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OTTAWA – Justice Minister Rob Nicholson should take a long, honest look at the Rahim Jaffer case and apply its lessons to the Conservative criminal justice agenda, the head of the John Howard Society said Tuesday.

“It’s really easy to disparage discretion for judges – until you need it,” Craig Jones told The Canadian Press in an interview.

Jaffer, a former senior Conservative MP in the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, walked out of a courtroom in Orangeville, Ont., after drunk driving and cocaine possession charges were dropped in return for a plea bargain on a careless driving charge.

“I’m sure you can recognize a break when you see one,” Justice Doug Maund told Jaffer.

The decision drew howls of outrage from government critics, who accused the Conservatives of gross hypocrisy for promoting an aggressive “tough-on-crime” agenda but remaining silent when the mantra was not applied to one of their own.

Jones, who as executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada advocates for “effective, just and humane responses to the causes and consequences of crime,” took a different tack.

He contrasted the treatment of Jaffer to the Harper government’s push to create mandatory minimum sentences for a whole host of offences.

“I don’t know Jaffer’s history, I certainly don’t know his heart,” said Jones.

“But would any social benefit really be served by making an example of him? By putting him in jail? By throwing the book at him?

“I mean, the guy’s been publicly humiliated. … If this is a first offence, it’s a very costly first offence for a guy who aspires to be in public service.”

Conservatives, up to and including the prime minister, have publicly criticized judges for sentences they deemed too light. Harper, unsolicited, publicly questioned the sentence handed to a Toronto terrorism convict in January.

But on Tuesday several Conservative MPs stressed that the Jaffer court proceedings were in Ontario jurisdiction and had nothing to do with the federal government.

“It’s a judge who made the decision,” said Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn. “There is never any intervention politically.”

Quebec Tory Steven Blaney said the separation of the political and the judicial is “Politics 101.”

Yet political intervention is precisely what the Conservatives are pushing when they enact mandatory minimum sentencing laws, said several experts.

“Most Canadians – regardless of their ‘law and order’ views – accept that proportionality in sentencing makes sense,” Anthony Doob, a criminologist at the University of Toronto, said in an email Tuesday.

“But (mandatory minimums) make it impossible for judges to accomplish proportionality, given the range of behaviour involved. So, we’ve sacrificed proportional sentencing for largely political purposes.”

The experts say the truly perverse aspect of mandatory minimums and “truth in sentencing” provisions is that in real life they actually make the administration of justice more “surreal and bizarre and unjust,” in Jones’ words.

“They encourage exactly the kind of behaviour that you see here (with Jaffer),” said the criminal justice advocate.

“Prosecutors and judges strike deals to preserve proportionality. But because they can’t do it in public, they do it behind closed doors.”

And a well-recorded history of increased plea bargains in areas of mandatory minimum sentences suggests it is people like Jaffer – connected, educated, wealthy – who benefit most, said criminologist Neil Boyd of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby. B.C.

“Mandatory minimums introduce more discretion to police and prosecutors, particularly prosecutors . . . (but) it creates really haphazard justice,” said Boyd.

“Some people will be sentenced for relatively trivial things for very long periods of time and other people will be able to avoid it – usually having to do with the kinds of resources they have at their disposal in terms of legal defence.”

OTTAWA – Justice Minister Rob Nicholson should take a long, honest look at the Rahim Jaffer case and apply its lessons to the Conservative criminal justice agenda, the head of the John Howard Society said Tuesday.

“It’s really easy to disparage discretion for judges – until you need it,” Craig Jones told The Canadian Press in an interview.

Jaffer, a former senior Conservative MP in the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, walked out of a courtroom in Orangeville, Ont., after drunk driving and cocaine possession charges were dropped in return for a plea bargain on a careless driving charge.

“I’m sure you can recognize a break when you see one,” Justice Doug Maund told Jaffer.

The decision drew howls of outrage from government critics, who accused the Conservatives of gross hypocrisy for promoting an aggressive “tough-on-crime” agenda but remaining silent when the mantra was not applied to one of their own.

