Law360 Canada ( December 17, 2021, 6:25 AM EST) -- Appeal by the accused from convictions for assault, assault causing bodily harm, sexual assault and unlawful confinement. The appellant, an Indigenous man, pleaded guilty after the complainant testified. He was represented by counsel. The trial judge conducted a plea comprehension inquiry before accepting the pleas. The next day, the appellant sought to withdraw his guilty pleas based on his lack of mental capacity to enter a voluntary plea resulting from his prolonged period in voluntary segregation during his detention on the charges before the court. Trial counsel placed no reliance on the impact the appellant’s experiences as an Indigenous man might have had on his mental capacity. The trial judge did not accept this argument. The appellant now argued that once the trial judge became aware that he was Indigenous, he had an obligation to seek out information relating to the impact that his experiences as an Indigenous person had on the voluntariness of his decision to plead guilty, even though the appellant had not raised this issue in his application to strike his guilty plea. The appellant also argued that it was unreasonable for the trial judge to treat his request to be segregated and his preference for segregation as voluntary....