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I will be live-tweeting my thoughts on Morris today. The livestream can be found here: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/coa/en/caselist/two-feb8.htm. We will be getting started at 10. Looking forward to watching some stellar advocates advance the cause of racial justice at the Court of Appeal!
At the risk of being proved foolish, my prediction is that the Court will a) find that expert voir dires for social context are unnecessary, b) affirm that systemic racism can be considered in sentencing, and c) still find the sentence was too low.
While the time is ripe, in my opinion, for judicial acceptance of systemic racism and for its incorporation into the substantive law, it is still a carceral system. Its logic probably cannot countenance a one year sentence for a "true crime" gun.
Counsel are all logging on and testing their videos now. Can I just say their warm greetings and obvious affection for one another warms my heart!
Sorry folks, looks like I've been booted too! If they post a youtube link or something please let me know. Otherwise I will have to just wait for the decision like everyone else!
Look like we will all be back up at 11--I will continue the tweet thread then. It's certainly been an interesting hearing 
While I wait to be readmitted, I will draw everyone's attention to McLeod J's excellent critical race analysis of the 'true crime' gun in sentencing (all thanks to @SDiGiuseppeLaw) for pointing it out!
That analysis from R v Toussaint, [2020] OJ No 543 (available here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x25cdon2k517qa0/R%20v%20Toussaint%2C%202020%20ONCJ-true%20crime%20gun%20analyzed%20through%20critical%20race%20lens.PDF?dl=0). Argued by my old classmate and clinic group leader at Windsor, Rachel Lichtman!
Okay folks we are back on, they appear to have increased capacity. Live tweeting will resume shortly!
Many intervenors did not hear the Crown's opening, so ACJO Fairburn asks him to start again (though she is quickly outlining his position on reincarceration to keep things streamlined).
To summarize Crown's approach to this appeal: yes, systemic racism is a problem and courts should consider it. But it can't eclipse core sentencing values of denunciation, deterrence, & protection of the public. Gun crimes are serious. They should always attract hefty sentences.
(I think this is right in law, but it is also true that sentencing is a fundamentally individualized process and that trial judges are entitled to impose sentences above or below the range to account for individual circumstances-like the impact of systemic racism.)
