Cathy Riddell is fed up with the length of time it’s taking to sentence the man who caused so much misery for so many people in Toronto four years ago this month.
“It’s time to put this behind us. It’s time for us to all start to live again — or try to, at least,” said Riddell, one of the surviving victims of Alek Minassian’s deadly Yonge Street van attack on April 23, 2018.
She just learned this week that he will finally be sentenced on June 13 — but for only one of the 10 first-degree murders that he was found guilty of after a trial early last year. A source confirmed the June plan, while the Ministry of the Attorney General did not immediately respond to the Star’s request for comment.
That’s because the prosecution is waiting until the Supreme Court of Canada rules on how judges can determine parole eligibility in cases involving multiple murders.
Riddell questions why the prosecution doesn’t just sentence him as the law stands now, because “that’s the respect the victims deserve.” All the victim impact statements, from the families of the deceased, injured victims, and civilians, will be read at the June hearing.
Other cases have also been affected while Canada’s highest court decides on the constitutionality of a 2011 law that lets judges stack multiple periods of parole ineligibility for offenders convicted of more than one murder.
On Tuesday, a judge sentenced an Ajax man to life in prison with no parole for 25 years for the second-degree murders of a mother and son, but held back on imposing a sentence for his third murder conviction, of the mother’s daughter, until the parole issue is settled in Ottawa.
In the Minassian case, a virtual hearing was held Tuesday morning to confirm timing — though victims, media representatives and members of the public were not permitted to attend, another source of Riddell’s frustration.
“Why would we not be allowed to hear it?”
Minassian was found guilty of 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder in March 2021. First-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for 25 years.
If found constitutional, the 2011 law would let the judge sentence Minassian to consecutive 25-year ineligibility periods, for a total possibly exceeding his lifespan.
Several Ontario Superior Court judges have upheld the constitutionality of the law. However, the Quebec Court of Appeal declared it unconstitutional in 2020 in the case of the Quebec City mosque shooter, who killed six people and injured five. That court concluded that failing to provide an offender with a realistic prospect of parole, in cases where offenders could demonstrate they were rehabilitated, was cruel and unusual punishment.
The Toronto Police Association, various victim representatives and others urged the high court last month to uphold the law, arguing multiple murderers should not be given a “free pass.” The Supreme Court has not said when it will release a decision.
Even if the law is declared unconstitutional, there is no guarantee Minassian would ever be granted parole after he becomes eligible to apply.
In the meantime, after Minassian’s June sentencing date, he will be moved from the South Detention Center in Toronto to a federal penitentiary. Regardless of whether the Supreme Court strikes down the law, he will be returned to Toronto for sentencing on the remaining counts.
His lawyer, Boris Bytensky, declined to comment.
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