“Two Tiered Policing”

On October 9, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered a lengthy judgment in R. v. Cope, grappling with provisions in Canada’s Criminal Code that govern the sentencing of Aboriginal offenders, and how sentences should be imposed when the crime victim is Aboriginal.

The tragic facts before the Court arose in Halifax in 2021, when Harry Cope brutally attacked Brittany Sack, his common law partner. A video recording documented a vicious, prolonged beating, during which Harry repeatedly punched and kicked Brittany. Found lying on the sidewalk, Brittany had a broken bone in her face, a possible break in her breastbone, pooling of blood under the skin of her breastbone and significant swelling of her eye.

In the United States, the law is the same for everyone, regardless of race — at least theoretically. But in Canada, there is a parallel justice system for the favored race: indigenous people.

Since 1999, judges have been asked to give more lenient sentences to indigenous people out of ideological concern for “Indigenous overincarceration.” In addition, indigenous people are offered “sentencing circles” specific to “Aboriginal offenders.” These “sentencing circles” consist of members of the indigenous community, including “Elders”; they make recommendations to a judge about what sentence a person should receive.

The Supreme Court of Canada has tried to resolve competing judicial imperatives — addressing Indigenous overincarceration and high rates of violence against Indigenous women — in cases when a male offender and a female victim are both Indigenous.

The complexity and importance of this tension was highlighted by 22 groups being granted intervenor status to offer input in the case, including the attorneys general of three provinces, First Nations and Indigenous organizations, law groups, and numerous human rights, civil liberties and constitutional advocacy organizations.

On a rural road near Brantford, Ontario, Darris Wilson slammed his Dodge Ram pickup truck into a small Mitsubishi subcompact car, killing 12-year-old Sierra Beverly and severely injuring her mother, Naomi.

Wilson was originally charged with impaired operation causing death and bodily harm but was eventually convicted of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm, an offence carrying a sentence of up to 14 years. Yet last month, Justice Gethin Edward, an indigenous judge and member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, sentenced Wilson to two years of house arrest. The Crown had requested at least four years in prison.