Jones, who as executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada advocates for “effective, just and humane responses to the causes and consequences of crime,” took a different tack.

He contrasted the treatment of Jaffer to the Harper government’s push to create mandatory minimum sentences for a whole host of offences.

“I don’t know Jaffer’s history, I certainly don’t know his heart,” said Jones.

“But would any social benefit really be served by making an example of him? By putting him in jail? By throwing the book at him?

“I mean, the guy’s been publicly humiliated. … If this is a first offence, it’s a very costly first offence for a guy who aspires to be in public service.”

Conservatives, up to and including the prime minister, have publicly criticized judges for sentences they deemed too light. Harper, unsolicited, publicly questioned the sentence handed to a Toronto terrorism convict in January.

But on Tuesday several Conservative MPs stressed that the Jaffer court proceedings were in Ontario jurisdiction and had nothing to do with the federal government.

“It’s a judge who made the decision,” said Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn. “There is never any intervention politically.”

Quebec Tory Steven Blaney said the separation of the political and the judicial is “Politics 101.”

Yet political intervention is precisely what the Conservatives are pushing when they enact mandatory minimum sentencing laws, said several experts.

“Most Canadians – regardless of their ‘law and order’ views – accept that proportionality in sentencing makes sense,” Anthony Doob, a criminologist at the University of Toronto, said in an email Tuesday.

“But (mandatory minimums) make it impossible for judges to accomplish proportionality, given the range of behaviour involved. So, we’ve sacrificed proportional sentencing for largely political purposes.”

The experts say the truly perverse aspect of mandatory minimums and “truth in sentencing” provisions is that in real life they actually make the administration of justice more “surreal and bizarre and unjust,” in Jones’ words.

“They encourage exactly the kind of behaviour that you see here (with Jaffer),” said the criminal justice advocate.

“Prosecutors and judges strike deals to preserve proportionality. But because they can’t do it in public, they do it behind closed doors.”

And a well-recorded history of increased plea bargains in areas of mandatory minimum sentences suggests it is people like Jaffer – connected, educated, wealthy – who benefit most, said criminologist Neil Boyd of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby. B.C.

“Mandatory minimums introduce more discretion to police and prosecutors, particularly prosecutors . . . (but) it creates really haphazard justice,” said Boyd.

“Some people will be sentenced for relatively trivial things for very long periods of time and other people will be able to avoid it – usually having to do with the kinds of resources they have at their disposal in terms of legal defence.”

SASKATOON – Saskatchewan native leaders say they have agreed to hand over financial control of the troubled First Nations University of Canada to the University of Regina.

Chief Guy Lonechild of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations says the decision could prompt Ottawa to restore some federal funding to the school.

Last month the federal and Saskatchewan governments cut $12.5 million in annual grants to First Nations University.

The school faces allegations of financial mismanagement and one of its former vice-presidents has been charged with fraud.

Lonechild says he is heading to Ottawa later this week for a meeting with Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl over the future of the university.

A consultants’ report released last month recommended the school should become openly financially accountable and be run by people who are not in a conflict of interest.

SASKATOON – Saskatchewan native leaders say they have agreed to hand over financial control of the troubled First Nations University of Canada to the University of Regina.

Chief Guy Lonechild of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations says the decision could prompt Ottawa to restore some federal funding to the school.

Last month the federal and Saskatchewan governments cut $12.5 million in annual grants to First Nations University.

The school faces allegations of financial mismanagement and one of its former vice-presidents has been charged with fraud.

Lonechild says he is heading to Ottawa later this week for a meeting with Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl over the future of the university.

A consultants’ report released last month recommended the school should become openly financially accountable and be run by people who are not in a conflict of interest.

MONTREAL – An exceptional lack of sea ice on the Gulf of St. Lawrence this winter has left seal mothers with few places to bear their young or to feed their pups.

The conditions have led to numerous sightings of fuzzy, days-old critters wallowing on beaches, where many wait to die.

But the biggest threat to the seal pups might be well-intentioned landlubbers hoping to lend a hand.

