Tired of waiting, Aboriginal Legal Services launches charter challenge
OTTAWA — The Liberal government is taking so long to unveil its promised sentencing reforms that a Toronto legal agency has decided it would be irresponsible to delay a charter challenge for a young woman facing a mandatory minimum penalty.
“We had hoped that was coming, but it’s not here yet,” said Jonathan Rudin, program director at Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto.
The charitable organization is intervening in the case of Cheyenne Sharma, a 21-year-old Indigenous woman who pleaded guilty to importing cocaine and is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.
The Liberals have promised legislative changes to mandatory minimum penalties, including at least some of the dozens the Conservatives either brought in or increased over the decade they were in power as part of their tough-on-crime agenda.