Woman charged in major meth bust gets sentence geared to treating addiction

By Peggy Revell on February 28, 2018.

prevell@medicinehatnews.com @MHNprevell

A Maple Creek woman arrested when police seized more than $33,000 in methamphetamine in Medicine Hat was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months jail and 18 months probation.

The sentencing for Siofean Coderre, 43, came months after she failed to show up for her original October sentencing date, and was re-arrested in St. Albert.

While the Federal Crown asked for a three- to four-year sentence, Judge Gordan Krinke’s agreed with the sentence put forward by defence counsel that relied heavily on the Gladue and presentencing reports put together on Coderre.

“She’s faced an entire lifetime of abuse, violence,” said defence counsel Bradley Bellmore, outlining the impact of residential schools on Coderre’s family, a “substantial” history of poverty, physical and sexual abuse, dozens of family members dying from drugs and alcohol, her being forced into sex work and dealing with addiction.

While Coderre’s criminal record stretches back for three decades, the charges are mainly property crime and not drug trafficking, and there was a 10-year gap until 2016.

The court heard her addiction — and making money to feed that addiction —was what led her back to committing offences.

This includes her arrest in May 2017 alongside her co-accused Paul Rasmussen, following an undercover purchases of meth by police. Upon arrest, police found 291.57 grams or 10.28 ounces of meth in the vehicle the pair were using —an amount the Crown described as being wholesale. Addiction is why Coderre also failed to show up for her earlier sentencing.

She accepts responsibility for this, said Bellmore, and since being in custody at the Lethbridge Remand Centre, has completed a budgeting course, anger management course, parenting course, and hopes to complete a course on family violence prevention.

At defence counsel’s request, Judge Krinke made the recommendation that Coderre serve her time in Lethbridge due to the programming and traditional ceremonies available, and the elder on staff.

Due to time spent in custody, Coderre was granted seven months credit. Once out on probation, she is required to attend for assessment and counselling.

Gladue and subsequent rulings called for courts to look at alternatives to incarceration for aboriginal people as a way to address their overrepresentation in the penal system. Judge Krinke pointed out that this has yet to been achieved, that the proportion has even increased, citing a 2016 report which found more than 50 per cent of female offenders in the Edmonton Remand Centre were aboriginal.

“When I look at her record, the simple thing is to put her in jail,” said Krinke, but added that putting her in jail hasn’t deterred her in the past, and the majority of research shows jail time isn’t a good general deterrent.

He said he hopes she can use the programs to break that cycle and overcome her addiction and issues.

Rasmussen also entered guilty pleas in September to drug trafficking and firearm charges and was granted release until sentencing in October. He too failed to show for sentencing and was arrested three provinces over in Northwestern Ontario.

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