REPORT ON THE CONSULTATION MEETING ON JUSTICE IN NUNAVUT
NOVEMBER 18 - 19,1997 IQALUIT, NT
Hosted by The Office of the Interim Commissioner
Facilitated by the Tatigiit Group of Iqaluit -.
"JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEACE"
List of Participants
Mary Krirnrnerdjuar Justice of the Peace, Pond Met David Roberts Justice of the Peace, Resolute Bay David Kooneeliusie Justice of the Peace, Pangnirtung Jobie Inooya Justice of the Peace, Igloolik Johnny Joanas Justice of the Peace, Clyde River Naudla Oshoweetok Justice of the Peace, Cape Dorset Eliya Kopalie Justice of the Peace, Broughton Island Nataq Levi Justice of the Peace, Arctic Bay Jeannie Iqaluk Justice of the Peace, Sanikiluaq Dominic Kasadluaq Community Justice Comm. Rankin Inlet Paul Pudlat Justice of the Peace, Coral Harbour Andre Tautu Justice of the Peace, Chesterfield Inlet Paul Maliki Justice of the Peace, Repulse Bay Dennis Lyall Mayor of Taloyoak Remi Kikort Justice of the Peace, Pelly Bay David Evalik Justice of the Peace Cambridge Bay Andew Tagak Justice of the Peace, Iqaluit Sandy Akavak Elder, Krirnmirut Adamie Komoatuk Court Worker, Pangnirtung Abraham Tunraluk Court Worker, Arctic Bay Susan huaraq Student, Legal Studies, Iqaluit Andy Watt Northern Issues, Federal Justice, Ottawa Scott Clark Northern Issues, Federal Justice, Ottawa Adair Crosby Judicial Affairs Unit, Federal Justice, Ottawa Howard Bebbington Criminal Law Policy Sec. Federal Justice, Ottawa Karen Markhem Criminal Law Policy Sec. Federal Justice, Ottawa Moray Welch Criminal Law Policy Sec. Federal Justice, Ottawa Debra Robinson Sub-Office, Crown Attorney, Iqaluit Karen Wiseman Correctional Service of Canada, Ottawa Donald Cooper Deputy Minister, GNWT Justice, Yellowknife Nora Sanders ADM, GNWT Justice, Yellowknife John Dillon Director of Adult hates, GNWT Justice, YK Neil Sharkey Lawyer, Maliganik Tukisiniavik, Iqaluit Sheila Purdy Division Secretariat, Ottawa Hon. Judge B Browne Territorial Court, Iqaluit Doug Strader Baffm Correctional Center, Iqaluit Sue Cooper Nunavut Bar Association, Iqaluit Michael Chandler Nunavut Bar Association. Iqaluit Paul Crawley Nunavut Bar Association, Iqaluit
Justice in Nunavut Bill Sweeney Superintendent Criminal Operations, RCMP, Yellowknife Markus Weber Law Student, Iqaluit Meeka Kilabuk Commissioner, Iqaluit Elijah Erkloo Chairperson, Nunavut Social Development Council Justice Ted Richard Supreme Court of the NWT and Court of Appeal John Merritt Department of Northern & Indian AfFairs, Ottawa Natsiq Kango Secretary Treasure, NTI, Iqaluit Jose Kusugak President, NU,Iqaluit Ann Crawford Legal Council, Iqlauit Paul Okalik Student at Law, Iqaluit Jack Anawak Interim Commissioner for Nunavut Rebecca Williams Director of Justice Programs, Interim Commissioner's Office Lois Leslie Legal Council, Interim Commissioner's Officer Penny Muller Principal Advisor, Interim Commissioner's Office
Justice in Nunavut Introduction:
The Director of Justice Programs for the Office of Interim Commissioner, Ms. Rebecca Williams, organized a Consultation Meeting for November 18-19,1997. Over 50 residents of Nunavut attended the two day meeting. The meeting was sponsored by the Federal and Territorial Governments and the Office of Interim Commissioner. The purpose of this meeting was to decide which court structure Nunavut will have, whether the structure of the courts will be single-level or the two-level. The delegates, working in their small groups, were encouraged to discuss their ideas fieely and to carefully consider the factors that affect the way the justice systems works in the communities.
The facilitators were Mary Ekho Wilman and Leena Evic-Twerdin of Tatigiit Development Incorporated.
The Reverend Loie Mike of the Anglican Church in Iqaluit opened the conference with a prayer. During the opening ceremony, a qulliq was lit while two young drummers performed.
Leena Evic-Twerdin introduced the first speaker, Jack Anawak, Interim Commissioner of Nunavut. Mr. Anawak welcomed all the participants and stated how glad he was that the delegates could come to this very important meeting. He went on to say that people of Nunavut are very concerned about justice issues and that in canying out his duties as the Interim Commissioner of Nunavut, he wants to ensure that the people of Nunavut have a role in making decisions on important issues such as justice. He emphasized the importance of:
A commitment to involving the people of Nunavut as much as he can in the creation of their own government. A commitment to a "Made in Nunavut" government - a government that the people of Nunavut have a role in shaping. Meeting such as this which is only the first of several meetings and initiatives on Justice Issues that will take place between now and division. The Office of Interim Commissioner is working closely with the Nunavut Social Development Council on a number of broader community justice issues.
Mr. Anawak went on to explain why the delegates hive been called together to focus mainly'on a very specific, technical issue - the issue of whether Nunavut retains the existing court system or adopts a new, single-level court system. He stated that in the planning process for the Government of Nunavut, his office is seeking direction and recommendations from the people of Nunavut. Specifically, the Office of Interim Commission is seeking a decision on which court system the residents of Nunavut would like to have in place. This decision should be based in the knowledge and experience people have with the justice system in Nunavut. JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEACE
Mr. Anawak concluded his opening remarks by stating that he was looking forward to receiving the recommendation arising from this meeting.
Mr. Jose Kusugak, President of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, reiterated the comments that Jack Anawak had made, emphasizing that the main putpose of this conference is to determine the structure of the Justice and Court System for Nunavut; whether it be one-level, two-level or three levels. He encouraged the participants to carellly examine the differences. What we are looking for here is what kind of Justice we want. Mr. Kusugak suggested that, in looking at the current court system or the justice system, it seems the current systems does not seem to punish the criminals. If anythng, it seems to produce more repeat offenders. The people who have served time in corrections generally come back. During the annual meeting of Nunavut Tunngavik in Igloolik, it was made clear that people in Nunavut want to see Healing as a first priority.
Next, after welcoming the delegates, Dr. John Amagoalik, Chair of the Nunavut Implementation Commission, went on to say that the outer-shell of Nunavut is being created at this moment. The departments, the infrastructure, the duties and the offices are the outer shell of the Nunavut. But its not too early to begin to talk about what the inner workings of the Nunavut will be. Dr. Amagoalik welcomed this conference which will look at different options we may have. He hoped that participants would be able to envision and to catch a glimpse of what the inner workings of Nunavut will be. Dr. Amagoalik stressed that it is also very important to understand that we cannot deal with our problems in isolation. We can not solve problems just by fixing one department or fixing certain aspects of the society. We must deal with the challenges on many fionts by:
Developing sound education system for our children. Creating jobs. Fostering pride in our language and culture.
Dr. Amagoalik went on to say that during most of his political career, governments and aboriginal peoples were almost always on opposite sides. It was very adversarial. There were debates and conflicts. And there were disagreements at almost every tum. Since the signing of the Nunavut Agreement the situation has been very much different. Now the governments and Inuit are beginning to work together and partnerships have developed. This is the way it should be.
Leena Evic Twerdin, thanked the three Inuit Leaders, for their comments and acknowledged their hard work and their dedication toward our vision of Nunavut JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PUCE
Ms. Rebecca Williams, Director of Justice Programs, then gave brief outline of the meeting. She thanked all the delegates for coming and acknowledged the presence of the Chair of the Nunavut Social Development Council, Mr. Elijah Erkloo. She emphasized that the purpose of this conference is not so much to discuss Justice Issues, but rather to decide which court system Nunavut Government should have. She stated that, based on the wealth of knowledge about justice system that each participants brings to the conference, she is confident that consensus on what kind of court system Nunavut will have can be reached at this meeting. She noted the theme of this consultation conference is "Justice That Brings Peace."
The delegates were then divided into six groups of approximately 8 to 10 participants. Each group was asked to take notes and highlight points arising fiom the presentations. These points were discussed further among their groups which were asked to record their thoughts about the factors contributing to the successes and failures of court systems and their concerns that are relating to the current court structure.
Major Presentations
Presentation #I: Andy Watt, Northern Issues Coordinator, Department of Justice Canada, Ottawa.
A copy of Mr. Watt's presentation is attached in Appendix 1. Mr. Watt described what he thinks the Nunavut Court should look like on April 1, 1997. His key points are:
There must be Courts in Nunavut. The Nunavut Legislature will be able to make changes. We need a decision very soon so that the legislation can be amended. Nunavut Social Development Council is planing a Justice Conference next spring to consider the more fhdamental justice issues. The discussion at this conference are about the bones of the system, not the meat.
On April 1, 1999 there will be an elected government in Nunavut that will have power to make decisions about a lot of things relating to the Justice System. A decision is needed soon on what the court structure will be like so that the legislation can be amended. The Ofice of the Interim Commissioner can began to plan what kind of structure Nunavut Justice will have if it is to have a different court structure than the one existing in the NWT at present. There are really two issues: 1) What the Court of Appeal should look
Justice in Nunavut 3 JUSITCE THAT BRINGS PEACE like; 2) What the Trial Court should look like.
Mr. Watt went on to describe the structure of the existing court system in the NWT which is similar to that in most provinces of Canada with Court of Appeal, a Supreme Court, a Temtorial Court, and Justices of the Peace. He then went on to describe other options which might be considered in determining how the justice system for Nunavut will be structured. He described an alternative structure in which the Supreme Court and the Territorial Court are joined into one court which he termed a Superior Court. He then reviewed a number of options on how the Court of Appeal and the Trial Courts could be organized. These are summarized below.
Court of Appeal Options for Nunavut.
Option 1: to have Court of Appeal for Nunavut like the current one in the Northwest Territories. That is what will happened if nothing is done to change it. The legislation that is in place now will create a Nunavut Court of Appeal on April 1, 1999. which consists of Judges from Alberta and the 3 Supreme Court Judges from Yukon, NWT and Nunavut.
