Supreme Court

R. v. Villeneuve, 2017 NWTSC 6 S-1-CR-2016-000035 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES IN THE MATTER OF: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN - v - BEVERLEY ANNE VILLENEUVE _________________________________________________________ Transcript of the Reasons for Sentence delivered by The Honourable Justice L.A. Charbonneau, sitting in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, on January 16, 2017. _________________________________________________________

APPEARANCES: Mr. M. Lecorre: Counsel for the Crown Mr. P. Harte: Counsel for the Accused (Charges under s. 234 of the Criminal Code of Canada)

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1 THE COURT: Last August, Beverley 2 Villeneuve pleaded guilty to a charge of 3 manslaughter. She admits that she caused the 4 death of Archie Paulette back in the summer of 5 2015, on June 8th. Today, it is my 6 responsibility to sentence her for that crime. 7 Ms. Villeneuve's sentencing hearing did not 8 proceed right after her guilty plea was entered 9 because a request was made to have a pre-sentence 10 report prepared. That was to give the Court more 11 information about her background and about her 12 personal circumstances. I have reviewed the 13 pre-sentence report carefully. It provides a lot 14 of information about Ms. Villeneuve's life, the 15 many struggles that she has lived through. This 16 information has helped me understand more about 17 her and about some of the things that have 18 contributed to her issues. Her lawyer said a lot 19 of things at the sentencing hearing as well that 20 have also helped me understand more about her. 21 Her circumstances, tragic as they are, do not 22 excuse her conduct, and they do not change the 23 terrible consequences that her actions had. 24 At the sentencing hearing, I 25 heard victim impact statements read on behalf of 26 Mr. Paulette's sister, Susan Chaffee, and her 27 former husband. I also heard directly from A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 2

1 Mr. Paulette's niece. It was clear that day, and 2 not surprising, that Mr. Paulette's death has had 3 a huge impact on these people and, I am sure, on 4 others. Susan in particular is devastated by the 5 loss of her brother. 6 The Court is powerless to 7 repair the harm that was done or restore the loss 8 that is felt. A sentence, even the harshest of 9 sentences, could never make up for the loss of 10 Mr. Paulette for those who loved him. I can only 11 hope that the conclusion of the court proceedings 12 will be another step for people in their own 13 healing process and that maybe, the end of the 14 court proceedings will help with some aspects of 15 closure. Closure does not mean forgetting. It 16 just means finding a way to move on with life. 17 It is clear from what I heard at the sentencing 18 hearing and what I read that if there is to be 19 healing from these events, it will take a long 20 time for everybody involved. It is my hope that 21 that can happen. 22 In any sentencing, the Court 23 has to take into account the circumstances of the 24 offence, the circumstances of the person who 25 committed the offence, and the legal principles 26 that apply in any sentencing hearing. With 27 respect to the circumstances of the offence, the A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 3

1 circumstances of Mr. Paulette's death are not 2 entirely clear. On June 8th, 2015, 3 Ms. Villeneuve and Mr. Paulette had some family 4 and friends over at their house in Ndilo for a 5 barbecue. The guests left at around 5:00 p.m., 6 and Ms. Villeneuve and Mr. Paulette were left 7 alone. They had been drinking alcohol during the 8 afternoon, and some of the people who had been at 9 their house observed that they were intoxicated 10 and they were arguing. Mr. Paulette left the 11 house shortly before 10:00 p.m. and went to the 12 Vital Abel medical boarding home. A security 13 guard who saw him there noticed that he was 14 intoxicated. Mr. Paulette was asked to leave the 15 property. He returned to his residence. 16 At some point after he 17 returned, Ms. Villeneuve stabbed Mr. Paulette 18 once in the back. The exact circumstances that 19 led to this are unknown to this day and will 20 never be known. Ms. Villeneuve does not remember 21 what happened. She finds it difficult to believe 22 she did this, but through her guilty plea and her 23 admission of the facts, she accepts that she did 24 it. 25 What we do know is that at 26 11:00 p.m., Ms. Villeneuve went to a neighbour's 27 house, Mr. Tsetta, asking for help and asking him A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 4

