Why Canada is unwilling to put even its most heinous murderers permanently behind bars
Sentencing Quebec mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette to a lifetime in prison was ‘totally incompatible with human dignity’ wrote his sentencing judge
February 12, 2019
"Together, the crimes of Bruce McArthur and Alexandre Bissonnette extinguished up to 510 years of human life and guaranteed decades of nightmares and trauma among the shattered communities they targeted.
There was federal legislation and even judicial precedent to ensure that both men would be guaranteed to die in prison. And yet, on Friday judges in two provinces ruled otherwise, even going so far as to unilaterally rewrite legislation to do so.
The fate of McArthur and Bissonnette may be the most glaring example yet that there is no crime heinous enough in Canada to stop a killer from one day being able to regain their freedom.
“Many in the community were shocked by the sentence and had expected something more stern that would send a message about how seriously the state took this heinous crime,” said Ihsaan Gardee, head of the National Council of Canadian Muslims.
Gardee was present at the Centre culturel islamique de Québec only hours after it saw Bissonnette murder six of its worshippers in 2017. “While we know that the justice system doesn’t exactly work like this, the crude calculation for many is that this translates to about 6.5 years per life,” he said....
Under a 2011 amendment to the Criminal Code of Canada, both Bissonnette and McArthur could have received periods of parole ineligibility longer than 100 years apiece.
The Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act mandated that if an offender had killed multiple people, they would receive 25 years in prison for every person they had killed. Previously, 25 years had been the maximum sentence regardless of victim count.
Given the number of Bissonnette’s victims, prior to Friday it was suspected that he would be given the longest sentence in Canadian history.
Instead, Bissonnette will be able to apply for parole in 40 years, when he will be 67. Meanwhile, McArthur will be able to request a parole hearing in only 25 years, when he will be 91.
In Bissonnette’s case, Quebec Superior Court Justice Francois Huot actually rewrote part of the Criminal Code to give himself the ability to hand out a 40-year sentence.
As written, the Criminal Code only allows judges to impose murder sentences in increments of 25 years. By ruling that this provision was unconstitutional because it was “cruel and unusual” punishment, Huot freed himself to knock 10 years off what should have been either a 25 or 50-year sentence...
As convicted murderers, Bissonnette and McArthur both received automatic “life sentences.” In the Canadian context, however, a “life sentence” doesn’t mean “life in prison.” All it means is that if they’re ever released, their parole never expires...."
Why Canada is unwilling to put even its most heinous murderers permanently behind bars
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