Option 2: to retain the existing NWT Court of Appeal. That is to say, some judges would travel to Nunavut to hear appeals. This would mean no new Judges would have to be appointed. The advantage of this would be that the Judges would be familiar with the north because they also serve in the NWT
Option 3: to have a couple of appeal Judges living in the Nunavut. They would be new judges and do most of the appeal work. The advantage to this are: - that the judges would be residents of the North. - that they feel more part of the North. - that there would be less travel because they would not have to - travel fiom the south. - that the judges would be more accessible to lawyers who need to get appeals heard quickly.
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The disadvantages to this are: - it would require a few additional judges - it would cost more money to the people who have to pay for the Judges' salary from within the current budget. - it would be difficult to design and implement within the remaining time frame before April 1, 1999.
It is difficult to determine how much work the Nunavut Court of Appeal would have to do before it gets started. It may be that there will be more work overall for the Judges to do once the structure is implemented.
Trial Court Options for Nunavut: Option 1: To adopt the current NWT court system. No significant legislative changes would be required. There would be a Supreme Court with the Judges appointed by the Federal Government and Territorial Court with the Judges appointed by Nunavut. Any decision to change the court structure could be left to the Government of Nunavut.
Option 2: To adopt a single-level court system. We need to consider whether having a single-level trial court will provide better services to the communities. We need to consider whether a single-level court would be more responsive to the situations and to the needs of the people of Nunavut. We need to consider whether the single-level court would be more efficient and cost less. We need to consider what the impact of a single-level trial court would be on the role of Justices of the Peace. We need to determine how people feel about the fact that the single-level court would be appointed only by the Federal Government. We need to consider the criminal procedures issues.
Justice in Nunavut 5 JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEACE
Presentation # 2: Don Cooper, Deputy Minister, GNWT Department of Justice.
Mr. Cooper outlined the statistics on Territorial and Supreme court circuits. He stated that the statistics are in need of upgrade. He confmed that there are 4 Judges in the West and 3 Judges in the East.
Territorial Court: In 1995 there were total of 2 18 court circuits of which 126 were for the west and 92 were for the east. Judges sitting days in the courts were 460 in the west and 1 13 in the east. There were 3.5 times more sitting days in the West then in the East. In 1996 there were a total of 45 court circuits with 23 in the west and 22 in the east. Actual sitting days for supreme court judges were 343 for the west and 129 for the east.
Filing of Cases: According to these statistics, it seems that it is easier to resolve cases more quickly in the East than in the West. In 1996,97 child care cases were filed. 72 in the West and 25 in the east.
Maintenance Enforcement Cases. None in the East. Small Claim Cases: 5 times more in the West than in the East.
Court of Appeal: There were a total of 88 cases in the Northwest Territories. In 1996 there were 65 cases, 49 in the west and 16 in the east. In 1997 there were 29 cases in the West and 8 cases in the east. Perhaps this would suggest that there is really no need for a Court of Appeal in the East. Others may feel differently. People who work in the justice system often talk about how long it takes to dispense cases fiom the time the files are opened to the time they are closed. In the North we are fortunate that the cases are handled very quickly compared to the south. In 1995 7.76 % of the cases in the Supreme Court were handled within 3 months; 43% of the cases are dealt within a 3-6 months period, and 5% of the cases were completed within 1 year. This shows that our courts are dealing with the cases on a very timely basis, relative to other court systems in this country. The majority of cases are dealt with within 3 months, and almost all in the Supreme Court in NWT are completed within a 12 month period.
NWT Court: 41% of the cases are dispensed with within 30 days and almost all Temtorial cases are dealt with within a 6 month period. In 1994, 46% of the cases were dispensed within 0-30 day period. These were either concluded within 6 months and completed or pass on to the Supreme Court.
A copy of the statistics Mr. Cooper used in his presentation are attached in Appendix 2.
Justice in Nunavut 6 JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEACE
Presentation # 3: The Honourable Justice Ted Richard, Supreme Court of the NWT, Yellowknife.
Mr. Richard opened his presentation by stating that on every visit he makes across the North, everybody wants the Justice issues resolved in the community and not by the visiting Judges fiom Yellowknife or Iqaluit. This means that the community Justices of the Peace need to be strengthened. Communities must that insist that the Justices of the Peace get more training and help. If people are not happy with the current justice system it will not change unless the people of Nunavut recommend specific changes. Building up the Justice system at the community level is for the people to decide, particularly your political leaders. It is not for the judges to decide. I am here today simply to listen to some of the discussions and to help if I can on what the courts should look like for 1999. When I go into the communities it is mainly to do jury trials for very serious cases. Judge Brown and other Judges do less serious cases. There is a suggestion on how the court structure should be for Nunavut and that it can be combine into a one-level court structure. Most people in the communities don't differentiate between Supreme Court and Territorial Court. For most people, a court is a court and a Judge is a Judge. You have an excellent opportunity to do things differently when you are designing your Nunavut Government. When I go to the communities in the West and the East everybody wants the court systems to change. The consistent thing that everybody says is that the justice issues be resolved in the communities and not by visiting judges. No matter what you decide for Nunavut you will have two aspects of justice to consider:
1) Community Justice Aspect 2) Formal Courts, Judges and Lawyers.
You need both. But his is the most important - community justice. When people are discussing what kind of court structure is best for Nunawt and making recommendations to political leaders of Nunavut, you must insist that there is enough money in the budget to do this properly. There are a lot of Justices of the Peace in this room. I have always been told that Justices of the Peace need and want more training. They want more help to be better Justices of the Peace.
Justice Richard also commented on a recommendation made in Footprints 2 which suggested permanent Justices of the Peace who would sit on trials and train other Justices of the Peace.. He indicated that the GNWT is in the pmsof hiring another Justices of the Peace Co-ordinator who will be trained in the West and who will then work in the East prior to division. This is all in preparation for the Nunavut Government.
Justice in Nunavut 7 JUSTICE THAT BMNGS PEACE
Everyone in the North is in agreement that the Justice issues be dealt with within the communities rather than fiom outside the communities. However there have been many instances where people in the communities have indicated that they are glad that there are Judges fiom outside who can come to deal with cases where a member fiom a small family assaults another member of the family. Such cases are very difficult for Justices of the Peace to pass judgement on.
Mr. Richard indicated that over the next day or so he is very interested in hearing what decision will be reached and that he is interested in helping in any way he can.
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Discussion:
After these presentations the floor was opened for general discussion, comments and questions fiom the delegates. Below are the questions and comments arising fiom the presentations. The presenters were elaborating on their presentations.
Q: If a single-level court structure were to be adopted would it not encourage dependence on outside expertise?
Since this single-level court structure would create more responsibility to Justices of the Peace. Would the annual budget change to reflect the change?
Since the Supreme Court and the Territorial Court's responsibility would be affected by this change, decreased as a result the new court structure, would there be enough budget allocated to accommodate the increase change of responsibilities at the lower level of authority.
Comment: Jose Kusugak When I was visiting Greenland, Homerule. I was advised by them that whatever the people of Nunavut decide to do, they should do away with the visiting Court. When the Nunavut Government is created, we have been advised to expect a rise in crime and a rise in suicide. Apparently this is what happened to people in Greenland.
In looking at the statistics for the Court of Appeal, there is big difference between the appeals in the West and those in the East. The statistics seems to suggest that people in the West perhaps know how to use the Court of Appeal better to their advantage than the East. Court of Appeal should be thoroughly discussed as a important part of this conference.
Comment: Andy Watt In reference to the comment about the statistics on the Court of Appeal. The statistics may indicated that the people in the West may know how to manipulate the system. Showing statistics by themselves does not show the whole picture. They are rather limited in what they can show and what they do show. That is one of the dangers in putting up statistics. All they do show is that the volume of the percentage is higher in the West than it is in the East. It could also mean that both Crown and the defence in the East have been more happy with the disposition of
Justice in Numt 9 JUSTICE THAT BRih'GS PEACE
the cases than the West. I don't think it led itself to suggest that West knows how to manipulate the system bet&r.
Comment: Natsiq Kango If we decide to opt for single- level court, will the Territorial Court gain more power and authority to decide or would their authority be reduced once the two are combined? What would the cost of the Court of Appeal be? The budget for the Justices of the Peace would need to be increased.
Comment: Karen Wiseman The relationship between the Justices of the Peace and the court structure that is chosen will have to be fkther explored. In terms of more cases or more people going to court in a single-level system depends on whether more cases were channelled to the Justices of the Peace. That would be a possibility in a single- level or two level particularly. With the Justices of the Peace being in the communities, they could handle minor matters in their communities with more serious matters being handled by the single-level trial court Judge who has more power to deal with more serious matters.
Comment: Meeka Kilabuk In order to make an informed decision on what best structure should be implemented for Nunavut, it would necessary to see the break down of annual budgets for the following; and the breakdown for each area of justice, perhaps a cost comparison between the West and the East percentage of crime. - CourtofAppeal - Supreme Court - Territorial Court - Justices of the Peace
Q: Can anyone tell me what the reason is for the two-level court system? What is the difference between the Territorial Court and Supreme Court?
Q: We are talking about combining the two level of courts together. Before we do that, I would want to understand the reason for having two levels and why we are using this court structure if a single-level is better? Why do we have a two-level court system?
A: Andy Watt: On the criminal side of the court structure, the offences would not
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change. The criminal code will still have to be different with different levels of offences and penalties attached to them.
Comment: Judge Beverly Brown All over Canada they have two levels of court, Temtorial and Supreme. The proposal for the discussion is to combine those two levels so that you have a of Judges who can do anything. There may be three Judges as of April 1,1999. Do you want that, or: One Supreme Court judge who travels all over the North region and two territorial Court judges or do you want three judges who can cover whatever work there is available which is the system that is being proposed in terms of single-level. Rather the level of different decisions of the Judges be different because you have higher court judges or court judges doing cases that sometimes are not too serious. I would hope that judges would be able to recognize the differences with the work that they are doing and responds appropriately to those situations.
Q: If we are going to use a single-level court in Nunawt, will the number of cases increase? If so, Justices of the Peace salaries will have to increase according to the scope of their responsibility. Will the budget be increase to reflect the change of court structure?
Comment: Karen Wiseman Anything that the Supreme Court Judge or the Temtorial Judge can deal with now will be dealt with at the same level. The appointment of the single-level court judge would be by the Federal Government, but in consultation with the Temtories or Nunavut. This is the important difference between the two levels because in the two systems the Temtorial Court Judge would be hired by the Temtorial Court by the Government of the Nunavut.
As far as more training for Justices of the Peace goes, or providing more money for their salaries, this would be the responsibility of the Court of Nunavut. So there must be a commitment for support for Justices of the Peace to take on more training. This is part of the relationship between having matters channelled into the communities as opposed to channelling through the formal court systems as it exists now.