“They (humans) react as if they have found a lost kitten or a lost puppy dog,” said Veronik de la Cheneliere, a spokeswoman for the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network.

“They want to touch the animal, they want to help him, they want to bring it back to the water.

“They are quite adorable little animals, but they are wild animals.”

Some people have even carted the big-eyed creatures, which weigh between 10 and 20 kilograms depending on the species, back home where they try to nurse them to health, de la Cheneliere said Tuesday.

But she said human interaction can add stress to the situation and diseases can be spread to and from the seals.

Her organization has received five direct reports of young harp or hooded seal pups marooned on Quebec’s North Shore, Iles-de-la-Madeleine and the Gaspe Peninsula. They have also heard many second-hand accounts of sightings along the shoreline.

The iconic harp seal pups are known for their big, black eyes and fluffy white coats, while the young hooded seals can be identified by their dark, blue-grey fur and white bellies.

Neither the hooded nor the harp seals found off Quebec’s shores are listed as at-risk species, but both can be hunted seasonally in the province with a permit.

De la Cheneliere said a couple of the seaside samaritans have made inquiries on that very subject.

“Some of them have been asking if they could nurse them to life, (but) then when they understood the implications and why it wasn’t a good idea, they asked if they could get the coat,” she said.

With the unusual shortage of ice on the Gulf this year, de la Cheneliere’s group is predicting higher mortality rates for young seals.

Still, not every beached pup perishes on the shore – some find their way back to the water and survive, she said.

A marine mammal specialist for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently told The Canadian Press he also expects the death rate for seal pups to rise this year from its average of 15 per cent.

But Mike Hammill doesn’t believe the added deaths would have a major impact on the Eastern Canada seal populations, which number about seven million in total.

An Environment Canada ice forecaster recently said the sea-ice levels recorded in the Gulf this winter are about as low as any readings since the 1960s.

MONTREAL – An exceptional lack of sea ice on the Gulf of St. Lawrence this winter has left seal mothers with few places to bear their young or to feed their pups.

The conditions have led to numerous sightings of fuzzy, days-old critters wallowing on beaches, where many wait to die.

But the biggest threat to the seal pups might be well-intentioned landlubbers hoping to lend a hand.

“They (humans) react as if they have found a lost kitten or a lost puppy dog,” said Veronik de la Cheneliere, a spokeswoman for the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network.

“They want to touch the animal, they want to help him, they want to bring it back to the water.

“They are quite adorable little animals, but they are wild animals.”

Some people have even carted the big-eyed creatures, which weigh between 10 and 20 kilograms depending on the species, back home where they try to nurse them to health, de la Cheneliere said Tuesday.

But she said human interaction can add stress to the situation and diseases can be spread to and from the seals.

Her organization has received five direct reports of young harp or hooded seal pups marooned on Quebec’s North Shore, Iles-de-la-Madeleine and the Gaspe Peninsula. They have also heard many second-hand accounts of sightings along the shoreline.

The iconic harp seal pups are known for their big, black eyes and fluffy white coats, while the young hooded seals can be identified by their dark, blue-grey fur and white bellies.

Neither the hooded nor the harp seals found off Quebec’s shores are listed as at-risk species, but both can be hunted seasonally in the province with a permit.

De la Cheneliere said a couple of the seaside samaritans have made inquiries on that very subject.

“Some of them have been asking if they could nurse them to life, (but) then when they understood the implications and why it wasn’t a good idea, they asked if they could get the coat,” she said.

With the unusual shortage of ice on the Gulf this year, de la Cheneliere’s group is predicting higher mortality rates for young seals.

Still, not every beached pup perishes on the shore – some find their way back to the water and survive, she said.

A marine mammal specialist for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently told The Canadian Press he also expects the death rate for seal pups to rise this year from its average of 15 per cent.

But Mike Hammill doesn’t believe the added deaths would have a major impact on the Eastern Canada seal populations, which number about seven million in total.

An Environment Canada ice forecaster recently said the sea-ice levels recorded in the Gulf this winter are about as low as any readings since the 1960s.