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If you drive drunk and kill someone in Canada, the punishment is prison.

But a London lawyer representing an Indigenous man who killed one of his best friends suggested Wednesday that long sentences haven’t stopped impaired driving in First Nations communities.

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Instead, he’s looking for a an unusual break from jail time.

Prison for Timothy Summers, 50, of Oneida, his lawyer George Grant said, may not be the solution.

More, not fewer, Indigenous people have been incarcerated, he said, since impaired driving sentences have become stiffer.

“There’s something quite significant that has to be done,” he told Superior Court Justice Lynda Templeton.

While assistant Crown attorney Roger Dietrich asked for four to six years in prison for killing one friend and injuring another, Grant asked Templeton to consider crafting a conditional sentence for Summers that would be served in the community with an emphasis on restorative justice.