferential standard of review.

Source excerpt

• Reference hearing under s.74 firearms act
• Reasonableness standard of review
• Eligibility under s.5 firearms act
• Admissibility and withdrawal of evidence
• Interaction of mental health and firearms licensing

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R. v. Chaisson

Court

Nova Scotia Court of Appeal

The Court found no demonstrable error of law nor palpable and overriding error of fact in the trial judge's reasons upholding the warrants, and therefore dismissed the appeal and refused to exclude the seized evidence.

Source excerpt

• Search warrants
• Charter s.8 unreasonable search
• Charter s.24(2) exclusion of evidence
• Facial and sub-facial warrant validity
• Standard of appellate review
• Trial judge deference

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R. v. Walczak

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Convictions entered on counts 1–14; global sentence of seven years' imprisonment imposed at lower end of Crown's range to reflect extreme seriousness, aggregate danger and aggravating features balanced against mitigating factors of dated record, exemplary conduct in custody and rehabilitation prospects; apportionment: counts 1–7 five years concurrent; count 8 three years concurrent; count 9 five years concurrent; count 10 two years consecutive; counts 11–14 two years concurrent as specified; credit of 987 days pretrial custody deducted; ancillary orders include DNA sample, lifetime weapons pr…

Source excerpt

• Possession of firearms
• Possession of prohibited devices
• Possession of explosive substances
• Careless storage of firearms
• Weapons prohibition orders
• Forfeiture

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R. v. Khouchaba

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court accepted a joint sentencing submission and imposed a 3-year global jail term for unlawful possession of a loaded prohibited firearm and a prohibited magazine.

• Possession of prohibited firearm
• Possession of prohibited device (magazine)
• Joint sentencing submission
• Firearms prohibition order
• Dna designation order
• Forfeiture of offence-related property

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