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In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the Saskatchewan government collected $10,878,621 for victims, according to Wilby.

The victim surcharge has existed since 1988, but five years ago, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government removed the ability of judges to waive or lower the fees, making them mandatory in every case. The amount of the surcharge is 30 per cent of any fine, but with a minimum of $100 for lower-severity offences and $200 for more serious ones if no fine is imposed.

The change elicited rare judicial backlash, with judges in a number of provinces either refusing to impose the surcharge in some cases or making the fee so small as to be inconsequential. These decisions were later overturned on appeals.

The case brought to the Supreme Court was that of Alex Boudreault, a high-school dropout who had never held a steady job and who pleaded guilty to four counts relating to breaches of probation orders, breaking and entering, possession of stolen property and assault with a weapon.

In 2015, a Quebec court sentenced Boudreault to 36 months in prison and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of $1,400 — rejecting his argument the fee infringed the charter guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment.

The Quebec Court of Appeal dismissed Boudreault’s challenge of that ruling last year.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear Boudreault’s case as well as six similar ones that were grouped together to form the basis of Friday’s ruling. The offenders in all seven cases argued they couldn’t afford the surcharges, and all seven were living in poverty with physical and mental illnesses. Many also struggled with addictions.