R v Gladue

R v Gladue
Supreme Court of Canada
Hearing: April 23, 1999
Judgment: December 19, 1999
Full case nameJamie Tanis Gladue v Her Majesty the Queen
Citations[1999] 1 SCR 688
RulingAppeal dismissed
Court membership
Chief Justice: Antonio Lamer
Puisne Justices: Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, Charles Gonthier, Peter Cory, Beverley McLachlin, Frank Iacobucci, John C. Major, Michel Bastarache, Ian Binnie
Reasons given
Unanimous reasons byCory and Iacobucci JJ
McLachlin and Major JJ took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
Criminal Code, s. 718.2(e)

R v Gladue is a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the sentencing principles that are outlined under s. 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code. That provision, enacted by Parliament in 1995, directs the courts to take into consideration "all available sanctions, other than imprisonment" for all offenders. It adds that the courts are to pay "particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders".

Gladue was the first case where the Supreme Court considered the interpretation and application of this provision. It upheld the three year sentence for manslaughter which the sentencing judge gave to Gladue, but also set out factors which the sentencing courts are to take into account in applying s. 718.2(e).

In the years since the decision, sentencing judges have directed that to assist in sentencing Indigenous offenders, pre-sentencing reports be prepared to assess the factors which the Supreme Court has identified as being considered under s. 718.2(1(e). That type of report has become known as a "Gladue report."

In 2012, in R v Ipeelee, the Supreme Court confirmed the basic principles it had set out in R v Gladue.


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