The Crown prosecutor handling the case of a 25-year-old half-Cree man who pleaded guilty to repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl in Calgary — among many other vile things — believed 12 to 15 years would make a fair sentence; 10, if you count his mitigating factors. But the judge arrived at merely eight. Why? Because the offender was Indigenous.

Known only as RJM, the offender met the girl online and quickly escalated it into a real-world relationship that would span from May to September 2023. It was abusive. He pulled a knife on her and threatened to kill her; he punched her in the face; he dragged her by the hair; he hit her with a metal pole; he drove her out to the country and left her by the side of the road to walk back (he eventually returned to pick her up); he threatened to kil

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