Court of Appeal for Ontario

Date: 20211008 Docket: C68731

Judges: Rouleau, Benotto and Zarnett JJ.A.

Between:

Her Majesty the Queen Respondent

and

Vanessa Canlas Appellant

Counsel:

Vanessa Canlas, acting in person Faiyaz Alibhai, for the respondent

Heard: October 5, 2021 by video conference

On appeal from the sentence imposed on September 30, 2020, with reasons reported at 2020 ONSC 5879, by Justice Nancy Spies of the Superior Court of Justice.

Reasons for Decision

[1] The appellant appeals the $833,238 fine imposed by the sentencing judge after she found the appellant guilty of fraud. The appellant argues that the sentencing judge committed errors in calculating the appropriate amount of the fine. Specifically, she argues that the sentencing judge did not take into account cash payments made to the appellant’s employees. She argues that the $2.213 million attributed to her as income was an error.

[2] We see no merit in this submission. This same argument was before the sentencing judge. The sentencing judge’s reasons for rejecting it are clear and cogent. We see no basis to interfere.

[3] The appellant also argues that a significant portion of the funds were paid out by J.V. Variety, a company involved in the fraud. J.V. Variety paid the money through Western Union and Reliable. In the appellant’s submissions, only J.V. Variety’s commission received from these payments should be included as income. The balance should be deducted from the misappropriated funds.

[4] Again, this was addressed by the sentencing judge in her reasons, and the appellant has been unable to point to any error that would justify this court’s intervention.

[5] For these reasons, leave to appeal sentence is granted, but the sentence appeal is dismissed.

"Paul Rouleau"

"M.L. Benotto J.A."

"B. Zarnett J.A."