Court of Appeal for Ontario

Date: 2019-11-07 Docket: C65488

Judges: Watt, Huscroft and Trotter JJ.A.

Between

Her Majesty the Queen Respondent

and

Harmanpal Singh Sidhu Appellant

Counsel

Erec Rolfe, for the appellant

Diana Lumba, for the respondent

Hearing and Release

Heard and released orally: November 5, 2019

On appeal from: the sentence imposed on June 16, 2017 by Justice Colin R. Westman of the Ontario Court of Justice.

Reasons for Decision

[1] The appellant appeals a net sentence of eight years and two months imposed on several convictions of trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking in heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine. At the time of the occurrence of these offences the appellant was 25 years of age. He had prior related convictions and resumed commercial trafficking within months of his release on parole while bound by probation orders and weapons prohibitions.

[2] The principal ground of appeal argued is that the trial judge erred in his selection of the appropriate range of sentence for mid-level trafficking in these substances.

[3] The choice of a sentencing range, or of a category within a sentencing range, falls within the discretion of the sentencing judge and cannot in itself constitute a reviewable error. We are only entitled to intervene if we are of the view that the sentence imposed is demonstrably unfit: R. v. Lacasse, 2015 SCC 64, at para. 51.

[4] In our view, it simply cannot be said that the sentence imposed is demonstrably unfit. This case teems with aggravating factors and has few mitigating factors apart from a plea of guilty and the appellant's strongly supportive family. The sentencing judge was mindful of the aggravating factors, not the least of which were the appellant's calculated and near-immediate return to commercial trafficking within months of his release from custody; the nature and variety of highly addictive substances in which he trafficked; and the significant problems in the community in which the offences occurred with opioids, in particular, fentanyl use and its tragic consequences.

[5] Leave to appeal sentence is granted but the appeal from sentence is dismissed.

"David Watt J.A."

"Grant Huscroft J.A."

"Gary Trotter J.A."