A decision released Friday by the Supreme Court of Canada will shave 50 years of Justin Bourque’s parole eligibility.
Now, the man who killed three RCMP officers in Moncton in 2014 will be entitled to parole at age 49 instead of age 99, which is what the sentencing judge imposed.
The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously overturned the so-called “stacking of parole” for mass murderers. Depending on the decisionit enters into force immediately and is retroactive to 2011, when the law was created.
Section 745.51 of the Penal Code was enacted in 2011 and gave sentencing judges the power to combine the eligibility of parole in cases of multiple first- and second-degree homicide charges.
But Alexandre Bissonnette, the man who shot six Muslims in a mosque in 2017, challenged the constitutionality of the law.
Court President Richard Wagner wrote the decision to the court, saying it was a cruel and unusual punishment.
From the left, Const. Douglas James Larche, 40, of Saint John, Const. Dave Joseph Ross, 32, of Victoriaville, Que., And Const. Fabrice Georges Gevaudan, 45, of Boulogne-Billancourt, France, was killed in Moncton on June 4, 2014. (RCMP)
Bissonnette will be eligible for parole after 25 years, instead of the 40-year limit imposed by the sentencing judge.
Several other high-profile cases are affected by the decision, including Alek Minassian, who killed 10 people in a van on a busy sidewalk in Toronto in 2018.
His sentence has been delayed for months, pending a Supreme Court ruling on the accumulation of parole. He will now be eligible after 25 years, instead of the 250 that was possible before the law was repealed.
Wagner wrote that in establishing the “ineligibility of parole” for 75, 100, 125 or even 800 years, the conclusion is clear: the individual is sentenced to death in prison, deprived of any possibility of ever recovering a part of their freedom. “
He then cited Bourque’s case as an illustration that “these cases are far from hypothetical.”
‘It’s scary’
Nadine Larche’s husband, Const. Doug Larche was one of the RCMP agents killed in 2014. She knows the case is far from hypothetical.
“It’s constant in our lives,” Larche said.
She said she had always been comforted to know that her husband’s killer would never come out.
“Strangely enough, he comforted me that I knew there was no remote possibility that he was coming out,” he said when he arrived after Friday’s decision.
“I’m very disappointed with the sentence. I respect the sentence, though, because I respect the court. But I’m scared. I’m afraid JB could be released, even if it’s unlikely.”
Larche said that the idea of having to start going to parole hearings in 17 years, “this will only traumatize me again, the girls, the members involved, the community.”
“I hope and wish and wish that he is remote, that he is not given parole, but the possibility is there. So it just adds another trauma and fear to all of us.”
‘Ideal candidate’ for parole
Bourque’s defense lawyer described him as an ideal candidate for parole, which will now be available to him.
“He’s the ideal candidate who can take advantage of rehab,” Hampton attorney David Lutz said Friday
“He’s not a man without education. He’s not a man without … enough IQ … So I hope he sees it as a sign.”
Defense attorney David Lutz described Justin Bourque as the ideal candidate for parole. (Radio Canada)
Lutz points out that the decision does not guarantee parole after 25 years, only the possibility of parole if you did everything right in prison.
“If you’re 25, we hope you’ve spent those 25 rehabilitating yourself because when you go out, in Mr. Bourque’s case, he’ll be about 50 years old.”
Lutz said he knows of criminals who were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 10 years.
“But 30 years later, they are still there, as they were not rehabilitated. They did not admit their crime. They showed no remorse or anything. And so they stay there.
“You go to jail for rehab. And if you don’t rehab after 25, you don’t get out. Clifford Olson never got out.”
People pay tribute to Moncton Memorial Sculptures in honor of three RCMP agents killed in 2014. (Matthew Bingley / CBC)
Lutz said Bourque pleaded guilty, saving family members from going to trial, showed remorse “and told the judge how sad he was for his behavior.” He still had a 75-year wait to get parole.
Lutz said he has spoken to Bourque twice since he was convicted, even after Bissonnette appealed his eligibility for parole as unconstitutional.
“I talked to him and he said, ‘We’re not doing anything right now. We’re not going to complicate things. We’ll wait until the Supreme Court of Canada decides. “.
Each victim “deserved life imprisonment”
The judge who convicted Bourque in 2014 spoke of the use of the section of the Penal Code that was overturned on Friday.
Just before retiring from the bench in 2019, David Smith spoke of serving three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for 75 years.
“There were three police officers,” Smith said in an interview at his office the day before he retired from court. “The police put our lives in danger. I felt that each of them, their loss, deserved a life sentence. That was my feeling.”