Decision Content
R v Dunn, 2018 NWTSC 29 S-1-CR-2017-000065
AMENDED ORIGINAL
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
IN THE MATTER OF:
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
- v - MIKE DUNN
ORIGINAL amended as of June 6, 2018
_________________________________________________________ Transcript of the Reasons for Sentence delivered by The Honourable Justice S. H. Smallwood, sitting in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, on the 17th day of April, 2018.
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APPEARANCES:
Mr. D. Praught: Counsel for the Crown
Mr. P. Hoare: Counsel for the Accused
(Charges under s. 465(1)(c) of the Criminal Code, and 5(1) and 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act)
1 THE COURT: Good afternoon. So we will
2 start by having a conviction entered on count 1
3 on the Indictment. And I understand the Crown
4 intends to enter a stay, as against Mr. Dunn, on
5 counts 2 and 3?
6 MR. PRAUGHT: That's correct, Your Honour.
7 I have a written stay of proceedings to --
8 THE COURT: Okay. All right. Thank you.
9 Mike Dunn has pleaded guilty to having
10 conspired with a number of other people to
11 traffic in cocaine and to possess cocaine for the
12 purpose of trafficking, and it is now my task to
13 sentence Mr. Dunn for this offence.
14 This charge arises from a major
15 investigation conducted by the RCMP into drug
16 trafficking activities in Yellowknife and in the
17 Northwest Territories. The project was called
18 Green Manalishi, and its objective was to disrupt
19 and dismantle networks responsible for high-level
20 drug trafficking in the Northwest Territories.
21 As part of the investigation, the RCMP were
22 granted a judicial authorization to monitor the
23 private communications of multiple individuals.
24 A number of telephone calls and text messages
25 were intercepted suggesting that Mr. Dunn was
26 using his position at a local airline to
27 transport drugs and proceeds of crime in the
1 Northwest Territories and between Alberta and the
2 Northwest Territories.
3 Norman Hache was the head of the
4 drug-trafficking network that operated in
5 Yellowknife and throughout the Northwest
6 Territories. Mr. Dunn is his brother-in-law.
7 At the time of the offence, Mr. Dunn had
8 been employed by the airline for over 20 years.
9 His role, within Mr. Hache's organization, was to
10 arrange for the transport of drugs and cash,
11 throughout the Northwest Territories and to and
12 from Alberta, using his employment with the
13 airline.
14 On two occasions, the first on March 3rd,
15 2016, 4 ounces of crack cocaine and 8 ounces of
16 powdered cocaine were shipped from Alberta to
17 Mr. Hache in Yellowknife through the accused and
18 his employment with the airline. The cocaine was
19 then shipped to another person in Fort Resolution
20 for distribution to other communities in the
21 Northwest Territories.
22 On March 15th, the second occasion,
23 15 ounces of crack cocaine and 15 ounces of
24 powdered cocaine were sent to Mr. Hache from
25 Alberta, again, using Mr. Dunn and his employment
26 with a local airline.
27 I will not go into the details of the
1 drug-trafficking network run by Mr. Hache, but
2 the sentencing of Mr. Hache, by
3 Justice Charbonneau, and the sentencing of
4 Mr. Herback that I did earlier this year, those
5 decisions outline the scope of the
6 drug-trafficking activities that Mr. Hache's
7 organization was involved with and the amounts of
8 drugs and cash that were involved.
9 Suffice it to say, Mr. Hache's organization
10 was involved in the wholesale trafficking of
11 cocaine, and Mr. Dunn played a significant role
12 in the transportation of the drugs and cash for
13 the organization.
14 In terms of a sentence, the Crown is seeking
15 a sentence of three years' imprisonment, and the
16 defence is also asking for the same sentence.
17 A primary objective in sentencing for
18 trafficking in cocaine is deterrence and
19 denunciation. Denunciation meaning to denounce
20 unlawful conduct and the harm done to victims or
21 to the community that is caused by the offender's
22 conduct; and deterrence to deter the specific
23 offender and other persons, generally, from
24 committing similar offences. In trafficking
25 cases, the focus is on imposing sentences that
26 send a message and deter other persons who might
27 be tempted to traffic in cocaine.
1 This has been the message that the Courts,
2 in this jurisdiction, have been sending for years
3 now; and, with Project Green Manalishi, of which
4 many of the cases have been resolved with guilty
5 pleas, this Court has continued to emphasize
6 those principles. It is clear, from that
7 project, that drugs, specifically the trafficking
8 in cocaine, continues to be a significant problem
9 in this jurisdiction.
10 Mr. Dunn's role, in this organization, was
11 essentially that of a courier. He helped move
12 drugs and cash for Mr. Hache. And, while it is
13 not surprising to hear that the Hache
14 organization was distributing drugs throughout
15 the Northwest Territories, it is of concern.
