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Introduction
Welcome to the National Judicial Institute’s course on Sentencing Black Offenders. This bundle of courses provides judges with tools for better understanding how systemic barriers impact offenders’ lives and how these realities can be integrated into sentencing.
The course introduces Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs) and Enhanced Pre-Sentence Reports (EPSRs), explaining their purpose, content, and how they can inform sentencing decisions. Judges will gain insights into contextualizing offences, assessing moral blameworthiness, and applying sentencing principles like proportionality, fairness, and rehabilitation.
Featuring engaging videos, real-world scenarios, and expert guidance, this course reflects emerging jurisprudence and the lived experiences of trial judges across Canada. It is designed to equip judges with the knowledge needed to craft sentences that account for systemic inequities and deliver just and equitable outcomes.
Courses included in this Bundle:
Anti-Black Racism in Canada: What you need to know lays the foundation for understanding the broader context of anti-Black racism in Canada and its impact on the criminal justice system.
Leading Cases: Morris and Anderson discusses the necessity of considering anti-Black racism in sentencing decisions and, through leading cases like R v Morris and R v Anderson, introduces key principles for applying social context evidence.
Practical Considerations focuses on the use of IRCAs or EPSRs to inform sentencing and provides guidance on how to gather and evaluate this critical information.
Legal Complexities offers insight into evidentiary thresholds and the process of connecting systemic factors to an offender’s background and behavior without requiring a strict causal link.
Helpful Resources and Relevant Caselaw features a curated list of case law with direct quotes, province-specific resources (such as reports, academic articles, books, organizations), and access to the course’s videotech, which houses all related videos.
Acknowledgments:
The following judges have generously assisted with the development of this course:
• The Honourable Justice Suhail Akhtar, Superior Court of Justice (Ontario)
• The Honourable Judge Alexandre Bien-Aimé, Cour supérieure du Québec
• The Honourable Justice Tamara Friesen, Court of King's Bench of Alberta
• The Honourable Judge Laurel J. Halfpenny MacQuarrie, Provincial Court of Novia Scotia
• The Honourable Justice Faisal Mirza, Superior Court of Justice (Ontario)
• The Honourable Judge David St. Pierre, Provincial Court of British Columbia
• The Honourable Judge Theodore Tax, Provincial Court of Nova Scotia
• The Honourable Judge Jean Whalen, Provincial Court of Nova Scotia
The following individuals have generously contributed their time and expertise to the video series included in the course, “Black in Canada” and “Off the Record”:
• Professor Paul Adjei, Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Professor Alicia Boatswain-Kyte, McGill University
• Professor Patrina Duhaney, University of Calgary
• Professor Maria Dugas, Dalhousie University
• Professor Sulaimon Giwa, Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Maureen Kihika, Sociologist, Simon Fraser University
• Professor Ann-Marie Livingstone, McMaster University
• Professor Delores Mullings, Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Brandon Rolle, Intervener Counsel, African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition (R v Anderson)
• Mark Scott, Crown Counsel (R v Anderson)
• Roger Shallow, Crown Counsel (R v Morris)
• Law Professor Joshua Sealy-Harrington, Toronto Metropolitan University
• Barrington Walker, Historian, Wilfrid Laurier University
• Professor Handel Wright, University of British Columbia
• Robert Wright, Sociologist, The Peoples’ Counselling Clinic
We acknowledge the financial support of the Department of Justice Canada.