Comment: Andy Watt It does not really matter so much if you have a two-level or a single-level court
Justice in Nunavut I1 JUSTICE THAT BRWGS PUCE
system. This does not change the number of cases. The big difference is the estabIishment of a new structure is to deal with people who are mostly Inuit and they would get to know what the problems are. The important thing is finding other ways to keep people out of the courts. My personal view is the single level court will focus more attention to fmding solutions in the communities to deal with the problems.
Comment: Jack Anawak If the decision is there to say that the court system needs to change without knowing all the details of exactly how its going to work in the communities, the most important is that the decision is made either way. We can work out the inner parts later on.
Comment: Ann Crawford One thing that we often forget to say is that the process is new. Because it is a new proposal for change, we don't know whether this single-level court structure will be more or will be less effective. This is a new structure that is being proposed and it has not been done before in other provinces. So we may not have clear answers to some of the questions. This is a new way of doing things. New for Canada. It is an idea that people have thought of as a good idea.
Presentation #5:; John Dillon, Adult Corrections, GNWT Department of Justice, Yellowknife.
Corrections in Nw In 1982 1 was the only parole officer that they had in the Northwest Territories. Mer the National Prole Board made a decision, it was my responsibility to hand to the parolee a card that they were supposed to carry at all times. This parole card was written in French and in English. I always blamed one of the social workers, Rebecca Williams, for this but she claims that she had nothing to do with it. I had the card translated into Inuktitut. I got into trouble for doing that because apparently parole cards were not supposed to be translated because they are official documents. It strikes me that in the 17 years since I came here, Corrections and Justice in the Northwest Territories have come an amly long way to today where we see people designing their own court system. I'd like to thank Rebecca Williams and the Office of Interim Commissioner for the opportunity to speak to you today. If I had a title to my presentation to you today it would be "If
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Nothing Changes". If nothing changes in Nunavut in Corrections, you will inherit the situation that I'm going to talk to you about. I sincerely hope that things do change because the things that I have to say today are not particularly happy ones.
Most Canadians, when they think about corrections, if they think about corrections at all, they think about jails. And, indeed, corrections are, in part, jails. Many other people would think about corrections as community. Because I have worked in corrections, I have a skewed idea of what community is. I would define a community hma correctional perspective as a group of people and their particular circumstances or situation that are connected to all offenders. I think we all know that in the North there are almost none of us that are not connected to an offender in one way or another.
With the idea that I'm going to talk about, communities, I am going prefer to one of the Canadian authorities on crime and community, work done by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. It is called the Criminal Justice Indicators. What this document does is it lists all the social conditions that have been identified by criminologists and other people who work more in this field as influencing crime and victimization.
This book attempts to describe and explain how crime occurs. What is it within the communities or society, or even an individual, that causes people to break the law? I will be very careful not to draw any conclusions here because there is no easy explanation here for crime and there is no particularly easy explanation for crime in a society as complex as ours. But the work does list the social conditions that are common to high crime rates. I have selected a few.
What this chart shows is a demographics of the Northwest Territories, and it shows very clearly that Nunavut has one of the highest birth rates per one thousand population anywhere in North America. The social indicator that is here is that, as the number of young single males in the population increases, so does the crime rate. It is a very direct relationship. We are far above the national average.
A second indicator is unemployment. Again, national average, NWT average and NunaVut. Unemployment leads to economic needs and isolation. This is isolation fiom the community and it is isolation fiom the values and goals that the community has. Another indicator which is not reflected by this graphic, is connected to unemployment and has to do with the nature and number of jobs there are, seasonal or part-time or short term. The more jobs that are of this nature, very direct relationship, the higher the crime rate. And I would suggest to you that in the NWT, we have a far higher percentage than
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any other jurisdiction of those short-term, seasonal jobs.
The third factor is education. The authors found very clearly that low academic performance, early school leaving, and illiteracy are very important factors, again a direct relationship.
Alcohol and drug consumption. The incidence of alcohol and drug abuse in our community is abysmal. Many crimes, I see lots of information about people who come to jail, and many if not most, if not all of the crimes I see in facilities are committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Or if the person is not drunk or stoned at the time of the crime is committed, the crime is committed in order to get money to buy drugs or alcohol.
This is perhaps one of the worst indicators because it also has secondary factor, parents who are stoned or drunk don't care for their children, or don't care for their children in a way that stops crime fiom going fiom one generation to another to another. These are just a few of the factors that are found to occur at the same time a crime does. We have seen the NWT to be consistently higher than the Canadian average on all of these social indicators. So, the question is "Do all these social indicators lend to a bigher crime rate in the NWT than in other places?'And of course, the answer is an emphatic Yes. If we had a hundred thousand people in the NWT the crime rate would be 24,661. The Yukon really does not even come close as the second highest.
So what does this crime rate mean in a way of offences, for Breaking and Entering, a new common northern crime, our rates are so high that they couldn't even put us on the graph with the other jurisdictions in the country. We are about 3 times higher than the national average. Breaking and entering is a non-violent crime. But these graphs represent real people and real life situations.
Sexual assault in comparison to the rest of Canada are about nine times as many as you'll find in another jurisdiction. With all this that is happening in the communities, how is it reflected in our corrections system?
In the BSin Correctional Centre which is facility that was built for 38 inmates - but now holds about 65. We have Isumaqsungittdckuvik: the Young Offenders Facility. I think the capacity there is about 16. It's almost always full at this point. The Yellowknife Correctional Centre has capacity of 132, it holds about 180 inmates at the moment. In Fort Smith there is Territorial Women's Correctional Centre.
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On March 1997 there were 205 people in register at the Yellowknife Correctional Centre and 39 were on remand, 98 were serving sentences for violence or sexual assault. 23 were federal prisoners.
It is part of our mandate to hold people at the least restricted-measure possible. Because of our situation, we believe any inmate who is not serving a sentence for violence is mostly like an inmate that could be released back to the community.
The graph shows that the number of violent inmates exceeds almost all other Provincial or Territorial jurisdictions. The graph shows the proportion of inmates who were serving sentences for violent offences which is 72%. The federal system, with all of its maximum security institutions, have 77% of their people serving violent offences. Only 5% more than we do.
Here is what the Baffm Correctional Centre inmate profile looks like. A total of 69 inmates were on remand unit and there are only 16 beds in the remand unit and everyone of them was filled. An astounding number of people serving time for violence and sexual assault. That number is 82%. This is only talking about Territorial inmates and does not include those serving 2 years less a day or less. Unfortunately, the NWT has the highest rate of Federal incarceration in the Country. In October 1997, we had a 149 Federal inmates incarcerated. About 79 were on parole back in the communities, two were on bail. The total number of inmates serving Federal sentences in October this year was 230.
The federal inmates are kept at Bowden Institution. Bowden is a long way fiom Nunavut. Most of Inuit offenders who are not kept in Yellowknife Correctional Centre are ending up in Bowden Institution. Ms. Karen Wiseman is here fiom Correctional Services of Canada. Not all inmates are kept at Bowden however. Some are in fact NWT residents in 13 separate penitentiaries fiom coast to coast. So, where does all of this leave us in 1999 when Nunavut is created? If nothing changes, this picture that I have described to you is what will be the situation that Nunavut finds itself in.
At the Bafin Correctional Centre renovations are being done so that it is no longer a minimum security institution. What that means is that more people who are serving sentences for more serious offences can stay here rather than go somewhere else. You will inherit the Young Offender's facility. Isumqsungittukkuvik is a good facility, it is well managed. It is based on programs.
We will have trainees in place by then for Directors of Corrections, a Warden of Bafi
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Correctional Centre and Deputy Warden. We also have funding for an acting Co- ordinator of Programs at Isurnaqsungittukkuvik.
My own opinion is that we need to boost community resources a great deal in order to deal with offences. If we do this, I believe and most people who work in this area believe, that if we boost our community resources, if we deal with more of our offenders in the community, what we will do at best is to slow the rate of increase of people who are in our jails.
When I fmt came to Iqaluit the BafXn Correctional Centre was a series of three trailers. There were about 16 to 20 low security inmates there. If they wanted to talk to the Warden they went outside the building. There were no fences and they were along the road. By March 2, 1982, when the BafEin Correctional Centre was built, the population had expanded. Although it was built for 18 low security inmates, it was filled probably on the first day of its operation. Today the population is about 65. These are not low- security inmates. The profile of the inmates in Nunavut have radically changed over the 20 years. If nothing changes, there will be crisis brewing in our correctional centres. I think there is also a crisis that is brewing in our communities. Is there hope for the future? Of course there is. But its going to get worse before it gets better.
This is an age map of the NWT. Now we know that our offender population comes in about here, the 20-29 group. The demographics are against us at this point if nothing changes.
Discussion:
Comment: Karen Wiseman When we established the healing lodges we worked with the community and the Bands. There are aboriginal healing lodges. It would have to be your community deciding what was needed, but hiring aboriginal staff, having elders on 24 hours a day. We have been very excited by those kind of measures as well.
Q: Karen, are you saying that the Correctional Services of Canada would be interested in developing that kind of healing lodge in Nunavut?
A: Karen Wiseman: We believe very strongly in reintegration into the community and repatriation of the offender to the community.
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I don't think the answer is quite as simple as you say. Our commissioner and our belief in correction as good correction is to work with the community and get the offender back into the community. Yes, we are interested in working with the Nunavut Government to see what options are available. There are different forms that this could take. And then of course, a healing lodge is a very expensive endeavour. And this may sound like a Federal bureaucrat, it goes to the Treasury Board for approval. But I guess what we are saying is that we would like to work with you and try and put together what-ever would be the right proposal - a shared facility, we have to look at what level of facility it would be etc. Basically, we need the someone to work with.
Q: Refemng back to some of the comments you made regarding sexual assault. You said that there was large number. When I was sitting as an observer in one of the courts sittings there was a person there who had sexually abused a little boy. After the little boy had been assaulted, (they in turn, when they grew up, sexually abused children)
You were talking about the high rate of sexual assault. There was a judge in Open Court and said "every time I hear that teacher's name or that social worker's name I want to curse that man", because he was abusing young boys. Later on the young boys, who had been sexually abused as children grow up to be offenders themselves. My question is, "What is being done in the correctional facilities to try and rectify that problem"?
A: John Dillon: A short time ago we initiated a contract to have psychologist focus directly on the problem that young people have in talking about sexual offenders. He found a very interesting thing when he was working with that group. He offered a grieving course and found that response to be immense - inmate after inmate. They wanted to come to a grieving situation where they could explain what happened to them as children through a variety of situations, including the one that you were talking about. So we started a course at that time in response to that information for victims of childhood sexual abuse.
