All About Gladue

A lot of people were instantly angry when they read that Judge Wannamaker had ordered Bill to request a Gladue report prior to his sentencing. Other people probably wondered what a Gladue report is. I'm hoping that this post can clear up some of the uncertainty and misconceptions about all of this. A Brief History of Gladue Principles In 1994, a provision to the Criminal Code of Canada (718.2(e)) was enacted. The purpose of this provision was to compel judges to consider alternatives to incarceration for Indigenous offenders, due to the over-representation of Indigenous people in Canadian prisons. I'm not sure I can adequately explain all of this in a few paragraphs, but I'm going to try. Indigenous peoples, from the moment European settlers showed up on these shores, have faced an onslaught - settlers introduced numerous diseases (sometimes intentionally). They were forced to convert to Christianity, children were removed from their families and placed in Residential Schools - the…