Ontario Premier Doug Ford expressed disbelief at a Supreme Court ruling against mandatory minimum jail sentences for accessing or possessing child pornography.
A nine judge panel with the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in a tight 5-4 decision Friday that the one-year mandatory minimum sentence was unconstitutional.
It said cases cover a variety of situations and would remove the judges’ ability to impose sentences other than imprisonment when appropriate.
“These people [who commit these crimes] are predators. Disgusting scumbags who prey on children belong behind bars for the rest of their miserable lives,” said Ford on social media.
“The Notwithstanding Clause was designed to protect the will of the people. The federal government needs to use it to overturn this decision immediately.”
The court’s decision affirms a ruling by the Quebec Court of Appeal, which said the mandatory minimum sentences violated the Charter guarantee against cruel or unusual punishment.
The Crown took its case to the Supreme Court, arguing that accessing and possessing child pornography must be denounced vehemently.
To decide the appeal, the Supreme Court examined a scenario in which an 18-year-old receives an explicit photo of a friend’s 17-year-old girlfriend.
Justice Mary Moreau wrote on the behalf of the majority that “in the age of digital communication” that last scenario “is not uncommon.”
She said while the actions of the offender in this scenario are serious, they fall on the low end of the gravity scale for crimes of possessing child pornography.
Imposing a sentence of one year’s imprisonment on the 18-year-old representative offender — when a fit punishment would be a conditional discharge with strict probationary terms — would constitute a grossly disproportionate sentence, she said.