The problem that young people have been talking about is how being sexually abused as a child tends to create a sexual abuser as an adult. It does not always have to go that way. The best place for us to make the best kind of intervention is before that - before they come into the criminal justice system ever. Once a person, who has been abused crosses the line and becomes an abuser, the work is
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immensely more difficult. In order to stop that full cycle, the intervention has to occur before they abuse other people.
I would like to very much say that we have a lot of programs in place to deal with many of the problems that we talking about. The truth of the matter is, perhaps a little less happy and so far, that we spend most of our money on staff. Because our numbers are so high, our costs are also are very high.
We have done a number of things to make partnerships with other community agencies to try and bring into our correctional centres the kind of work our inmates need . Sometimes we are successll and sometimes we are less successfbl . Currently, as I said, the best thing we have done is certainly bringing in healing circles. We now have a section in the Yellowknife Correctional Centre that is devoted to healing circles. We have an elder who holds healing circles on a daily basis. It is a very unique group, and so far, the Inuit, and Dene and other people all are part of a healing circle. I don't know of any other of its kind in Canada.
Comment: Andrew Tagak We are presented with numbers and statistics of this current situation. If we are serious about making Nunavut work, we are going to have to make improvements. We see the need for improvement. I think we can do it. However, looking at the numbers presented to us, I say to myself "How can you build a qarnutik without wood?" It's not possible. These numbers I am seeing, to me mean, "these are resources & materials to make and build a qarnutik". If we are planning to improve the system, we frrst need to know exactly what we are dealing with and what we are faced with, not based on assumptions, but based on realistic facts. In terms of working to improve the system, we will be able to determine where and how to improve certain areas if we have what it takes to make the necessary improvements.
Q: The current allocation that is slotted for east which is currently in Yellowknife or Fort Smith, can this money be transferred to Nunavut now?
Because proper planning is crucial not just for short term planning but for long term. We need to ensure that there are sufficient funds for Nunavut Justice.
A: John Dillon: Yes, there are plans for the division of the fhding that goes to
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Corrections now so that Nunavut will have sufficient hdsto run an organization on this side.
Comment: Judge Beverly Brown I have noticed one significant trend since I have been working in Corrections in the eastern arctic. There has a significant drop in the number of youths appearing in Youth Court have reduced by an amazing amount. My own personal theory on this reduction is that it may have to do with the efforts made to provide grade 12 education in each community. Those young people who used to appear in courts because they were bored are now occupied in their community. There are things you can do to help out in the communities - outpost camps are excellent alternatives for corrections.
Comment: John Dillon I would like to echo that comment made by Bev. Brown. We have gone from zero to 35 outpost camps that are offering programs for alternative corrections. This means seems to be very successll. I would like to encourage this method.
Presentation # 4: Andy Watt, Department of Justice Canada, Ottawa. Don Cooper, Deputy Minister, GNWT Department of Justice
The Federal Department of Justice Prosecution Services prosecutes all Federal offences in the NWT, now including criminal code offences. We also prosecute NWT territorial offences by agreement with the Northwest Territories. We have 34 employees in the NWT. 17 lawyers and our main oflice is situated in Yellowknife with sub-offices in Iqaluit and Inuvik. Some lawyers come from Ottawa from time to time when we need extra help.
The plan for Nunavut is to established a larger operation based in Iqaluit beginning in 1999 and transfer some resources fiom the Yellowknife office to Iqaluit for that purpose.
The situation in rest of Canad is that the Provincial Attorney General is the one who is responsible for prosecuting criminal code offence. It is not the Federal Government who does that in the south. So the issue of transferring of responsibilities for criminal prosecutions to the Territorial Government has been under discussion for quite some time. For the last 10 to 20 years the govemment of Canada has been trying to transfer " provincial like" responsibilities to Temtorial government and one those potential
Justice in Nunavut 19 JlBl7CE THAT BRINGS PEACE functions is the prosecution of criminal code offences. So far there is no formal commitment to devolve prosecutions to NWT, but we are actively discussing it. For Nunavut the issue of who prosecutes has been raised by the Nunavut Implementation Commission and a recommendation was made to form a working group which would consist of members fiom the GNWT Department of Justice ,the Federal Department of Justice and representative from Pauktutiit. This working group would figure out how to transfer the responsibilities for the Prosecutions. There are no discussions under way with GNWT on devolution of prosecutions to that government. No working group has been formed. We have told the Interim Commissioner that we are open to a number of options for prosecutions in Nunavut. Those options include the situation which we have now which is the Federal Prosecution hnction, and also the of possibility "Nunavut Prosecution" within the Federal Department of Justice, but which would have a link to the Territorial Government in Nunavut.
We are also actively discussing the devolution of prosecutions with the government of Yukon. We hope to publish a consultation paper soon which will set out the issues and describes some options. This paper may be of some interest to people in Nunavut as well.
It is important to remember that prosecutions, whether it be Territorial, Provincial or Federal, that they exercise their functions independently. Totally free from political interference. They can not have people telling them who or who not to prosecute. Whoever prosecutes in Nunavut will have to be very sensitive to the circumstances and to the realities of Nunavut and of Inuit.
We at Federal Justice, are very open to discussing ways in which to help prosecution better. We are assuming that prosecution will continue as is as of April 1, 1999 in Nunavut. We are planning on that basis. If that changes so be it.
Don Cooper confinned what Andy Watt had described; the Federal Government has conducted prosecutions in NWT for many years now. Out of the desire to move toward provincial like powers - the GNWT some years ago asked the Federal Government to transfer the power to conduct prosecutions to the Territorial Government. Those discussions were quite active until a decision was made to put it on hold until closer to division time. The GNWT was busy changing division into two territories and concentrating on other initiatives like community empowerment, downsizing, privatization and treaty land claims. The government decided to wait until the division took place.
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The federal prosecutors have served the Territories very well over the 30 to 40 years. There are three branches of government that have to be independent in our society and these are: 1)Judicial 2) RCMP 3) Prosecution and Defence. This is why you have operations like Maliganik Tukisiniavik which operates independently.
If the GNWT was moving toward Nunavut Prosecution, there is a model in Nova Scotia that we are looking at very seriously.
Discussion
Q. In reference to discussion for Nunavut prosecutions it was mentioned that there is a working group to work on the transfer of prosecution to the North. Are you working on the changes without involving people fiom Nunavut?
A. Andy Watt: I don't mean to lead you to think that we are planning without considering the people of Nunavut. We are quite open to discuss on how the prosecutions are arranged. I think that we are waiting for someone to bring it to us and talk with us. At the moment we are prosecuting offences at NWT and we have to make provisions to continue that role after 1999. If nobody else is doing it - that is what we are planning.
Presentation #5: Bill Sweeney, Superintendent of Criminal Operations, RCMP G Division, Yellowknife.
Thanks Rebecca Williams. I am honoured to be part of this opportunity before you. The people of Nunavut have a choice. They can choose to contract with Solicitor General of Canada for the services of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or consider other options. This is with the Government. The RCMP is strictly the organization that provides the service. There was a review done on RCMP a major evaluation which was to determine how well the RCMP was providing the policing service and delivering the to the people of Northwest Territories. They consulted with the people of Nunavut, elders group, women's' group, NIC and our members. The results of this evaluation were quite an eye opener.
Over the years the RCMP has become very high tech. We have become very good at
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dealing with systems, computers and complex criminal investigations and in doing so become very low out of touch with the people. It was during the community consultation process that we recognized that by becoming high tech we allowed ourselves to become low touch. We were no longer communicating with the people of the settlements. We were no longer providing the service that they wanted us to deliver. Many of the things we did were no loner relevant in today's society. The practices we traditionally followed were not effective anymore. We also recognized that our own membership needed to go through a renewal process where they were recommitted to the communities and to the visions of RCMP.
In comparison to southern jurisdictions and colleagues, we are well under way to doing some wonderful things. The RCMP in NWT is committed to a pre-charged diversion process. This is non- adversarial medication process that is intended to empower people in the communities to resolve problems before they get charged in the criminal justice system. There are 41 Community Justice Committees in NWT diverting as many as 300 cases per year. These programs are focusing on healing and reconciliation. Reintegrating the offenders into the communities. This is the method that the people of communities here been trying to do. And finally they have been given an opportunity to do so. This is an exciting time.
The other aspect of policing services that has changed is the ability to attract and employee people from NWT into the RCMP. There is a lot of distrust toward the RCMP force and we are making deliberate efforts to train and recruit young people to policing. The Community Constable Program is providing tremendous potential in this area. Programs have been introduced in efforts to recruit and train native police officer s. These are the Inuit Development Program and the Proactive Suicide Prevention Program. Both Programs been success~lin involving more young people in the police force.
Recognizing the need for cross cultural training sessions for our members, the RCMP has introduced training workshop to help them understand the people and the communities that they are working with. We have a long way to go in community counselling, and more involvement at the community level and more partnership at the community level are needed. This is the direction we are aiming for after 1999. And we hope we can do that in Nunavut after April 1, 1999. That is the question for your leaders and for the people in Ottawa. I sincerely hope we are part of your wonderful Nunavut that you have before you.
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Discussion:
Comment: Dominic Kasadluaq I am extremely happy to hear the changes taking place in how policing is been delivered. In Rankin Met we are working together with the RCMP in resolving issues at the community level. The integration of new methods are very welcomed and the involvement of community elders is making a big difference.
Comment: Andrew Tagak What I heard fiom your presentation were all very positive and very enlightening.
Comment: Elijah Erkloo Since the introduction of healing circles became popular, I am told that perhaps not all RCMP members are aware of this alternative program, the Healing Process Program. While offenders are on this process they should not be prosecuted.
A: Bill Sweeney I agree with you. When I first got hired my role as a police officer was to go out investigate crime and put evidence before the prosecutors that would be sufficient to justify for the prosecutions and today, 10 years, later I find myself sitting on a task force that is called "keeping people out of jail" - keeping people out of the jail system. Sometimes, because we are big organization, not everybody that works within the RCMP fully understands the concepts or is as committed to the concepts. There are occasions where a member of RCMP follow a course of action that I personally may not necessarily approve of. I believe that what is instrumental is that the management of RCMP in this division is in concert with Territorial officials, in concert with the new officials that will govern Nunavut, and that we all come to grips with the basic philosophy of - " keeping people out of jail." We have to work on the attitude of individuals members of our communities. That is a long process.
Q: In terms of locking up intoxicated people. Is the law enfodsame way in the East as it is in the West?