1 to call an ambulance. He asked what happened, 2 and she replied, according to him, that she did 3 not want to stay with the ambulance because she 4 "did not want to tell them and get blamed for 5 it." 6 Ms. Villeneuve and Mr. Tsetta 7 returned to the Paulette residence. Mr. Tsetta, 8 from the doorway, saw Mr. Paulette seated on a 9 couch inside the house. Mr. Tsetta thought 10 Mr. Paulette was passed out. He went to the 11 boarding house to call an ambulance. 12 Mr. Tsetta returned to his own 13 home after that, and he found Ms. Villeneuve 14 there. She said that she did not want to be 15 there when the ambulance came and get blamed. To 16 Mr. Tsetta, she appeared drunk. He kicked her 17 out. She returned home. 18 Shortly after that, the 19 ambulance arrived. The emergency medical staff 20 determined that Mr. Paulette had no vital signs 21 and that he had a cut on his back. The police 22 arrived on the scene shortly after the ambulance, 23 and they arrested Ms. Villeneuve. 24 During the investigation, the 25 police seized a knife in the kitchen. It had 26 blood on it which was later found, through 27 forensic testing, to be Mr. Paulette's blood. A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 5

1 Ms. Villeneuve and 2 Mr. Paulette were in a common-law relationship 3 and had been for some years. It is undisputed 4 that their relationship was tumultuous. On the 5 date of the offence, she was on an undertaking 6 which included a condition that she not have any 7 contact with him. 8 Ms. Villeneuve has a criminal 9 record. She has a number of convictions for 10 assault with weapon, as well as some convictions 11 for breaches of court orders, as well as one 12 conviction for disturbing the peace and one 13 conviction for mischief, but she has never been 14 sentenced to jail terms that were lengthy. The 15 last entry on her record was for a charge of 16 assault, which I am told was not on Mr. Paulette. 17 The criminal record filed as Exhibit S-2 shows 18 that a sentence of 30 days was imposed for that 19 offence, and this was in addition to 52 days that 20 she had already spent on remand. That amounts to 21 a sentence of imprisonment that is under six 22 months. 23 Unfortunately, this time, 24 Ms. Villeneuve's use of a weapon has led to the 25 most tragic outcome imaginable. 26 Ms. Villeneuve's counsel has 27 made extensive submissions on her behalf, as I A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 6

1 have already mentioned, and has told me a lot 2 about her background. There is also a lot of 3 information included in the pre-sentence report. 4 She is now 48 years old. She was born in Fort 5 Resolution and is Chipewyan, a member of the 6 Deninu K'ue First Nation. 7 To say that Ms. Villeneuve has 8 had a difficult upbringing and has faced 9 challenges in her life would be an 10 understatement. Sadly, like so many offenders 11 who come before this Court, the first memories 12 she has of her childhood are traumatic ones. Her 13 biological parents used alcohol and led very 14 unhealthy lifestyles. There was family violence. 15 She has memories of hiding under furniture with 16 her siblings while her parents and other 17 relatives were drinking and fighting in the 18 house. No child should have to grow up in this 19 type of environment, and yet we hear so many of 20 those stories in sentencing hearings before this 21 Court. It is terribly sad and perhaps even worse 22 to think that this type of thing continues to go 23 on in many households today, and the cycle of 24 violence in many instances is continuing to be 25 repeated. The Court cannot solve the social 26 issues that lead to these problems through the 27 sentencing process. The answers have to come A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 7

1 from elsewhere. 2 Ms. Villeneuve was eventually 3 adopted in a family where the environment was far 4 more positive. In the pre-sentence report, she 5 reports that she felt loved and accepted by her 6 adoptive parents and siblings. Unfortunately, 7 she started drinking when she was 13 years old, 8 and this resulted in a deterioration of her 9 relationship with her adoptive family. 10 Without going into all the 11 details of what the pre-sentence report describes 12 and what counsel have told me at the sentencing 13 hearing, it is clear that alcohol abuse has been 14 a permanent feature of Ms. Villeneuve's life for 15 many years now. As counsel put it, the abuse of 16 alcohol was completely normalized for her from a 17 fairly young age. She made very destructive 18 choices. Despite the efforts of those around 19 her, including her adoptive mother, she was 20 unable to break out of that cycle of 21 self-destructiveness. Violence also appears to 22 have been normalized in her life. She was 23 involved in other relationships where there was 24 domestic violence, sometimes significant domestic 25 violence. 26 After Ms. Villeneuve met 27 Mr. Paulette and they started their relationship, A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 8

1 they were homeless for a while. In 2007, he was 2 diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent a lot of 3 time in hospital in Edmonton. When he recovered 4 and returned to Yellowknife, they did get housing 5 in Ndilo because of his health issues. 6 As I have already mentioned, 7 the relationship with Mr. Paulette was 8 tumultuous, and their lifestyle appears to have 9 been quite unhealthy. 10 There is a very striking 11 comment in the pre-sentence report, something 12 that was reported by Ms. Villeneuve herself, that 13 at one point Mr. Paulette's sister Susan warned 14 them that if they continued to drink together, 15 one of them would end up dead. Unfortunately, 16 Susan was right. 17 The principles of sentencing 18 are set out in the Criminal Code, and I am not 19 going to refer to them in any great detail here. 20 For obvious reasons, when dealing with crimes of 21 violence, especially violence involving weapons, 22 and even more so when the consequences are as 23 tragic as in this case, the most important 24 sentencing objectives are to ensure that the 25 sentence imposed by the Court reflects the 26 disapproval of the behaviour and sends a clear 27 message about the seriousness of that behaviour. A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 9

