Arnold Halkett has been sentenced to 11 year in prison for the manslaughter of Nicholaas Smith. (CBC)

A Saskatoon man who killed another man following a dispute over $10 worth of drugs has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Justice Ronald Mills sentenced Arnold Halkett on Tuesday, for the 2012 fatal stabbing of Nicholaas Smith, 29.

The Crown had been asking for 15 years while the defence argued for 10.

Mills said he considered Halkett's background — an aboriginal man who attended residential school — but, quoting the Supreme Court, said such considerations were not intended to be a "race-based discount" on a sentence.

Halkett had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Court heard he had been drinking and taking cocaine before he killed Smith, and had little memory of the incident afterward.

The Crown said the stabbing followed a drug deal that went bad, specifically a dispute over a $10 Dilaudid pill.

Halkett had 106 previous convictions before pleading guilty to manslaughter.