A: Bill Sweeney: Currently the laws are the same in the east as it is in the west. But what you will find difference in is how the law is enforced or dealt with. This may differ with the same community depending on the individual discretion of the officer involved. Again, as a matter of policing, we are wing to find alternatives
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to locking people up who are intoxicated. Our preference would be to have a facility or people responsible to look after them.
No, it does not have to be the same officer who locked you up to release you. The only time it may require the same officer is if there were criminal offences committed.
We have relied on jails to deal with problems, short term answers to deal with problems. Believe me, the police are just as interested as anyone in finding alternatives to those problems that you asked about.
Q: If I was incarcerated on suspicious grounds and I was wrongllly held in the jail based on an assumption, what right do I have?
A: Bill Sweeney: There are number of things you can do if you feel the police have wrongfully detained you. First you can consult a lawyer. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives you the authority to seek that option.
If you are concerned with the conduct of a RCMP member, within the RCMP Act, the legislative act which enable us to be a police organization, there is public complaint process. This is not well understood and not well known across Canada. The public complaint process allows you to make a complaint about the RCMP and have an investigation conducted. There are two ways that the investigation can be conducted: 1) The RCMP by themselves could conduct the investigate and usually that happens in the first instances. 2) You can directly complaint to RCMP Public Complaints Commission and they may come back to us and ask us to investigate or they may do it themselves. 3)You can complain to any local RCMP detachment.
Comment: Rebecca Williams In reference to your comment about, by the way your presentation was a excellent one, alternatives measures in terms of using community group to provide healing counselling, unfortunately this program has not been well thought out. People who are providing this help are not provided with proper office space and they are assisting on a volunteer basis. They need to be given adequate support. This needs to be better evaluated.
We have had RCMP members for a long time and realistically we should have
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more Inuit Police Oficers by now. Looking at Sandy Akavak who has worked for the force for 26 years, I believe he should be an Inspector by now. We should be encouraging our young people to get more involved in your training program. I am very excited about the movement by the RCMP however, it should not have taken this long to recognized Native Police Officer to join the force. I believe it takes only 6 months to become an police officer. If you look at the Teacher Education Program, which has only been in place for a relatively short time, already since its creation there are many Inuit teachers. It is very important to ensure that the support systems are in place so young Inuit people will be more encouraged to join the RCMP and that the alternatives program are successful.
Comment: Andre Tautu I too enjoyed your presentation. Not all small communities have police officers. With today's outside influences, violence, drug use and others, I believe we should have one member in every community no matter how small the population may be. Sometimes it is not very safe in our community when complex or violent act happens. I would like to urge the RCMP to seriously look putting police officers in every community to provide protection to the society.
A: Bill Sweeney: Those are very valid comments. Your government will have an opportunity to negotiate the level of service that the citizens of Nunavut want to have. This is something you should make known to your political leaders. Under our current minimum standards of policing, we are not able to reach every community as we would like to. That's the fiscal reality of today. But looking at the future, your leaders may very well decide to have a police detachment in every community. We would certainly like to have detachment in every community.
Comment: Sandy Akavak Having worked with the RCMP for many years, there is one area which I have seen having big affect on the whole family. When a person, adult or young offender, has been convicted the family members are often unaware until the person is incarcerated. Not informing the whole family, especially those who are going to be directly affected, causes unnecessary breakup. And often the RCMP are blamed for this lack of communications. According to the law they are not required to inform the family. However, if we tallcing about making improvements and better working relationship on the part of the RCMP, this has be addressed. For the years I worked as a police officer, this was one of
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the most difficult things for me to cope with particularly with Inuit. Age is not a factor in Inuit society in this situation.
Presentation #6: Nora Sanders, ADM of Justice, GNWT Yellowknife.
I will be taking about the legal aid services that come under Legal Services Board. We each have specific topics because there are a lot of specific areas in the justice system. But we all have general interest in how the system works as a whole. It was mentioned earlier that we should work together and that we shouldn't be strangers to each other. That is the principle that we have to follow for this conference and also for planning justice in Nunavut.
Overview on Legal Service Board: What is legal aid? It is legal assistance for people who need a lawyer and can not afford to pay for a lawyer themselves. So their lawyer is paid for fiom public funds. And who needs a lawyer? Well, very often its in the criminal cases because under the Charter of Rights people are entitled to be represented especially if there is the possibility of their going to jail. The legal assistance can also be for other kinds of cases, civil cases that involve children, etc.
When someone is going to legal aid, there are two questions that have to be looked at: 1) Is it the kind of case you can get legal aid for? 2) Are you someone who can't afford to pay for a lawyer? This is called financial eligibility. Roughly the criteria that is used are based on the old social services standard with some flexibility in it. The standards that they used to used for social assistance. The way it works is people who really can't afford to pay for lawyer, they will have their lawyer for fiee. People who can pay some fees will be asked to contribute toward the cost.
The Legal Services Board makes the decision to determine who is eligible for financial assistance.
If changes were to be made, this decision could be transferred to each legal aid clinic in each region in Nunavut. Under the Social Service Act, the Legal Service Board is set up under legislation and has a representative fiom each region of the Territories, one fiom government and one fiom the legal profession. These people together make up the whole Board for NWT. In addition to that, because we now have a system of legal aid clinics, everywhere where there is legal aid clinic there is a board that is responsible for running
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that clinic.
Maliganik Tukisiniavik in Iqaluit has a board here and they serve the whole B&i region. There is one board in each region in Nunavut and each region has a clinic with a lawyer. How is legal aide service provided? 1) by lawyers who are employed by the legal aid system - called staff lawyers like Mr. Neil Sharky. 2) by private lawyers. The Clinic Boards handle the operational decisions and the lawyers in those clinics are the one who decide who gets legal aide assistance. They have direct relationship with the client, with the person who gets assistance. The NWT Board does not get involved in the process at all.
The Board for the whole NWT sets general policies and directions, it approves the budgets, and it does the hiring for the staff lawyers along with the local clinic boards. The money that pays for legal aide is cost shared by the Federal Government and the Territorial Government through an agreement with the Federal Government.
Our Board has given a lot of thought to how does all this relate to community justice. On the face of it, it doesn't.
The legal aid services are very important component of the formal system that we use, the adversarial system. Where there is a lawyer on each side and the judge making the decisions. So the legal aid programs provides the lawyer who on one side of that case. That is oficial functions, but at the same time when you have a legal aid clinic in the regions that lawyer become a resource on legal issues in that region. When you have court workers spread out across the regions in the communities where there may be no other legal professionals, expect perhaps an RCMP,those court workers become legal resources in those communities. So its natural that when people are talking about alternatives and getting involved in justice issues themselves, they usually turn to court workers. The Court ~orkdbecomepart of that process. It is not really an oficial part of their role but its an important part of their role to support in what ever way they can in the alternatives that are developing.
Most of the people who are members of the Legal Service Boards have a very personal interest in seeing community justice initiatives develop, and for that reason the Board has given directions to the legal aid clinics, the court workers, the staff lawyers are to support those communitiesjustice initiatives in whatever they can.
What happens after division? That is something that is not totally decided as yet. What
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the Nunavut act says is that all legislations that NWT has before the division will be duplicated for the Nunavut. So then on April 1,1999 some the boards that I have mentioned about, like legal services board and the legal aide regional clinics will be set up for Nunavut as is -proceed as is.
One of the thing to think about is do we want to have two-levels of boards-regional clinics and the overall legal service boards? Assuming that we do want to have these two-levels of boards or continue to have them. What role will each of them take? What kinds of decision will be made at the each level. What kinds of decisions will be made so there are uniform for all of Nunavut by the Territorial board. In the Foot Prints Two document it says that the legal service board that would be created for Nunavut would have its head oflice in Cambridge Bay. So the plans that the Legal Service Board and the Department of Justice are making now are to get things ready so that an office could be set up for that board. I have mentioned some things that need to be decided or looked at before the division. The Legal Service Board initiated process to start that planning or to start setting up for that process.
In September of this year, the boards met and started the discussions on the issues. The next step is to have another meeting for Nunavut and one for Western Arctic to do some planning as to what the structure should look like in those two places. Hopefidly these will take place over the next two months, sometime before March 1998. There are decisions to be made. It is important to have the right people involved.
Discussion:
Comment: Natsiq Kango In reference to the last statement that Ms. Sanders made it seems that there is one overall board for Nunavut. I would like to suggest that there be more than one board, perhaps two or three boards across the Nunavut. Similar to the current arrangement with the Divisional Boards and the Regional Health Boards.
A: Nora Sanders: That is very much what is under consideration. The way it will be, if we nothing, after the division a legal services board for all of Nunavut as well as the two clinic boards that already exists. Right now there are boards for each of the three region in Nunavut. There will be one overall board for Nunavut. If people of Nunavut would prefer board ,then there would have to take steps to make it that way instead of the five that we currently have, 3 regional clinic boards and one overall Legal Services Board.
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There was a question asked at one point whether Nunavut and the Western Arctic would want to share the overall legal services. At our meeting in September with the Legal Aide Clinics Regional board members and the Legal Service Board members indicated very clearly that they want a separate legal services for Nunavut.
Comment: Natsiq Kango Ms. Sanders, you talked about legal aide providing assistance to those who can't aff'ord to pay for their lawyers. Can anyone, within that eligibility, be assisted? I know of one incident where a person fiom outpost camp who wanted to take legal action against the hospital for malpractice who couldn't get legal aide assistance is this because of certain limitation with the legal aide clinic? Does it have limited authorities?
A: Nora Sanders: As I mentioned earlier because of fiscal constraints the board had had to focus legal aide services on certain priorities areas, criminal legal aide, where someone might be going to jail or civil matters that involves child custody or maintenance those sorts of things. Before where you may have had legal aide was for civil case where someone want to sue for medical ma1 practice. These days we don't give legal aide for that except that the private lawyer might take on that case. They would be paid of the winning case.
Comment: Natsiq Kango As Nunavut develops and grows along with the devolution of authorities & powers to the communities, we will need different types of lawyers, corporate lawyers, family lawyers. I'm wondering if consideration will be given to include private lawyers or corporate lawyers in the structural planning for Nunavut? I am happy to hear that there is public education legal service on different types of legal services that can be available to the public. This is very much needed.
A: Nora Sanders: Good point, the corporate lawyers would not come under legal aide but looking at the bigger picture, like you mentioned there will be a need for lawyers with other areas of expertise as Nunavut develops and grows. There are going to be more commercial activity here, where they will need corporate lawyers, perhaps like law supply and demand.
