An American woman convicted of importing nearly 4.7 kilograms of cocaine through Toronto Pearson International Airport has been sentenced to six years in prison after an Ontario judge found systemic anti-black racism contributed to the offence and diminished her moral culpability.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Nancy Dennison sentenced 39-year-old American Christiana Edwards after a jury convicted her in March of importing cocaine into Canada.

Edwards arrived at Pearson on a flight from Kingston, Jamaica, while travelling onward to Manchester, England. Border officers found 3,195 grams of cocaine hidden in one suitcase and another 1,481.5 grams behind the liner of a second, for a total of 4,676.5 grams.

The court estimated the drugs were worth between $82,800 and $561,181, depending on how they were sold.

Edwards testified at trial that she believed she was being paid $10,000 to transport travel documents for Jamaican workers. The jury rejected that explanation and found her guilty.

The Crown sought seven years in prison, while the defence argued for 3.5 years. Ontario jurisprudence generally places first-time offenders importing large quantities of cocaine in a six-to-eight-year sentencing range.

But Dennison considered Edwards' race and experiences with poverty as mitigating factors.

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“I have no issue finding that Ms. Edwards suffered from anti-Black racism,” Dennison wrote. The judge pointed to Edwards growing up poor in an American neighbourhood with gangs and drugs, being raised by a single mother, beginning work while still in grade school, and later supporting herself and her sister.

An American woman was caught with 4.5 kilos of coke at the Toronto airport + was recently sentenced to 6 years.

What makes the case interesting is this: the judge said the woman had lower "moral blameworthiness" because of anti-Black racism ... but presented no evidence for it! pic.twitter.com/uKE5nQYasy

— Jamie Sarkonak (@sarkonakj) August 7, 2026

Dennison went further, finding that Edwards' “educational and economic disadvantages are factors that have arisen because of anti-Black racism.”

The reasons do not identify an enhanced pre-sentence report documenting Edwards' experience of systemic racism. In fact, Dennison expressly noted that the court “did not have the benefit of an enhanced pre-sentence report,” relying instead on Edwards' evidence and an ordinary pre-sentence report.

Dennison nevertheless found a sufficient connection between Edwards' experiences as a black woman, systemic anti-black racism and her decision to commit the offence for money.

“This in turn diminishes her moral culpability,” Dennison concluded, citing the Ontario Court of Appeal's 2021 decision in R. v. Morris.

The ruling is particularly notable because Dennison herself cited another cocaine-importation case in which the court declined to make the same connection.

In R. v. Clarke, a racialized woman received seven years for importing 4.3 kilograms of cocaine because there was no evidence establishing a connection between anti-black racism and the offence.

Dennison ultimately imposed a six-year sentence, reduced by credit for time Edwards had already spent in custody. Her remaining sentence was calculated at three years and 27 days.

Dennison was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court in 2018 by the Liberal government of then-prime minister Justin Trudeau. Before joining the bench, she worked as a provincial and federal Crown prosecutor, including prosecuting drug offences.