ATHABASCA – A 49-year-old-man is planning to return to a more traditional way of living after he finishes a three-month-long conditional sentencing order (CSO) for an incident he referred to as a “miscommunication.”
In the Athabasca Court of Justice Sept. 9, Andrew Cardinal pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose after he pointed a “firearm-shaped object” at another man and demanded to know the location of a woman on Nov. 22, 2023.
Cardinal, who represented himself in the plea, was originally charged with assault with a weapon, pointing a firearm, and careless use of a firearm, but pleaded guilty to possession as part of Crown prosecutor Robert Klein’s resolution proposal.
Despite the incident occurring in late fall last year, Cardinal wasn’t arrested by police until June 20, 2024, and the firearm in question was never located.
“(The victim) legitimately believed that this was a firearm, regardless of whether or not it was,” said Klein. “This is a concerning offence of violence in that regard.”
Cardinal didn’t say much during the sentencing, mostly answering Justice Carrie-Ann Downey’s questions with a simple yes or no, but he did say he planned to return to a more traditional way of living.
“Fishing with a net, smoking fish, making drumheads, those types of things,” said Cardinal, who added he would be following the roots his grandparents had left behind.
Justice Downey acknowledged issues with the Crown’s case — the lack of the firearm would have been a triable issue — and took Cardinal’s criminal record into effect. Cardinal had last been convicted of impaired driving in 2009 after his blood alcohol content was found to be higher than 0.08.
“The nature of the offence is serious in the sense that it certainly must have been frightening for (the victim). That being said, there’s no proof that it was an actual firearm,” said Downey. “The Crown’s position is reasonable.”
Cardinal is forbidden to possess any weapons, including knives, axes, or bear spray during his three-month sentence — a CSO is treated like a jail sentence, but is served in the community instead of behind bars — but his nine-month probation doesn’t include a weapons clause. Regardless, he said he doesn’t possess any weapons, including hunting equipment, and didn’t think it would be an issue.