Comment: Paul Okalik Ms. Sanders, you mentioned that you are negotiating an agreement with the
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Federal Government. I want to know how long that agreement is for and whether that agreement will be applicable for Nunavut? What terms and conditions are in that agreement? Will that agreement prevent the Nunavut Government fiom introducing arrangements for funds for a specific like legal aid funds, if they are to use these bdsin the future?
A: Nora Sanders: It will go beyond the tern of the division. We have been working with the Interim Commissioner's office to make sure there are involved in it. It will not limit the kinds of things that legal aid can cover as far as civil cases. The only thing that will be limited is the money amount that is going to be provided under it. So far what we are going to sign won't have in it the money for after the division. Because the Federal Govemment can't make commitments beyond a certain point. We are also trying to include a Nunavut clause that will basically say Nunavut will be entitled to have exactly the same agreement after division if it wants. It will be open to Nunavut to negotiate a different agreement.
Presentation #7 Don Cooper, Deputy Minister of Justice, GNWT Yellowknife.
GNWT De~artmentof Justice Annual Budyet
Mr Cooper summarized the breakdown of expenditures for the GNWT Department of Justice. Mr. Cooper presented additional information on budgets for Community Constables, Correctional Facility, Cost of Community Outpost Camps, Supreme Court Circuit Costs. These are attached in Appendix 3.
Discussion:
Q: When considering placing an Inmate to Outpost Camp Operator, are they provided with any training or orientation prior to dealing with the inmate?
A: John Dillon: The training program is schedule for the near future in Barn and in the West. There is also phone access through satellite in case of emergency. As part of the Outpost Camp Operator background they are required to have first aide training before the government can contract them. We have in case have sent out trainer to provide them with this kind of training.
Q: Are there any Outpost Camps in the Western Arctic?
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A: John Dillon: Yes, there approximately five at the moment some with inmates. Doug Strader is responsible for developing camps for the Baf5.n Region. There is a lot of interest. There are many applications that have been submitted for Expressions of Interest.
Comment: Natsiq Kango In reference to the Department of GNWT Justice's annual budget, with Nunavut coming not only the budget would have to increased, the number of facilities would have to be increased as well in order to accommodate the number of offenders that are being held elsewhere than in Nunavut. I think the breakdown of the budget into regions would be useful.
Q: If an offender assaults Outpost Camp Operator, under the criminal code protection there are provisions for protection for assaulting a police officers, are the outpost camps would fall under that code as well? Are these Outpost Camps considered as reformatory Correctional Centres?
A: John Dillon: No there are not, the offender who goes to camps go there on early release while there are still serving their sentences, there are in law, still being consider to be held in jail where ever they come from. The camps operators are not considered as officers and the camps are not considered as jails. However, if an Outpost Camp Operator would be assaulted by the offender while in camps, the Camp Operator would be given full protection as anyone under the law, but through the RCMP.
Comment: Mary Krimrnerdjuar In looking at the cost of housing an inmate we spend about $200.00 per inmate. This is a lot of money and there is only one Outpost Camp in Baffin Region operating. There must be more effort in promoting such alternative facility which is providing culturally relevant programing. People in Baffin region should be informed that there are funds available to those who are interested in operating.
A: Don Cooper: The average cost is $165.00 per day to house an inmate. One of the things that is under discussions right is whether or not Nunavut should get another Correctional Facility. If people in Nunavut want to housed their prisoners closer to home and provide more life skill programs this is the decision for the people of Nunavut to make, not the GNWT.
Justice in Nunavut 31 JUSTICE THAT BRLVGS PBCE
Comment: Ann Crawford There will be another opportunity to discuss Justice Issues. There are meetings planned by the Nunavut Social Development Council. This will give the people of Nunavut another opportunity to plan. Perhaps the financial information and the operational issues should be made available at that time. Mr. Cooper's presentation on annual budget on GNWT Justice is very useful, it needs to be translated into Inuktitut and perhaps with a break down to each division of operations.
Justice in Nunavut 32 JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PMCE
Group Discussions
After these presentations and general discussions, the participants were divided into six groups where they continued discussion on what structure the Justice System in Nunavut should have. The delegates were asked to highlight the main points raised in their group discussions on chart paper. Once the groups had thoroughly discussed the issues and reached their conclusions, each group was given an opportunity to report in a plenary session and to make recommendations on what form the justice system in Nunavut should take.
The issues they brought back to the plenary session are summarized below. These are the factors that should be considered in making the decision on the fhture structure of the Justice system in Nunavut.
Group One: Group One summarized their discussions as follows:
Court of Appeal: There are no full time employees and 20 part-time employees. Current annual budget is $50,000.00 Erom the Federal Government.
Supreme Court: There are only three full time workers and 20 part-time workers. The annual allocated budget fi.om the Federal Government is $1 million and $7.2 million from the Territorial Government.
Territorial Court: There are five full time employees and 5 part-time employees who are hired on an as required basis. The budget is $7.2 million for the Kitikmeot and Keewatin and $800,000.00 for the Baffin Region.
Justice of the Peace: There are 180 workers on fill time. And the annual budget is$190,000.00 for Nunavut.
Associated Court Costs: (7.2 million) Court Registries Courts Administration Temtorial Court ( B&, Inuvik and Hay River) Justice of Peace Court Reporters ( 8 ) Court Documents ( Library )
Justice in Nunavut 33 JUSTICE THAT BWGS PEACE
Other Related Functions (which are under the budget 7.2 million)
Fair Practices Rental Oficer Coroners Legal Registries Firearms
Nunavut: If Nunavut adopts a single level court system, this is how we believe it should be structured: Nunavut Court of Appeal: It is difficult to determine how many would be part- time employees. Nunavut Superior Court would be combined -would still have 3 fill- time Judges. Justices of the Peace: There would still be 90 JPs in Nunavut.
The Nunavut Superior Court would handle the following: Criminal Code Family ( Divorces, Adoption ) Negligence Bankruptcy Estates Jury Trials Change of Names Contracts
Recommendations from Group One: (regardless of the court structure adopted)
1. The Nunavut Court of Appeal: We recommend that LawyersIJudges be hired from Ontario or Nunavut, not Alberta,
2. Justices of the Peace will need more support and training if they are to take on greater case loads. Training would provide more confidence building.
3. A Justice of the Peace Administrator for Nunavut be hired by April 1, 1998 from Transitional FundsAncremental Funds.
Justice in Nunavut 34 JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEACE
4. The Court of Appeal should be situated in Nunavut and should be adequately funded. This is a long-term goal.
Group Two: Group Two summarized their discussions as follows:
Not a lot of people have full knowledge of the legal system, so the most important steps toward establishing an effective legal system in Nunavut would be to:
Translate all the laws into Inuktitut. Aim for a simpler system that is easily understandable so that people can be educated to find their own justice. Standardized legal terms into a glossary. Increase communication between Justices of the Peace and Higher Court. RCMP influences JPs. This would allow more access for Justices of the Peace to get more support with their work from Higher Courts. Justice of the Peace need more training. Appoint 3 permanent Judges to Northern Court of Appeal. Have more than one Justice of the Peace in each community or have different Justices of the Peace from different communities serving another community. Have Justice Committees sit with Courts.
All of these things have to work together to ensure less people end up in court. So to avoid repeat offenders, we need the community support, community involvement, elders' groups or committees working to support and give advise.
Recommendations from Group Two
1. The group is in favour of a single-level Trial Court because it is: ...... More simple More flexible More efficient
2. There would be a parallel need to strengthen Justices of the Peace by providing: More training Better wages More access to legal expertiseljudges
Justice in Nunavut 35 JUSTICE THA T BRINGS PEACE
Justice of the Peace in community to deal with conflict. Better and more separation between RCMP and Courts Interpreters should always be available. Need legal aide and court workers.
3. There should be a Nunavut Court of Appeal: Keep Nuoavut cases in Nunavut Adequate facilities for Court of Appeal in Nunavut
4. Nunavut Corrections should: Increase facilities for men. Create a woman's facility Get the Federal Government to build a facility in Nunavut for those serving longer sentences. Encourage more community involvement in programs for prisoners. Introduce more programs (eg. halfway housed outpost camps and life skills training for rehabilitation ) Keep prisoners in Nunavut and increase community involvement.
Group Three: Group Three summarized their discussions as follows:
In the Nunavut Bar: there should be no difference between single level or the two- level court, but no other changes to code ( eg. preliminary inquiry). Basically, Group Three is in favour of a single-level court structure because they felt that it will: Increase access Provide Justices of the Peace with more financial support and training. If they are to take on more greater responsibilities they be trained to take do so. They should be consulted thoroughly. Currently the salary levels or honoraria does not reflect the scope of this responsibility. Therefore the salary scale will need to be examined.
The group felt that answers were needed on some issues: How will charter cases be handle? If single level court structure was to be established there is a concern that the circuit court would be in one community for 2 weeks. Would this be possible and would it be efficient.
Jusrice in Nunavut 36 JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEACE
Any structure must be designed to resolve problems efficiently. Tbe system must be more community based. Concern that the Federal Government chooses the judges in the single- level court structure. One of the qualification for selecting Justices of the Peace should be willingness to do cases. If Justices of the Peace are to have more responsibility, more training is essential.
Recommendations from Group Three:
1. Establish a Judical Advisory Committee To allow serious Nunavut input to selection process. Elders should have a formalized role in sentencing whichever court structure is selected.
2. Nunavut Court of Appeal Judges must be resident in the North.
Advantages and Disadvantages of a Unified Court: This group did not make a specific recommendation on the structure of the Nunavut Court system, instead they summarized the advantages and disadvantages of such a system as they saw them. Advantages: Cost efficient on circuits Simpler1 less complex Ability to deal with civil issues Disadvantages: Possible difficulties with preliminary hearings - More of a burden on Justices of the Peace, perhaps they will be required to conduct preliminary hearings. May actually lead to more jury trails and increased costs. May also lead to greater formalization of Justice of the Peace Court.
Group Four: Group Four summarized their discussions as follows:
The group was interested in bigger changes that would allow more community
I.. I.. Justice in Nunavu! 37 JLIS77CE THA T BWGS PEACE
participation. - the court structure is only one small facet of the whole justice system. - there are still unanswered questions about the cost breakdown for Courts, east versus west. - Nunavut should play an important role in picking its own judges. - if Justices of the Peace are to have a bigger role, need to be paid more and need more training.
