Actions and Commitments

Call to Action # 41 : Justice (25-42)

Supreme Court of Canada dismisses appeal from man who killed Cindy Gladue

August 8, 2024

Bradley Barton is currently serving 12 and a half years for manslaughter.

Cindy Gladue

Cindy Gladue was a mother of three when she died in June 2011. Photo: APTN file 


APTN News: The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal from Bradley Barton, the Ontario truck driver convicted of killing Cindy Gladue.

Barton is currently serving a 12 and a half year sentence for manslaughter in connection to her death.

Barton’s previous appeal before the Court of Appeal of Alberta was dismissed in January 2024.

He claimed that he was denied “procedural fairness” during his second trial in the death of the 36-year-old Cree and Métis mother of three at an Edmonton motel in 2011.

The legal proceedings have been ongoing for more than a decade.

Previous trials heard that the truck driver from Mississauga, Ont., performed a sexual act on Gladue that severely wounded her vagina. Barton testified the sex was consensual.

A jury found Barton not guilty in 2015 of first-degree murder. That decision sparked rallies and calls for justice for Indigenous women across the country.

There was also outrage because Gladue’s preserved vaginal tissue was presented in court during the trial. She was also repeatedly referred to as a “native” and a “prostitute.”


Read More: 

Looking back at the case of Cindy Gladue and the error that delayed justice for her family


In a 2023 interview, the family told APTN News that Alberta Justice had lost her remains. The Crown appealed the verdict. The Alberta Court ordered a new trial and the Supreme Court of Canada later agreed.

After the manslaughter conviction at the second trial in 2021, the Crown filed a sentence appeal calling the prison term “demonstrably unfit.” It had recommended Barton be sentenced to between 18 and 20 years.

With files from the Canadian Press

Contribute Button
Continue Reading

Inuvik RCMP charge member of Beaufort-Delta Education Council with sex related c…

Author(s) 

APTN National News, news@aptn.ca