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PHOTO: Alexandre Bissonnette is escorted to a van after appearing in court for the deadly shooting at a mosque, Monday, January 30, 2017 in Quebec City. Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Canadaβs highest court turned its attention to the constitutionality of consecutive life sentences for multiple murders on Thursday, hearing arguments about whether the gunman who killed six men at a Quebec CityΒ mosque in 2017 can be sentenced to more than 25 years in prison.
Alexandre Bissonnette was originally sentenced to life in prison without being eligible for parole for 40 years after pleading guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder. On appeal, Quebecβs highest court reduced that to a life sentence without parole eligibility for 25 years.
On Thursday,Β Supreme Court of CanadaΒ Chief Justice Richard Wagner questioned Quebec Crown prosecutor FranΓ§ois Gaudin on whether the consecutive sentences heβs seeking amount to a death sentence for Bissonnette, since the killer would be 77 when he becomes eligible for parole.
βAccording to your argument, sir, this gentleman will never get out of prison,β Wagner said.
Gaudin argued that consecutive sentences totalling 50 years of parole ineligibility are the only way to reflect the heinous nature of Bissonnetteβs crimes. He said that in Bissonnetteβs case, the ideals of rehabilitation and reintegration into society should be βsecondary objectives.β
When Wagner noted that the average age at which prisoners die is 61, Gaudin replied, βIf in prison he takes charge of his life, thereβs a chance heβll be freed.β
He added, βI understand itβs at the age of 77.β
In sentencing Bissonnette in 2019, a Quebec Superior Court judge rewrote a 2011 federal law that granted courts the right to impose consecutive sentences in blocks of 25 years for multiple murders, saying the law amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
While he did not strike down the section of law, Justice FranΓ§ois Huot rewrote it to give himself the discretion to deliver consecutive life sentences that are not in blocks of 25 years.
The Court of Appeal agreed that consecutive sentencing violated the charter but decided the lower court judge erred in granting the killer a 40-year sentence. It said the court must revert to the law as it stood before 2011, meaning the parole ineligibility periods are to be served concurrently, resulting in a total waiting period of 25 years in Bissonnetteβs case.
A lawyer representing the Quebec government argued Thursday there is an βiniquityβ when a murderer who kills multiple people is given the same sentence as someone who kills one.
Once again, Wagner noted that the death penalty was abolished in Canada in 1976 and that most Canadians disagree with the idea of a prisoner being incarcerated for life.
βRehabilitation is part of our fundamental values in the matter of sentencing,β he told government lawyer Jean-FranΓ§ois ParΓ©.
ParΓ©, meanwhile, argued that the right for a judge to order consecutive sentences was brought in to βbetter reflect the seriousness of the sentences and the increased severity of the sentences for a multiple murderer.β
When questioned by Justice Russell Brown, ParΓ© recognized that a 50-year sentence without parole was βabsolutelyβ the equivalent of a life sentence. But a judge makes a decision that is βjust and proportionate,β and if thatβs not the case, it can be appealed, ParΓ© said.
βThatβs the problem,β insisted Justice Mahmud Jamal. βThe sentence does not recognize the possibility of rehabilitation.β
Justice Suzanne CΓ΄tΓ©, for her part, noted that the judge has limited discretion when it comes to sentencing, because Parliament decided first-degree murder sentences should run in blocks of 25 years.
Bissonnette pleaded guilty in March 2018 to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder after he stormed into a mosque in Quebec City and opened fire on Muslim men as they prayed.
His murder victims were Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42; Abdelkrim Hassane, 41; Khaled Belkacemi, 60; Aboubaker Thabti, 44; Azzeddine Soufiane, 57; and Ibrahima Barry, 39. In addition to the men killed, five others were struck by bullets.
In their submission to the top court, Bissonnetteβs lawyers argued the Court of Appeal had correctly applied the law when it reduced his parole eligibility to 25 years.