1 I think everyone understands 2 that manslaughter is a serious offence. Often, 3 when people are sentenced for assaults with 4 weapons that did not result in serious or 5 life-threatening injuries, or even sometimes when 6 the assault did result in a life-threatening 7 injury, this is what we judges say to the person 8 being sentenced: that they could have easily 9 caused more harm; that they are lucky that 10 nothing more serious flowed from their actions; 11 that they could be facing sentencing for murder 12 or manslaughter; that when a person is stabbed, 13 the difference between a minor injury and a fatal 14 injury is more often than not a question of pure 15 luck. Maybe these things were even said to 16 Ms. Villeneuve when she was sentenced for assault 17 with a weapon in the past. But this time, this 18 is what happened. There was only one stab wound, 19 but it was fatal. 20 Ms. Villeneuve says she was 21 blacked out when she stabbed Mr. Paulette and 22 that she finds it difficult to believe that she 23 did this. She says she misses him, and when she 24 was interviewed for the pre-sentence report, she 25 was not able at all to talk about the future. 26 She was not able to articulate how she sees the 27 future beyond the sentence that she will have to A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 10

1 serve for this offence. No matter what I do 2 today, she has to live the rest of her life 3 knowing what she did, and this, I am sure, is 4 already a sentence all on its own. 5 Ms. Villeneuve's counsel has 6 given me two articles as part of the sentencing 7 hearing, Randall and Harkell - Trauma-Informed 8 Approaches to Law (Dalhousie Law Journal, 2013) 9 and Harkell and Randall - Disrupted Attachments: 10 A Social Context Complex Trauma Framework and the 11 Lives of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada (Journal of 12 Aboriginal Health, 2009). They relate to the 13 role of trauma in people coming into conflict 14 with the law and possible avenues for solution or 15 approaches. It is difficult to take issue with 16 anything that the authors of these papers have 17 written. Many people in this jurisdiction have 18 suffered significant trauma as a result of 19 childhood experiences, and some of that trauma is 20 linked to what those people's parents experienced 21 and the trauma they experienced at residential 22 school. It is clear, I think, that without 23 significant resources to fully understand and 24 address the high level of trauma that exists in 25 our population, it is difficult to see how the 26 many social issues that we have can be addressed 27 and how we can hope to see improvement. But I A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 11

1 repeat, the Court does not have the tools to 2 assess and to fully comprehend the effect that 3 Ms. Villeneuve's experiences have had on her and 4 to assess exactly what intervention would be 5 required to address the consequences of those 6 experiences. 7 I think anyone who is involved 8 with the criminal justice system in this 9 jurisdiction would have to agree that significant 10 resources are needed to help people address these 11 issues and that for those whose traumas have led 12 them to come into conflict with the law, 13 rehabilitation is not a simple process. That 14 being said, the Court does not have the power to 15 create the treatment programs that are needed. 16 The Court only has a limited number of tools, and 17 while some of them can support the rehabilitation 18 of a person, they are certainly not enough. 19 The other reality is that, 20 unfortunately, once someone becomes a danger to 21 others in the community, even when the Court can 22 understand exactly why, given that person's 23 background, they have ended up with these issues, 24 the Court has a duty to prioritize public safety. 25 It is important to note as 26 well that for Ms. Villeneuve, while being in jail 27 will definitely be punitive because it takes her A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 12

1 freedom away, it does not have to be only 2 punitive. Being in a structured environment, not 3 having access to alcohol, eating properly, having 4 access to a psychologist and counsellors and some 5 programs that can hopefully help her deal with 6 some of her issues, all of that can be beneficial 7 to her rehabilitation. The road ahead for her 8 will be long, but it is not without hope. 9 Ms. Villeneuve's current state, from what I have 10 observed in these proceedings, what I have read, 11 what I heard from counsel, and what I am seeing 12 even today can best be described as a state of 13 utter despair about what has happened and what 14 the future holds. A jail term of some 15 significance is not only what is required now to 16 reflect the seriousness of the offence she has 17 committed and to protect the public, but it is 18 essential for Ms. Villeneuve herself. 19 Manslaughter is punishable by 20 a maximum of life imprisonment, and there is no 21 minimum sentence. The range of sentences 22 available under the Criminal Code is very broad. 23 The case law provides some parameters to situate 24 different types of manslaughters and place them 25 in different categories based on how dangerous 26 the conduct of the person was. I agree with the 27 characterization of counsel about where this A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 13

