Gladue report
A pre-sentencing report on an Indigenous person's background and systemic factors, prepared to help courts apply R. v. Gladue sentencing principles.
A Gladue report is a specialized pre-sentencing report prepared for an Indigenous person facing sentencing (and in some jurisdictions, bail). It details the individual's background and the systemic and intergenerational factors that may have contributed to bringing them before the court, such as the effects of residential schools, displacement, and community-level disadvantage, and canvasses culturally appropriate and restorative sentencing options.
The report takes its name from R. v. Gladue, [1999] 1 S.C.R. 688, where the Supreme Court of Canada interpreted the Criminal Code's direction that sentencing judges consider all reasonable alternatives to imprisonment, with particular attention to the circumstances of Indigenous offenders. Courts must apply these principles for every Indigenous offender, whether or not a formal report exists, but a Gladue report gives the court the case-specific information needed to do so meaningfully.