A1

by Laura MacInnis

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Ryan Martin, now 42-years-old, made a mistake as a young man and has been paying for it ever since.

But on Wednesday he made his last payment.

Fourteen years ago Martin was convicted of fraud against Canada Student Loans. He received a community based sentence and was ordered by the provincial court to repay over $23,000 in restitution.

And while it was no easy feat for a man in his financial situation, the Burnt Church First Nation resident worked on paying down the debt regularly for over a decade.

And this week he came in to make his final payment of $1,271.

Provincial court judge Fred Ferguson told the court Martin had a request to go along with his last trip to court.

In the legal system, the most time a judge can give to pay back a restitution order, no matter how great the amount, is three years. So every third year Martin returned to court to plead guilty to a new charge of failing to pay the total sum and was sentenced to another three years probation to continue paying down the debt.

His record remained completely clean besides this order.

Martin still had seven months left on his latest three year probation and asked if the court wouldn't mind lifting it since he completed paying back the money to the Canadian government. The court complied with the endorsment by the Crown prosecutors office.

Ferguson said in his entire career in the court system he could not remember anyone striving so diligently and suceeding in paying off such an amount. "He stands alone in paying back a sum so monumental to his financial position."

I am proud of you," the judge said to Martin.

"Thank you, your honour," he returned, smiling proudly.

"It is a unique experience to see a man apply himself to fix his wrongs," said the judge. "It gives me great pleasure to close this file. You are a credit to your community."

Martin and his wife Diane were in good spirits outside the courtroom. Diane said she wished her children could be there for the occassion, but were in school.

Martin spoke frankly of his situation as a young man, losing his mother and father and brother at 13-years-old and being raised by his sister.

"I tried hard in school, but it was hard coming home to an empty house with no one to guide me," he said. "But I always promised my father, no matter what, I would stay in school."

He said while it seemed like a lifetime to pay down the restitution, in other ways he says he feels like it was just yesterday he was going through that dark period of his life. But he said it was with the help of his wife and children he accomplished his goal.

"I would have chosen jail, but I needed that time to support my family — my children — so that wasn't an option."

When asked how it felt to go into court with his final payment he responded simply, "It felt better than last month's payment."