Gladue reports can reduce sentences for the most marginalized, but many don't know it's their right

Blaine Hotomanie's Gladue report did more than reduce the time he'll spend behind bars.

"It changed my life, the way I look at things," he said. "I've got a big family and I want to show my grandchildren not to drink and drive. I talk to them about it."

Gladue reports present circumstances of a self-identified Indigenous accused's life for a judge to consider while deciding on a sentence. These can include personal and community histories, and traumas such as colonialism and its ongoing impacts.

Even though Gladue reports are a right for every Indigenous person who appears in court — thanks to two court decisions from 1999 and 2012 — not everyone is aware of their right to them, or has access to Gladue report writers. Saskatchewan in particular ranks near the bottom of the country for the use of Gladue reports, according to data from the Aboriginal Legal Society, which intervened in the landmark 1999 court case.

Gladue reports are time-consuming and resource-intensive, but in late 2020 the Integrated Justice Program (IJP), which is funded by Public Safety Canada, created a team of legal experts and people who study and work with people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), entirely focused on writing the reports for Saskatchewan trials.

WATCH| What are Gladue reports?

Advocates say the writing team is allowing more people to get the Gladue reports they are entitled to.

Hotomanie, 57, from Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation — roughly 80 kilometres east of Regina —  had at one point been facing 18 months for impaired driving last spring. After his Gladue report, which presented factors including his FASD, Hotomanie's sentence was reduced to six months.

Over the course of three days of three-hour interviews for his Gladue report, Hotomanie shared the pains he faced growing up. He experienced a lot of violence as a child in a home where both his parents drank. He lost loved ones — particularly his parents — and was in the residential school system.

It wasn't until his interviews with the IJP that Hotomanie learned how these traumas impacted him.

Now, with a large support network consisting of his wife, his six children, 25 grandchildren, friends and leaders in Carry the Kettle, he's more worried about his future than his sentence.

"I've got all that stuff out and I'm doing better. I've got a job. I've never had a job for a long time," he said.

"I'm kinda hoping that I can save my job, but time will tell."

The IJP was launched in 2019. It is a joint initiative run by the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Network and File Hills Tribal Council. The program focuses on comprehensive support for Indigenous people with FASD in Saskatchewan.