Quebec City mosque shooter appealing sentence before Supreme Court of Canada

The man found guilty of multiple counts of murder after the Quebec City Mosque shooting is challenging his sentence before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Alexandre Bissonette was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, meaning he would not be eligible for parole for 40 years.

Quebec's Court of Appeal reduced his parole eligibility to 25 years.

Justices on Canada's highest court are examining Thursday a law on the books since 2011 that allows judges to add up parole eligibility for each count of first-degree murder. For Bissonette, that could have meant 150 years.

Canada's laws prior to 2011 said a maximum wait for parole was 25 years regardless of the number of murder convictions.

Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper changed that law giving judges discretion to impose consecutive periods of parole ineligibility.

Bissonnette was convicted of murdering six people and injuring 19 in January 2017.

The ruling could have effects on other high-profile cases in Canada, including Alek Minassian, who killed 10 people in 2018 in a rampage with his truck through Toronto.

In Quebec, Ugo Fredette was convicted of murdering his ex-wife Veronique Barbe and Yvon Lacasse in 2019. He was sentenced to life without parole before 25 years with the Crown prosecutor wanting to appeal that to 50 years, but holding off pending this Supreme Court decision.

This is a developing story that will be updated.