Is Justice Still Blind in Canada?

Edward Smith outside his home. (Jason Franson for The Free Press)
Equality under the law is the cornerstone of liberal democracy. But judges across the country are now factoring race into sentencing.
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Edward Smith didn’t think the color of his skin had anything to do with it.
He was 23, and he’d come to Canada in 2005 from West Africa. Now, he lived with his mother and sister in Edmonton, the capital of the western province of Alberta.
Racism—overt or systemic—didn’t make him take part in an armed robbery of an Airbnb in July 2019, he said. He’d decid…
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