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Prior conviction as a party to a firearm offence triggers the three-year minimum sentence for subsequent offences.
The appellant pleaded guilty to robbery and using a firearm while committing an indictable offence.
He had a prior conviction from 1969 for being a party to a robbery where a firearm was used, which occurred before the enactment of the firearm offence provisions.
The trial judge imposed a one-year consecutive sentence as a first offence, but the Court of Appeal substituted a three-year minimum sentence for a subsequent offence.
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that the wording of the Criminal Code explicitly applied to prior offences and that being a party to an offence under section 21 was sufficient to trigger the subsequent offence provisions.