The group recommended the greater use of Community Elders in Communities to advise: Judges, crown and defence. Inuit ways of teaching justice should also be included in training for Justices of the Peace. The elders' traditional knowledge on criminal law should be incorporated. Justices of the Peace could have a bigger role in handling cases. Cases could be dealt with sooner - fewer delays. People commit suicides while waiting for the Courts. Senior Justices of the Peace to be supporters, advisors, and trainers to the junior Justices of the Peace. Need for more community programs (sentencing options) Applies to everyone in the community. General support for amalgamating the Courts- If judges were appointed from here they would have northern experience.
What consultation would there be with Nunavut if Federal Government appoints all Judges? a formal commitment is needed.
Recommendations from Group Four:
1. Establish a Unified Court for Nunavut Increased training, support and money for Justices of the Peace. Commitment hmCanada to consult widely on appointments ie, NTG non-lawyers, all regions. Establish a Senior Justices of the Peace program to provide mentorship and training..
Justice in Nunavut 38 ,
'3 .
JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEACE
2. Establish a Nunavut Court of Appeal: This Court should hear Nunavut cases in Nunavut. The group did not feel confident in making a recommendation on the membership of this Court.
Other Issues: All communities need the security of good policing. The RCMP should support local initiatives and handle serious cases. Justices of the Peace and the public need more information about appeals. Laws, including the Criminal Code, need to be accessible in Inuktitut. Inuit ways and customs need to be acknowledged and supported in Court. RCMP, lawyers, judges and others need to be taught and exposed to Inuit ways.
More Inuit in RCMP with more authority. Proper respect and hding to use knowledge of Inuit elders, communities and women. Communities and Elders can deal with most offenders effectively. ( result: more program dollars, less travel in communities) Jails are needed for the most serious offenders. Even in jail, the program should be culture and land based.
Group Five: Group Five summarized their discussions as follows:
There are some problems with the current Justice system which need to be addressed:: Insufficient notice of courts schedules Lack of training and lack of training dollars Judges too busy to train IPS
Suggestions and Recommendations:
1. Establish a Single-level Court system Saves time Reduces stressful waiting period. More responsive to our region Relieve strain on accused and victims waiting for Court Easier for people in small communities..
Justice in Nunavut 39 JUmCE THRT BRLNGS PEACE
More community based All court staff would learn about community Pronounce people's name properly! Combining the court system would save time and money.
2. Justices of the Peace should get new name. Perhaps "Community Judge". Involve community more in inquirylsentencing Justices of the Peace should be aware of traditional values. Judges would be more familiar with community and would get to know people in the community.
3.. The Government of Nunavut should recommend the appointment of Single-level court judges to the Federal Government
4. Preliminary trials could be handled by Community Judges. More Support for victims. Know the community better. Trust and practical experience important. Community Judges should go on circuit where there are conflicts. Salaries too low for Community Judges.
5. The Justice system should learn more about communities. Learn language to show respect for Inuit Culture. As much should be done in the community as possible, rather than by visitors. Agree, serious cases need to be done by Supreme court judges, but more can be done by Community Judges Need more support for Justices of the Peace and they need more training before they could hear preliminary inquiries. Judges would be more familiar with community and would get to know people in the community. need proper pay incentives for Justices of the Peace. Need to respect Justices of the Peace right to own judgment Elders &continue to be involved and to sit with and advise the Judges. This is critical. Judge should still make the decisions in accordance with the law.
Justice in Numt 40 JUSTlCE THAT BRlNGS PEACE
It should be legislated that community representatives sit with Judge. There should be a role for the Community Judge to meet with and provide advice to the Higher Judge.
6. The Nunavut Government should be able to opt out of sections of the Criminal Code that have no relevance to Inuit tradition and values.
Other Suggestions: Could there be review of a decision of a Judge of the Single level Court by two Nunavut Judges and one Supreme Court from outside Nunavut? Court of Appeal Judges should be based in the North eg., Nunavut, NWT and Yukon. Trial Court Judges should continue to hear Young Offender trials. Justices of the Peace are not trained at present to deal with young offenders (would be harder to deal with young people than with adults) Judges should be appointed upon the recommendation of the Nunavut Government. Federal Government should consult with Nunavut Government before making appointments.
Justice of the Peace and Family Matters: Justices of the Peace now decide on interim custody. They should also make decisions or recommendations about support with proper information from Social Services. Need to come up with one name for Judges and Justices of the Peace for Nunavut. Judges should select the language of Court: Translation must be available wherever a court sits. Need more training for Interpreters.
Group Six: Group Six summarized their discussions as follows:
Single Level Court: Should stay longer in each community and do more things. Variety cases -10 days circuit & criminal
------
Justice in Nunavut 41 JUSTICE THAT BmGSPEACE
Should train Justices of the Peace while in the community Increase the alternate justice system.
Advantages of the Combined Structure (Single Level) Less waiting time More things to do for Justice of the Peace. Judge will get more familiar with the community issues. Justices of the Peace do preliminary inquiry to ensure proper investigation
Recommendations:
1. There must good research and training needs assessments done on the responsibilities of Justices of the Peace.
2, There must be clearly identified level of responsibilities between Senior and Junior Justices of the Peace.
3. Supreme Court Judges should learn about Inuit tradition and culture.
4. Nunavut should jointly appoint Supreme Court Judges with the Federal Government.
5. Judges should have regular meetings with the community informing them about their roles and responsibility.
6. There should be three Judges for Nunavut.
7. Court of Appeal Judges must be residents of the NWT.
8. In the selection and appointment of judges and JPs, there should be less focus on the certification and qualifications and more consideration given to knowledge and ability.
Justice in Numt 42 JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEKE
Summary of Recommendations:
The main recommendations made by the delegates at the conference are summarized below. Where different groups made similar recommendations, these are reported as one recommendation. For detail, one can refer to the information on group discussions described in pages 33 to 42. Where groups presented detail or arguments to support their recommendations, the recommendations have been reworded and the detail omitted since it is already included in the summary of group discussions.
The conference delegates were generally in favour of a single-level Court system. The Government of Nunavut should establish a Judical Advisory Committee. The Government of Nunavut must have input into the selection of Judges. Elders should have a formalized role in sentencing whichever court structure is selected. The Justice system should learn more about communities. There should be three Judges for Nunavut.
Recommendations on the Nunavut Court of &g?d There should be a Nunavut Court of Appeal. Nunavut Court of Appeal Judges must be resident in tbe North. The Court of Appeal should be situated in Nunavut and should be adequately funded. The Nunavut Court of Appeal should hire Lawyers and Judges from Ontario or Nunavut, not Alberta.
III I Justice in Nunavut 43 JUSTICE THAT BRLVGS PUCE
PecommendlrtiPnslevel c- Establish a Unified Court for Nunavut, Establish a Single-level Court system. The Government of Nunavut should recommend the appointment of single-level court judges to the Federal Government
Pecommendations on Justices QttBe Peace Justices of the Peace will need more support and training if they are to take on greater case loads. Training would provide more confidence building. Justices of the Peace should be strengthened by providing more training, Better wages, and more access to legal expertise. A Justice of the Peace Administrator for Nunavut be hired by April 1, 1998 from Transitional FundsKncremental Funds. Justices of the Peace should get a new name - Community Judges. Preliminary trials should be handled by Community Judges. There must good research and training needs assessments done on the responsibilities Justices of the Peace. There must be clearly identified level of responsibilities between Senior and Junior Justices of the Peace.
Recornmen dations on the Corrections S* Nunavut Corrections should prepare itself to provide greater and more culturally appropriate sewices in Nunavut. The Federal Government should build a facility in Nunavut for those serving longer sentences.
her -endatiqpg The Nunavut Government should be able to opt out of sections of the Criminal Code that have no relevance to Inuit tradition and values.
--
Justice in Nunawt 44 JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PUCE
Supreme Court Judges should learn about Inuit tradition and cuIture. Nunavut should jointly appoint Judges with the Federal Government. Judges should have regular meetings with the community Worming them about their roles and responsibilities. In the selection and appointment of judges and JPs, there shouId be less focus on the certification and qualifications and more consideration given to knowledge and ability.
Justice in Nunavut 45 .KBZ!CE THAT BWGS PEACE
Closing Ceremonies:
Sticking to the spirit of the theme "Justice that Brings Peacen, the meeting ended with a candle lighting. Each group made some closing comments. Dnunmers performed and closing prayers were said.
