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92 MANITOBA LAW JOURNAL |VOLUME 35 NUMBER 1
2) An uncertainty as to which clients might be Aboriginal aside from those
living on First Nations reserves. 36
3) A preference for a “race-neutral” approach to advocacy. 37
4) A belief that the Gladue factors described mitigating factors for many
offenders irrespective of race and were not necessarily unique to Aboriginal
offenders. 38
5) A belief that the seriousness or violent nature of the offence, and/or the
presence of significant aggravating factors, especially a prior record for the same
kind of offence for which the accused is being sentenced, will denude Gladue of
any meaningful practical value during a sentencing hearing. 39
Even when the defence lawyers in McDonald’s study thought that Gladue had
potential applicability to their clients, they had concerns about practical utility
should they attempt to raise Gladue in court. These included:
1) Some lawyers were not convinced that Gladue could be an effective
“bargaining chip” during plea bargaining with the Crown. 40
2) Some were concerned that seeing through preparation of Gladue
submissions and information for the Court's consideration would unduly extend
the amount of time their clients spent in remand custody. 41
3) At the time of the study, some rehabilitative services grounded in
Aboriginal cultures were available in Winnipeg. These include, for example, the
Metis Justice Strategy, the Interlake Peacemakers Project, and the Onashowewin
diversion program in Winnipeg. These programs had limited capacity, however,
and this often convinced the defence lawyers that they could not make
meaningful submissions for non-custodial sentences. 42
It appears that there are also economic disincentives to lawyers in Manitoba
making fulsome Gladue submissions on behalf of their clients, particularly those
related to legal aid funding. By way of background, there is considerable empirical
evidence suggesting that guilty pleas by accused persons who are factually innocent
may be a very serious and pervasive problem. 43 Christopher Sherrin argues that
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
Ibid at 88-90.
Ibid at 90-91.
Ibid at 91-94,
Ibid at 95-103.
Ibid at 105-19.
Ibid at 109-114.
Ibid at 114-120.
At least 20 instances of wrongful convictions stemming from a guilty plea were documented in
Samuel R Gross et al, “Exonerations In The United States 1989 Through 2003” (2005) 95 J
Crim L & Criminology 523 at 533-536. Twenty-three percent of accused persons who had plead
guilty and were interviewed by Richard V Ericson and Patricia M Baranek maintained their
innocence: see Richard V Ericson & Patricia M Baranek, The Ordering of Justice: A Study of Accused
Persons as Dependants in the Criminal Process (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982) at 158.
Other researchers have found significant numbers of people who have pled guilty while