Free Gladue Rights Database

The University of Saskatchewan has developed an open access Gladue Rights Research Database to help with pre-sentencing reports for indigenous offenders:

"This database is designed to provide much, but not all, the information required to write or review a Gladue report. It provides solid comprehensive information explaining the unique circumstances that have impacted and shaped Indigenous people’s lives in Saskatchewan – the essential historical backgrounds and contexts to the situations Aboriginal people face today. The additional recent and intimate personal information needed to complete particular Gladue reports must be acquired separately." (...)

"Gladue rights derive from Section 718.2(c) of the Criminal Code. The Supreme Court handed down its decision in R. v. Gladue in 1999. Gladue rights are enjoyed by First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people. They emerge from the unique experiences and circumstances that Aboriginal people have suffered under settler colonialism. That is to say, Gladue rights are derived from Aboriginal people’s unique history as the original occupants of this land and their distinct experiences as the victims of settler colonialism: “…the circumstances of aboriginal people are unique. In sentencing an aboriginal offender, the judge must consider: (a) the unique systemic or background factors which may have played a part in bringing the particular aboriginal offender before the courts; and (b) the types of sentencing procedures and sanctions which may be appropriate in the circumstances for the offender because of his or her particular aboriginal heritage or connection…. Judges may take judicial notice of the broad systemic and background factors affecting aboriginal people, and of the priority given in aboriginal cultures to a restorative approach to sentencing.” (https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1695/index.do)"