PAROLE |
Stoddart v. Canada (National Parole Board)
T-395-04
2004 FC 1350, Mosley J.
1/10/04
11 pp.
Application for declaration that Appeal Division of National Parole Board (NPB) erred in law in failing to apply Supreme Court's principles set out in Steele v. Mountain Institution, [1990] 2 S.C.R. 1385--Applicant serving life sentence in maximum security institution for second degree murder for offence committed at age 17--Ineligible for parole for 18 years because of several aggravating factors--Appeal from conviction, sentence in provincial court dismissed but, given amendments to applicable legislation enacted after conviction, parole ineligibility period reduced to seven years, maximum period allowed for persons committing second degree murder at 17--Applicant waiving parole hearings or requesting postponement until 2003 hearing scheduled peremptorily under Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), s. 123(1) and CCR Regulations, s. 158--At peremptory parole hearing, applicant denied full parole by Board and NPB affirmed Board's decision--Applicant not seeking parole at either hearing and claiming not ready for release into community--Requested that NPB accept responsibility for management of correctional program but request denied --Whether NPB erred in declining to apply Steele to applicant's situation--Applicant having 32 institutional charges on record and serving much of custodial term in protective custody or segregation--Breakdown in relationship between applicant, Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) case management staff escalating due in part to errors in CSC records--Psychological/risk assessment report commissioned by applicant noting withdrawal from case management process as applicant consumed with airing injustices--At parole hearing, no current Correctional Plan Progress Report filed by CSC--Board finding that risk applicant presented not manageable in community and that CSC, not NPB, responsible for managing case--Board placing diminished weight on psychological/risk assessment report--NPB finding Steele not applicable and Board not erring in making decision in absence of current Correctional Plan Progress Report since sufficient relevant information to assess risk--Steele emphasizing requirement that detention, sentence be tailored to fit circumstances of individual and offence--Steele distinguishable since offender's inordinate length of incarceration in that case grossly disproportionate to sexual offence committed and constituting cruel and unusual punishment under Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter), s. 12--Case also indicating that correct route to challenge continued detention, amounting to cruel and unusual punishment, through application for judicial review of decision by CSC or NPB--CSC having jurisdiction to deal with case management of inmates and parolees: CCRA, ss. 3(a), (b), 4(a), (b), (h), (i), 5--Under CCRA, ss. 100, 101, 102, 107, NPB having jurisdiction to determine whether offender meets relevant criteria for release--Treatment of psychological/risk assessment report constituting reviewable error--While NPB having discretion to determine weight to give report and whether method of reporting risk acceptable, inappropriate for Board to discount report simply because commissioned by applicant and reviewed by counsel prior to submission to NPB--Application dismissed--Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, being Part I of the Constitution Act,1982, Schedule B, Canada Act 1982, 1982, c. 11 (U.K.) [R.S.C., 1985, Appendix II, No. 44], s. 12--Corrections and Conditional Release Act, S.C. 1992, c. 20, ss. 3(a), (b), 4(a),(b),(h),(i), 5 (as am. by S.C. 1997, c. 17, s. 13), 100, 101, 102 (as am. by S.C. 1995, c. 42, s. 27(F)), 107 (as am. by S.C. 1995, c. 22, s. 13, Sch. II; c. 42, ss. 28(E), 70(E), 71(F); 2000, c. 24, s. 36), 123(1) (as am. by S.C. 1995, c. 42, s. 69)--Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations, SOR/92-620, s. 158.