16 The accused, in his employment with an
17 airline, was able to facilitate this.
18 Buffalo Airways flies to many communities in the
19 North bringing needed supplies to remote
20 communities, many of which are not accessible by
21 road. Some communities are accessible by road in
22 the winter; but, for most communities, groceries
23 and supplies are flown in. Communities rely on
24 air cargo. That is the way it is and has been in
25 the North for many years.
26 That the airline was used by Mr. Hache's
27 organization, using the accused's position with
1 the airline to distribute cocaine to these remote
2 communities, is aggravating.
3 While there have long been ways to get
4 illicit substances like cocaine, marihuana, and
5 alcohol into remote communities, Mr. Dunn's
6 position with the airline made the distribution
7 of the drugs much easier and facilitated the
8 spread of cocaine.
9 Many of these communities, like Fort Good
10 Hope, which was referred to in the intercepted
11 conversations which were played this morning,
12 have social problems going back many years.
13 These problems existed before the introduction of
14 cocaine into the community, but the introduction
15 of cocaine will not help those problems and can
16 only make it worse; and it is disheartening to
17 hear that getting cocaine into the community was
18 as easy as calling up Mr. Hache and having the
19 accused send up the drugs using his employment
20 with Buffalo Airways.
21 The amount of cocaine involved with the
22 organization was significant. For example, the
23 amount of cocaine which was seized in
24 Fort Resolution was 362.5 grams of cocaine. That
25 is a significant amount of cocaine which was
26 destined for small communities in the South Slave
27 area. The amounts that are involved are
1 sufficient to demonstrate that the organization
2 was engaged in wholesale commercial trafficking.
3 Turning to Mr. Dunn's circumstances, he is
4 48 years old and has no criminal record. He is a
5 first-time offender. I have read about his
6 background in the presentence report and heard
7 from his counsel. He has been a productive
8 member of society for many years. He has been
9 gainfully employed for most of his adult life.
10 He worked for over 20 years for Buffalo Airways.
11 He is married. He is active in the community on
12 the Board of organizations; and, in some ways, it
13 is quite mystifying as to why he would get caught
14 up in these activities.
15 In the presentence report, he talks about
16 trying to help out his brother-in-law, and that
17 being his motivation for getting involved, to
18 help out his brother-in-law. He says, in the
19 presentence report, that he began doing favours
20 here and there and to ship parcels. In the
21 presentence report, he spoke of being wilfully
22 blind to the contents of the packages that he was
23 shipping.
24 In sentencing submissions, counsel for
25 Mr. Dunn says that Mr. Dunn, in his conversations
26 with him, accepts that he was aware of what he
27 was involved in. And it may be that what
1 Mr. Dunn said, in the presentence report, was an
2 attempt to rationalize his behaviour after the
3 fact.
4 While Mr. Dunn may have started out doing
5 favours for his brother-in-law, it is clear that,
6 by the time the police were intercepting the
7 communications with Mr. Hache, he was aware of
8 the nature of what he was doing.
9 The intercepted conversations demonstrate
10 that Mr. Dunn knew what was involved and what he
11 was dealing with and that he was dealing with
12 more than just Mr. Hache. He spoke, in the
13 conversations with Mr. Hache, of talking with
14 people down South; and he was clearly aware of
15 what he was involved in, and he was concerned
16 once he hears that the police have begun to
17 arrest people.
18 Mr. Dunn is fortunate that he has the
19 support of his spouse and his employer. You were
20 warned by your spouse not to get involved with
21 her brother, but you did it anyway; and you are
22 fortunate that she has stood by you. You were a
23 trusted, valued, long-term employee, and you
24 abused the trust of your employer by using your
25 position to transport drugs and the proceeds of
26 crime.
27 On the one hand, you are very lucky that
1 they are still willing to employ you. A lot of
2 employers would not take that risk. On the other
3 hand, that also speaks to your value to the
4 company and how out of character this offence
5 was.
6 A guilty plea was entered in this case. It
7 is not at the earliest opportunity; but, like
8 many of the cases involved with this project, it
9 was a complicated matter with a number of
10 co-accused and significant disclosure.
11 Mr. Dunn did, ultimately, waive his
12 preliminary inquiry, and this matter was never
13 set for trial. If it had proceeded to trial, it
14 would have taken some time and required
15 significant resources; so Mr. Dunn will receive
16 full credit for his guilty plea.
17 The guilty plea is also a demonstration of
18 an acceptance of responsibility and a
19 demonstration of remorse; and Mr. Dunn, in the
20 presentence report and in his words in court
21 today, clearly accepts responsibility for his
22 involvement in this offence.