1 particular case fits, and I will get back to that 2 in a minute. 3 I have reviewed the cases 4 filed by the Crown, and they are helpful not 5 because they are all similar or identical to this 6 case but because they talk about the principles 7 that must guide the Court in how it should 8 exercise its discretion on sentencing. It is 9 difficult to comment about the circumstances of 10 this offence because what happened that evening 11 is not clear at all, but there are some 12 aggravating factors stemming from even the little 13 bit we know about what happened. The first is 14 that this happened in the context of a spousal 15 relationship, and that clearly is an aggravating 16 factor. I adopt here the things that I said 17 about that in R. v. Sayine, 2014 NWTSC 85, para. 18 51-56. Second, the use of a weapon is also 19 aggravating. Any time a weapon is used, it 20 increases the risk of harm, and it increases the 21 offender's blameworthiness. 22 Going back to the different 23 degrees of seriousness of conduct that we see in 24 manslaughter cases, I agree that this case falls 25 in the middle category. 26 The third aggravating factor 27 is that Ms. Villeneuve was on a no-contact order A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 14

1 at the time. That condition was there for a 2 reason. It seems that both parties chose to 3 ignore it, but the person who was required to 4 comply with the condition was not Mr. Paulette; 5 it was Ms. Villeneuve. So that is an aggravating 6 factor. And, finally, Ms. Villeneuve's related 7 criminal record is also an aggravating factor. 8 There are also mitigating 9 factors. Ms. Villeneuve waived her preliminary 10 hearing. She pleaded guilty and gave up a very 11 important right, the right to have a trial. At 12 the sentencing hearing, the Crown counsel advised 13 that there may have been issues with the Crown's 14 case. Having heard the facts, I can see why. 15 The Crown had a circumstantial case, and perhaps 16 it could be labeled as a strong circumstantial 17 case, but there are never any guarantees. All 18 sorts of things can happen at trial. The fact 19 that Ms. Villeneuve, not remembering these 20 events, is nonetheless prepared to accept her 21 responsibility for this is a significant 22 mitigating factor. 23 I also have to take into 24 account her personal circumstances, and I am 25 guided in that, among other things, by the 26 principles set out by the Supreme Court of Canada 27 in the cases of Gladue and Ipeelee, which counsel A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 15

1 referred to. I accept that Ms. Villeneuve's 2 background diminishes her blameworthiness. At 3 the same time, this is not a situation where a 4 sanction other than imprisonment can be 5 contemplated. Although blameworthiness is 6 diminished, as I said in other cases, aboriginal 7 communities and aboriginal victims are entitled 8 to the same protection as non-aboriginal 9 communities and non-aboriginal victims. This has 10 to be considered when balancing all of the 11 factors relevant to sentencing. 12 At the sentencing hearing, 13 counsel presented me with a joint submission. In 14 law, such a submission carries a lot of weight. 15 That principle has been the law for several 16 years, but it was reaffirmed recently in no 17 uncertain terms in the case of R. v. 18 Anthony-Cooke, 2016 SCC 43. I have no difficulty 19 in this case in concluding that the joint 20 submission should be followed. To be sure, the 21 sentence for this offence could be longer than 22 what is suggested. But when weighing the 23 circumstances against the mitigating effect of 24 the guilty plea and Ms. Villeneuve's own 25 circumstances, the joint recommendation of 26 counsel, in my view, should be followed. 27 The Crown has applied for A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 16

1 ancillary orders, and I will deal with those 2 first. There will be a DNA order because this is 3 a primary designated offence. There will be a 4 firearms prohibition order which will be in place 5 for life. There will be an order for the 6 disposition of exhibits at the expiration of the 7 appeal period, and I have no jurisdiction to 8 waive the victim of crimes surcharge, so there 9 will be an order for the victim of crimes 10 surcharge in accordance with the Criminal Code. 11 Ms. Villeneuve has been on 12 remand since her arrest on June 8th, 2015. 13 Counsel advised this worked out to approximately 14 560 days. There has now been an extra 30 days. 15 Under the existing state of the law, 16 Ms. Villeneuve is entitled to credit for that 17 remand time. I have heard nothing to suggest 18 that she should not receive credit at a ratio of 19 a one-and-a-half day credit for each day on 20 remand, so by my calculation, this amounts to 21 28 months of credit, and I will give her that 22 credit accordingly. 23 Ms. Villeneuve, for the 24 manslaughter of Mr. Paulette, I sentence you to a 25 term of 5 years imprisonment. For the 560 days 26 you spent in custody, I credit you 28 months, 27 which means that the remaining time to be served A.C.E. Reporting Services Inc. 17