The fate of a Sarnia First Nation woman is in the hands of a judge, who is weighing her dramatic turnaround from a significant fentanyl addiction with the role she played in a $100,000 drug bust.
The fate of a Sarnia First Nation woman is in the hands of a judge, who is weighing her dramatic turnaround from a significant fentanyl addiction with the role she played in a $100,000 drug bust.
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Nicole Joseph, then 27, was one of three people facing charges after a drug raid in a Leopold Drive home in Sarnia on April 7, 2022. Following an investigation that began in late 2021, officers found 119 grams of fentanyl worth nearly $24,000 and almost 22 grams of raw, uncut fentanyl valued at more than $78,000, along with several other drugs, Sarnia police said at the time.
Jordan Nahmabin-Shaw, 31, was the target of the probe, but Joseph, a drug-addicted and homeless Aamjiwnaang First Nation woman, was caught with more than 29 grams of fentanyl, about 2.5 grams of meth, and almost $6,000 cash in a fanny pack.
Joseph, who’s impressed many in her community with her sobriety since going to a rehab program in 2023, pleaded guilty in September to possessing fentanyl for trafficking. On Thursday, both lawyers argued in front of Superior Court Justice Russell Raikes what her sentence should be.
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Defense lawyer Luigi Perzia pushed for two years of house arrest while federal prosecutor Brian Higgins wanted four years in prison. Despite asking for prison time, Higgins was impressed by Joseph’s about-face.
“There’s no question she’s made significant progress in her recovery,” he said. “I congratulate Ms. Joseph on all the progress she made.”
But he added that doesn’t absolve her from what she was doing at the time – contributing to the opioid crisis in Sarnia-Lambton.
“Ms. Joseph played a role in that crisis both as a victim and as a perpetrator,” he said. “She put others’ lives at risk, your honor.”
Higgins also said the amount of fentanyl and cash she had on her was particularly concerning as she wasn’t using every last dollar to buy drugs and support her own habit.
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Perzia, however, told the judge her addiction was so significant at the time she was smoking about $1,400 worth of fentanyl a day, making what she was caught with about a week’s worth for her.
Joseph got bail the day after her arrest in April 2022, but she was back in jail four months later as she was one of three people arrested after $93,000 in drugs were found in a car during a traffic stop in Sarnia on Aug. 26, 2022.
“I do recall she was in terrible shape at that time,” Higgins said Thursday.
She spent about five of the next nine months in custody before going to rehab in late 2023. She’s been drug-free since then.
Perzia recalled hearing at a First Nation sentencing circle held for her on Monday in the same courtroom, which was closed to the media, people from her community have been asking her how she did it.
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“She can serve as an example to others,” he said.
Perzia also spent time going over case law and calls on the government to address overrepresentation of First Nations people in Canadian jails. He said putting his client in prison would add to the intergenerational trauma her family has suffered as she has members who went to Canadian residential schools.
When given a chance to speak Thursday, Joseph said she realizes now that she’s sober how dangerous fentanyl is.
“I would like to take responsibility for my actions that have led me here,” she said.
Raikes adjourned her sentencing to Dec. 20.
“I’ll see you then, OK,” he said.
This is her only case before the courts. Joseph was cleared of the charges from the August 2022 because drug bust shortly after the case also went to the Superior Court of Justice.
Nahmabin-Shaw was expected to be sentenced in late 2022 for selling fentanyl twice that year. The sentence he got wasn’t available by press time Thursday, but Higgins noted he had a much larger amount of fentanyl on him in the Leopold Drive home – 101 grams along with $17,000 in cash – and was being sentenced for two drug busts at the same time.
“The co-accused was clearly a bigger player,” he said.
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