23 In determining a fit sentence for Mr. Dunn,
24 it is also important to consider the principle of
25 parity and the sentences that were imposed on
26 others involved in the organization. I have
27 heard that Mr. Bode-Harrison pled guilty to a
1 charge of having conspired with others to traffic
2 cocaine and possess cocaine for the purpose of
3 trafficking. Mr. Bode-Harrison was a supplier
4 for Mr. Hache's drug-trafficking network, and he
5 was responsible for coordinating and sending
6 shipments of cocaine to the
7 Northwest Territories.
8 He was characterized as being the supplier
9 of the organization, and Mr. Hache was
10 responsible for controlling the distribution of
11 the drugs. They were considered equals in the
12 organization in the sense that neither directed
13 the other's activities.
14 Mr. Hache also pled guilty, and both their
15 sentences were the subject of joint submissions.
16 Mr. Bode-Harrison was sentenced to four years'
17 imprisonment and Mr. Hache to five years'
18 imprisonment. Both of those individuals were
19 higher up in the organization than Mr. Dunn.
20 And, as I noted, both of their sentences were
21 joint submissions, where the Court stated that
22 the joint submission was at the low end of the
23 spectrum.
24 Another person involved in Mr. Hache's
25 network was Devon Herback. He pled guilty to the
26 trafficking in cocaine. He was involved as a
27 street-level dealer. He was involved in the
1 supply of drugs to other dealers and in
2 collecting money owed. Mr. Herback could be
3 referred to as a go-to guy. He was relied on, by
4 the organization, to get things done. He was
5 sentenced to imprisonment for three years.
6 The Crown also presented two other cases;
7 that of R v Stiopu, 2018 NWTSC 7, and Dube and
8 Radeka. Those individuals were involved in
9 another drug network that was operating at the
10 same time, that of Todd Dube. That organization
11 also trafficked in cocaine, but also sold
12 fentanyl. The sentences involved in the
13 trafficking in fentanyl are treated more
14 seriously than for trafficking in cocaine.
15 In the Radeka case, Eddy Radeka was a
16 courier, who was 53 years old, who had no
17 criminal record. He was an addict who was
18 involved in the organization to fund his
19 addiction. He pled guilty and was sentenced, on
20 a joint submission, to five years' imprisonment.
21 Ms. Stiopu was involved in the storage and
22 distribution of drugs for Mr. Dube. She also had
23 no criminal record and pled guilty. She received
24 a sentence of four-and-a-half years.
25 So those sentences provide some indication
26 of the range of sentence that is appropriate for
27 sentencing Mr. Dunn for this offence.
1 First, I will deal with the ancillary orders
2 that have been requested by the Crown, and
3 defence counsel has not made any submissions in
4 opposition to them; the first, being a DNA order,
5 Section 5(1) of the Controlled Drugs and
6 Substances Act is a secondary designated offence
7 pursuant to Section 487.04 of the Criminal Code.
8 And there will been an order pursuant to
9 Section 487.051 for the taking of Mr. Dunn's DNA
10 for the DNA Data Bank.
11 Pursuant to Section 109 of the
12 Criminal Code, a firearms prohibition order is
13 mandatory, and Mr. Dunn will be prohibited from
14 possessing firearms for a period of ten years
15 following his release from imprisonment. There
16 will also be the mandatory victim of crime
17 surcharge of $200.
18 Mr. Dunn, please stand up. Mr. Dunn, you
19 could easily be facing a lengthier sentence of
20 imprisonment than I am about to impose, but I am
21 going to go along with the sentencing
22 recommendation of the Crown and your lawyer.
23 For the offence of trafficking in cocaine --
24 or conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and possess
25 cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, I
26 sentence you to a period of imprisonment of
27 36 months. You may sit down.
1 Mr. Hoare, did you want an endorsement on
2 the warrant of committal to serve his --
3 MR. HOARE: I did. I -- I -- I understand
4 that it's not binding on prison authorities;
5 however, I'm asking for an endorsement that he be
6 allowed to serve his sentence in the
7 Northwest Territories close to his family and
8 hopefully for eligibility for work release.
9 THE COURT: Okay. There will be that
10 endorsement on the warrant of committal, then.
11 Thank you.
12 Is there anything else, counsel?
13 MR. PRAUGHT: No, Your Honour.
14 THE COURT: Mr. Hoare?
15 MR. HOARE: That's it, Your Honour.
16 Thank you.
17 THE COURT: All right. Thank you,
18 counsel.
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1 CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIPT
2
3 I, the undersigned, hereby certify that the
4 foregoing pages are a complete and accurate
5 transcript of the proceedings taken down by me in
6 shorthand and transcribed from my shorthand notes
7 to the best of my skill and ability.
8 Dated at the City of Edmonton, Province of
9 Alberta, this 6th day of June, 2018.
10
11 Certified Pursuant to Rule 723
12 Of the Rules of Court
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16 __________________________
17 Janet Belma, CSR(A), B.Ed.
18 Court Reporter
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