The Death of Cindy Gladue

Cindy Gladue died at Edmonton's Yellowhead Inn in June 2011 after sustaining a severe injury during an encounter with Bradley Barton. The case became nationally significant not only because of the criminal proceedings, but because the first trial raised serious questions about how courts treat Indigenous women, sexual-history evidence and stereotypes.

Cindy Gladue

Gladue was 36, Cree and Métis, and a mother of three. The Supreme Court of Canada later emphasized that the legal process had to avoid myths and stereotypes connected to sexual activity and Indigenous women. This archive deliberately does not reproduce the graphic evidence presented at the first trial.

The 2015 acquittal and appellate review

Barton was tried in 2015 for first-degree murder and was acquitted. The Crown appealed. The Alberta Court of Appeal ordered a new trial, and in R. v. Barton, 2019 SCC 33, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a new trial on manslaughter was required. The Court discussed significant errors involving sexual-history evidence, consent and the instructions given to the jury.

The Supreme Court did not itself convict Barton. Its role was to determine whether the acquittal could stand and what retrial was legally available.

The second trial

At the retrial, the Crown and defence presented competing accounts of the encounter. In February 2021, a jury found Barton guilty of manslaughter. The verdict did not amount to a murder conviction, and this page therefore uses “death” rather than “murder” in its title.

Sentence and appeals

On July 27, 2021, Justice Stephen Hillier sentenced Barton to 12.5 years in prison, with credit for time already spent in custody. Barton appealed his conviction, while the Crown challenged the length of the sentence.

On January 29, 2024, the Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed Barton's conviction appeal. On August 8, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada declined leave to appeal that conviction. On November 1, 2024, Alberta's Court of Appeal also dismissed the Crown's sentence appeal, leaving the 12.5-year sentence in place.

Why the case matters

The Supreme Court's 2019 reasons became an important Canadian decision on consent, sexual-history evidence and the need to guard against prejudicial stereotypes. The case also drew sustained attention to the dignity of Indigenous women in court proceedings and to the way victims are described and represented as evidence.

Timeline

1. June 2011
   Cindy Gladue dies

   Gladue dies in an Edmonton hotel after sustaining a severe injury during an encounter with Barton.

2. 2015
   First trial ends in acquittal

   A jury acquits Barton of first-degree murder.

3. May 24, 2019
   Supreme Court orders retrial

   In R. v. Barton, the Supreme Court of Canada confirms that a new trial on manslaughter is required.

4. February 2021
   Manslaughter conviction

   A second jury finds Barton guilty of manslaughter.

5. July 27, 2021
   Sentence imposed

   Barton receives 12.5 years in prison, subject to credit for pre-sentence custody.

6. January–November 2024
   Appeals conclude

   The conviction appeal is dismissed, the Supreme Court declines leave, and the Alberta Court of Appeal leaves the sentence intact.

Current status

The case is solved / adjudicated as manslaughter. Bradley Barton's manslaughter conviction remains in force, and the 12.5-year sentence survived the Crown's sentence appeal. The legal record should not be rewritten as a murder conviction.