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“I say this to Mr. Boucher’s family: Mr. Boucher was a valuable person. He did not deserve to die. Far too many Indigenous people die violent deaths in Canada.”

Griffin said she also had to consider the fact that the accused had been neglected and traumatized during her Aboriginal upbringing and had suffered repeated assaults.

The accused, who had family members who had attended residential schools, had been introduced at a young age to drugs and drinking and had become addicted to alcohol.

In addition to being a victim of violence, she had committed several assaults of her own while intoxicated prior to Boucher’s slaying.

The judge told the accused, a mother of two young children, that when she gets out of prison, she needs to stay sober and get counselling and supervisory support.

The aggravating factors in the case include that the accused, who had initially been charged with second-degree murder, used a weapon and left the scene without offering assistance to Boucher.

The mitigating factors include that she had been willing to plead guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and had felt remorse for her crime.

Griffin imposed a sentence of four years, which will be reduced to about 18 months of jail time remaining after the accused gets credit for pre-sentence custody.

She also ordered that Taniskishayinew serve three years probation upon release and imposed a number of probation conditions, including that she abstain from drugs and alcohol and have no contact with the victim’s family.

Mary Davis, Boucher’s mother, was not happy with the sentence.

“I don’t believe that the sentence she got was right. I believe she should have got more time. I believe manslaughter was a slap in the face. She killed him in cold blood.”

kfraser@postmedia.com

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