The S.C.C. has been busy today striking down PM Harper’s unconstitutional excesses. “We are asked to decide the constitutionality of a one-year mandatory minimum sentence for a controlled substances offence. I conclude that this provision, while permitting constitutional sentences in a broad array of cases, will sometimes mandate sentences that violate the constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. Insofar as the law requires a one-year sentence of imprisonment, it violates the guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment in s. 12 of the Charter and is not justified under s. 1.”
Source: R. v. Lloyd – SCC Cases (Lexum)