ATHABASCA – Terrance Chalifoux, 28, paces around the appearance room at the Edmonton Remand Centre, occasionally pausing to wave at the web cam before he continues his circuit.
His audience, this time, is Justice Gordon Putnam, Crown prosecutor Matthew Kerr, and his legal aid lawyer, Denise Lightning. Chalifoux’s early guilty plea is accepted, but Kerr and Lightning don’t agree on the sentence.
“Certainly, his record reflects his inability, at times, to follow orders,” said Lightning. “He needs significant supports, and he doesn’t seem to be able to access them here. He’s making an early plea; he does have remorse.”
His Aug. 12 guilty plea marks his 16th conviction since December 2023, and by this point, even the slow-turning wheels of justice have realized something is amiss.
“He has 40 convictions over 11 years. He has six property (convictions) and 18 breaches. He’s gotten custody on everything recently,” says Kerr.
“He’s serving a life sentence in increments.”
Chalifoux was arrested on July 29 after disagreeing with the clerk over the need to pay for a one-and-a-half litre bottle of vodka. Chalfoux walked out without paying — Lightning said he had less than a dollar in his bank account at the time — and by the time he was located by the RCMP, had drank a third of the bottle.
While a 60-day sentence would normally be harsh for a $50 theft, Chalifoux’s arrest required four RCMP officers to conduct, and he resisted, throwing a kick at one officer’s head that didn’t connect.
An all-too-common tale
Chalifoux is one of about 174,000 Albertans with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), a lifelong disability stemming from pre-natal exposure to alcohol. The disorder can affect an individual's physical capabilities, ability to learn, short- or long-term memory and more. In Chalifoux’s case, according to Lightning, the FASD impacts his ability to understand and follow rules. He also struggles with substance abuse, and has ADHD, as well as paranoid schizophrenia.
“Because of his cognitive (issues), he’s much younger in terms of his abilities,” said Lightning. “He realized he was wrong, he does have remorse, and he’s offered to make restitution.”
Many of Chalifoux's convictions have come from parole violations, predominantly from interactions with his former foster parent, Bill Metcalf. A common pattern emerged in Chalifoux’s cases; he would be released, told not to go to Metcalfe’s residence, be invited back, and then later be arrested after an incident.
Justice Putnam has presided over many of Chalifoux’s recent cases in Athabasca – he’s been a part of conversations with an FASD support worker, with Metcalfe, and with Lightning and Kerr before.
“We’ve talked about getting him into a place where he has more support, like Edmonton, but unfortunately, that doesn’t seem like it’s likely to happen anytime soon,” said Putnam. “In the meantime, he reverts back to Mr. Metcalfe’s residence, which doesn’t surprise me either because he’s known him for 15 years or whatever and that’s where he goes back to.”
Putnam split the Crown and defence asks for sentencing — Kerr wanted 90 days, and Lightning was asking for time served, which would have been roughly a month-long sentence.
“We’ve got an individual with who’s got almost the most significant challenges in this kind of situation —I don’t know what the solution is for him, in terms of what we can do to assist him,” he said. ‘I think he almost needs 24-hour supervision for him to have a chance to be successful when he’s not incarcerated.”
At the end of the hearing, Chalifoux stops before he walks out the door to ask a question he’s asked many times before.
“How much time do I have left?”
He pauses for the answer, holding open the door. He nods when he hears he still has 37 days to serve, before thanking the court and letting the door swing shut behind him.