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  • February 14, 2025
Drug dealer who dodged manslaughter charges is placed under house arrest

Drug dealer who dodged manslaughter charges is placed under house arrest

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The courtroom smudging ceremony before Craig French was convicted of trafficking fentanyl was intended to honor ancestors and cleanse the body and mind.

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The ceremony is rarely seen in the Superior Court of Justice. Before it began, it was explained how the indigenous ceremony was considered to provide ‘sacred medicine and enlightenment’ for all parts of the body and mind.

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When French was asked if he wanted to add anything, he suggested “smearing feet for walking a good journey.”

French, 36, has been on his own cleansing journey since his arrest in April 2021 after being charged with drug trafficking. Months later, he was charged with manslaughter in connection with the overdose death of a 31-year-old London man who was found unconscious in his London home a month before French was arrested. That charge, the first of its kind brought by London police, was later dropped by the Crown.

On Monday, French received a suspended sentence of two years less per day for possession of fentanyl and one count of possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking, followed by two years of probation in hopes of keeping him on the right path.

It took years for the case to reach a conclusion. French entered guilty pleas a year and a half ago, but sentencing did not take place, partly due to delays in completing a Gladue report, a specialist report on the presence of Indigenous offenders, and partly because his original lawyer was unable to proceed. due to personal circumstances in this case.

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But it was also delayed to give French time to receive treatment for his epilepsy so he could visit a healing lodge to address his fentanyl addiction.

Supreme Court Justice Kelly Tranquilli, before sentencing French, provided some insights into why the Crown dropped the manslaughter charge. The deceased man had just completed a drug rehabilitation program for his fentanyl addiction when he contacted French.

French agreed to sell him drugs and met him at a variety store. He discovered that the man had lost contact because he was in rehab. “Sir. French claims he refused to sell the drug to (the man) because of the risk of a fatal dose given his period of sobriety. But Mr. French agreed to give him a piece of ‘tinfoil,'” Tranquilli said.

After the meeting, 43 minutes had gone missing when the man went to a McDonald’s restaurant where he could have received the fatal dose. He also had a heart condition. The Crown decided that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.

French was arrested a month later after being under police surveillance. He was arrested with small amounts of substances, including fentanyl. A pair of nunchucks, a banned martial arts weapon, were found in his vehicle.

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French has pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice to a weapons charge related to the nunchucks and waited to be sentenced until after the drug charges were resolved.

The Gladue report, completed a year ago, “provides another example of how our history of colonialism, displacement, residential schools and intergenerational trauma significantly impacts Indigenous peoples with lower levels of education and higher rates of substance abuse.” said Tranquilli.

French never finished high school and attempted to complete a video gaming design course at a private school, but that ended when he was hit in the head with a hammer by a man who tried to steal his rent money. That attacker, Tranquilli said, was later convicted of two murders that left two people dead in his building.

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French suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the attack, cognitive problems and epilepsy. He started using OxyContin when he was 18 and was on a methadone program. He later relapsed with fentanyl.

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After he was charged, he restarted methadone, and at the time the report was written, he had been clean for two years.

His seizures required hospitalization, an admission he suffered while in pretrial detention at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center, where he fell from his bed and suffered a spinal fracture.

French is in a stable common-law relationship and they live with his mother in Chippewas of the Thames First Nation. They reported that he was doing well, but that he would be in danger if he received a prison sentence. He has reconnected with his indigenous traditions and visited a healing hut for his fentanyl addiction. Since then he has continued his counseling and vocational training.

But in July 2024, he was arrested for breaching his bail and drug trafficking. The case has yet to be resolved, but Tranquilli said the court was told French made a welfare check on his brother with his surety nearby, but not with him. Emergency medical services had also responded and French appeared to have medication with him.

Tranquilli said there are “issues to discuss” and that the case had no bearing on the drug trafficking case before her.

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In this case, however, he was dealing in fentanyl, recognized by higher courts as “public enemy No. 1” and “a national crisis,” Tranquilli said.

“It is clear that Mr. French has endangered not only his own life, but the lives of others in the community through the trafficking of fentanyl,” she said.

Tranquilli noted that French had a record for drug problems dating back to 2014 and that he was an addict. He also has new charges. However, he had pleaded guilty and provided a lot of advice.

“I have no doubt that he is sincere in his statements that he wants to continue on this path of recovery,” she said. “He has expressed remorse and described his shame in coming to terms with his behavior. He wants to be a better example for his family and his children.”

Tranquilli agreed a suspended sentence would be appropriate. He was ordered to serve 18 months under house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor. He has been under a curfew for the last six months.

“Sir. French, I hope that today you understand and appreciate that this sentence was spoken to support your goals to continue to succeed in your rehabilitation, to make amends to your community and to continue to support you in your struggle to overcome your addiction . said Tranquilli.

“I think you’re showing good judgment by recognizing that this will be a lifelong journey for you.”

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