Justice in Nunavut 46 JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEACE
APPENDIX # 1 - STRUCTURE OF NUNAVUT COURTS SLIDE 1 I / ISSUE:
WKAT SHOULD NUNAWT COURTS LOOK LIKE ON APRIL 1,19991
I POINTS TO REMEMBER. THERE MUST BE COURTS M NUNAVUT
THE NUNAWT LEGISLATURE WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE CHANGES
WE NEED A DECISION VERY SOON
NUNAVUT SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL IS PLANNING A JUSTICE CONFERENCE NEXT SPRING TO CONSIDER THE MORE FUNDAMENTAL JUSTICE ISSUES
THIS MORNING'S DISCUSSION IS JUST ABOUT THE BONES OF THE SYSTEM, NOT THE MEAT STRUCTURE OF NUNAVUT COURTS SLIDE 2
EXISTING COURT SYSTEM (NWT)
COURT OF APPEAL
JUDGES ARE APPOINTED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
CONSISTS OF JUDGES FROM OTHER COURTS (MAINLYACBERTA COURT OF APPEAL, NWT AND YUKON SUPREME COURTS)
USUALLY SITS IN YELLOWKNIFE; SOMETIh4ES IN EDMONTON AND IQALUlT
SUPREME COURT
JUDGES ARE APPOINTED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
3 JUDGES, RESIDENT IN YELLOWKNIFE
SITS THROUGHOUT THE NWT
A 4TH JUDGE MAY BE APPOINTED NEXT YEAR, FOR IQALUIT
b TERRITORIAL COURT
JUDGES ARE APPOINTED BY THE NWT GOVERNMENT -L -- 5 JUDGES: 4 IN THE WEST, 1 IN IQALUlT
-B* SITS THROUGHOUT THE NWT
.-ib JUSTICES OF THE PEACE e APPOINTED BY THE NWT GOVERNMENT h BASED INCOMMUNITIES ABOUT 180 IN THE NWT - 89 IN NUNAVUT (NOT ALL ACTIVE) STRUCTURE OF NUNAVUT COURTS SLIDE 3
COURT OF APPEAL OPTIONS FOR NUNAWT
1) SAME AS NWT COURT OF APPEAL: ,
a USE ALBERTA COURT OF APPEAL, PLUS NWT/NUNAWMJKON SUPREME COURT JUDGES
PANELS OF JUDGESWOULD TRAVEL TO NUNAMJT FOR HEARINGS
NO NEW JUDGES WOULD NEED TO BE APPOINTED
EXISTING APPEAL COURT IS FAMILIAR WITH NORTH
2) RESIDENT APPEAL COURT MODEL:
APPOINT SOME APPEAL COURT JUDGES TO LIVE IN THE NORTH
COULD REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF TRAVEL
COULD MAKE THE APPEAL COURT MORE ACCESSIBLE TO LAWYERS
WOULD REQUIRE NEW JUDGES, AND COST MORE
MIGHT BE DIFFICULT TO DESIGN BEFORE APRIL 1, 1999
WORKLOAD OF THE NUNAVUT COURT OF APPEAL IS UNCLEAR - 3) OTHER MODELS:
OTHER OPTIONS COULD BE CONSIDERED, SUCH AS USING JUDGES OF THE ONTARIO OR MANITOBA COURTS OF APPEAL ,
/i STRUCTURE OF NUNAVUT COURTS SLIDE 4
TRIAL COURT OPTIONS
b I I) SAME AS NWT COURTS
m~1 A SUPREME COURT, WITH JUDGES APPOINTED BY TKE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
A TERRITORIAL, COURT, WITH JUDGES APPOINTED BY NUNAKJT
ONLY SUPREME COURT JUDGES COULD DO JURY TWAND DIVORCES Ir .-- NO SIGNIFICANT LEGISLATIVE CHANGES WOULD BE REQUIRED
in DECISION TO CHANGE THE COURT STRUCTURE COULD BE LEFT TO THE MJNAVUT GOVERNMENT i 2) SINGLE-LEVEL COURT SUPREME COURT ONLY, NO TERRITORIAL COURT 6. JUDGES COULD DO ALL KINDS OF CASES
L COULD REDUCE TRAVEL COSTS AND NUMBER OF CIRCUITS MIGHT PROVIDE GREATER ACCESSIBTLITY, FOR EXAMPLE FOR DIVORCES .b - COULD LEAD TO A GREATER USE OF JUSTICES OF THE PEACE A. ALL JUDGES WOULD BE APPOINTED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (AFTER CONSULTATIONS WITH NUNAVLTT)
L SOME TECHNICAL CIUMINAL PROCEDURE ISSUES WOULD HAVE TO BE RESOLVED, SUCH AS:
JimI! - WHO DOES PRELIMINARY INQUIRIES? 1~ - HOW ARE DECISIONS OF J7.JDGES REVIEWED? I - HOW WILL APPEALS BE HANDLED? 1 *L 1 STRUCTURB OF NUNAVUT COURTS SLIDE 5
I COURT OF APPEAL COURT OF APPEAL
SUPREME COURT
ISINGLE-LEVEL TRIAL COURT (SUPERIOR COURT) TERRITORIAL COURT
cJUSTICE OF THE PEACE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE I b' STRUCTURE OF NUNAWT COURTS SLIDE 6
ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION L I
SINGLELEVEL TRIAL COURT:
SERVICE TO COMMUNITIES
EFFICIENCY AND COST
ROLE OF JUSTICES OF THE PEACE
APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ISSUES: - PRELIMINARY INQUIRIES - JUDICIAL REVIEW - APPEALS
COURT OF APPEAL: A" -. DIFFICULTY OF TRAVEL FROM ALBERTA TO NUNAVUT -~r COST OF- NEW RESIDENT COURT OF APPEAL JUDGES LIMITED TIME FOR POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW -L COURT STRUCTURE ISSUES INVOLVED IN THE SINCLGLEVEL COURT MODEL
In the two-level trial court system different levels of court coadud the pnlimhary inquiry and the birl. In the single-level trial court the preliminary inquiy would have to be conducted e'&a by r justice of the peace or by a judge of the same level of court that conducts the trial. If the preliminary is conducted by the same level of court, the question arises ss to whether it could be the same judge.
At common law, decisions of superior court judges arc not subject to judicial review by prerogative writ. In a single-level court system, judges of tbe trial court would be superior court judges. How should decisions ofjudges of a single level trial court be reviewed?
. One option is to rely upon appeals as the exclusive route of review (e.g. thm would be no prerogative writs). Another option is to replace the prerogative writ with another type of review mechanism.
3. Appeal Routes:
Summary conviction matters decided by the justice of the peace could be appealed to a judge of the single-level trial court With respect to summary conviction mattcn decided by the single-level trial court, a choice needs to be made as to where the appeals can be brought: the full panel of the Court of Appeal, to a single judge of the Court of Appeal, or to a panel ofjudges of the single-level trial court. Appeals fiom indictable matters would be to the Court of Appeal.
4. Role of Justices of the Peace: a Regardless of which court model is adopted, then is potential for greater use ofjustices of the peace. Tbere will likely be greater pressure in a single-level trial court model to have justices of the peace deal with some matters currently heard by the Temtorial Court a Ifjustices of the peace take on these additional responsibilities, will there be a need for increased training andfor other changes?
5. Appointment of Judges:
In the two-level court system, the Supreme Court judges an appointed by the federal govenunent while judges of the Temtorial Court are appointed by the temtorial government The single-level trial'court would be a superior court which means that the federal government would appoint these judges after consulting with Nunawt. 1,Y AND Cw
COURT OF APPEAL COURT OF APPEAL
appeal fiom fmal or interim orders ot fm level of appeal from final or interim judgements of the Supreme Court ordm or judgements made by the Supreme second level of appeal hmany fmal or Court interim family or civil order or judgement of the Territorial Court
SUPREME COURT SUPERIOR COURT
. first level of appeal from a final or interim all civil maners civil or family order or judgement of the adoption Territorial Court applications for divorce civil matters where the monetary value support and custody when tied to divorce exceeds S5000 custody and support applications pursuant to 8 prerogative writs territorial legislation adoption enforcement of child support applications for divorce restraining orders against spouses or parents support and custody when tied to divorce matters related to the division ofproperty restraining orders against spouses or parentss guardianship and property of a child matters related to the division of property application for an order dispensing with guardianship and property of a child consent of a parent to medication or application for an order dispensing with treatment of a minor consent of a parent to medication or treament of a minor
TERRITORIAL COURT
child protection civi! matters where the monetary value is SjOOO or less custody and support applications pursuant to territorizl legislation 8 enforcement of child support
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE
In either model it would be possible to provide justices of the peace with adequate training to deal with matters such as applications for interim custody and support or minor civil matten. Alternatively, officials of the court or other individuals might act as adjudicators on a case by case basis. JUSVCE THAT BRLNGS PUCE
APPENDIX # 2 AGING OF CRIMINAL CASES - TERRITORIAL COURT 1993 - 1997
.\
DAYS
DAYS
Measurement from time file opened until closed in specific court. Aging of Criminal Cases - Supreme Court Percentage Calculations for the Years 1993 through 1997
3.5 - 6 6.5 - 9 9.5 - 12 Number of Months to Completion
Measurement from time file opened until closed in specific court.
L, L. L L I..r L I- L. L 8,- L. L. &-,-" AGING OF CRIMINAL CASES - SUPREME COURT 1993 - 1997
.I I
MONTHS
MONTHS
Measurement from time file opened until closed in specific court.
Filing of Civil Cases Supreme
East - 1996 -
West - 1996 -
Adoption Bankruptcy Estate Divorce I.A -. - ]
.
FILING OF CASES AT TERRITORIAL COURT
1995 1996 1097 TOTAL West East TOTAL West East TOTAL West East
L L L
CIRCUIT TRAWL
Supreme Court 1995 1996 1997 TOTAL WEST EAST TOTAL WEST EAST TOTAL WEST EAST Circuits 54 27 27 45 23 22 27 15 12 Stting Days Outside 353 472 343 129 2 14% 157 57% Judicial Centre - D
NOTE: 1. Sitting Days does not include sitting in home community of Court 2. 1997 Stats are to June 30/97
Aging of Criminal Cases - Territorial Court Percentage Calculations for the Years I994 through I997 50% 1--
30 - 60 60 - 90 90 - 180 Number of Days to Completion
Measurement fiom time file opened until closed in specific court.
JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PEACE
APPENDIX # 3
uemographics Percent Population Distribution, by Age Northwest Territories & Canada. July 1, 1996
ma
a-8s
m-84 n-n
m-14
6s-n
W-64
3s-n
* s-$4 45-49
a.44 n-n
1.34 n.n
10-?4
1%-I9
10- 14
s.9
0-4 15 Projcctetl 5-Year Pop111afio1lGI-OW~~~ 8 Ra tcs ...... The population of the north is I...... expected to grow vely ~*al~idlyover the next decade.
Spel~cliilg needs for educatioh, housing and health care will grow 'r ' accorclingly . r Nunnvut Western Territory .Cn~lndr I
1. ~:~~~~;c~.;;:::,:~.:;:>:~,:::.:.::~~:::x:.; ;Iz. :,::;::I:: -.;- :I:~::::::.~.:.::::::::::,:.'.;:;<":"::~::::~;.:~~:~~~~~ g 2 g4 : 2 .c.-. i C) ;~-~~~~:JY:.YXC~X+,:rn.::ZXW*x.: .:*.j!. X;Yx.:i .i:.XX>%.;...:.iC:.;ii: .:rX* :.>>:YL.XX:.:.:i.ij:.;+?:.YA ;wm- C (Y. 0 hl' x Ic' 0.. s epeua3 '~'M-N uoynA '3-8 'ellv 'yses 'ueyy ')uO 'an0 'g'N 'S'N '1'3'd 'PUN
ooz
Figure 2.2 Crime Rate Per 100,000 Population, Canada, 1994
JUSTICE THAT BRINGS PUCE
APPENDIX # 4
COMMUNITY CONSTABLES
COMMUNITY CONSTABLEIBYLAW
0 21 COMMUNITY CONSTABLESIBY LAW OFFICERS IN NUNAVUT
0 AVERAGE COST FOR 4- WEEK TRAINING AT RCMP ACADEMY (Includes airfare, accomodations, meals, uniforms) $6,000 Per Participant 0 SALARIES ARE PAID BY THE MUNICIPALITY THROUGH BLOCK FUNDING FROM MACA $34,000 Average salary of a By Law Officer in Nunavut RCMP COMMUNITY CONSTABLE (TCE) 0 2 RCMP COMMUNITY CONSTABLES IN NWTINUNAVUT
0 EMPLOYED BY THE RCMP AS CASUAL EMPLOYEES IN BROUGHTON ISLAND AND CAPE DORSET
0 YEARLY SALARY (Includes benefits) PER PERSON. AVERAGE WORK WEEK OF 30 HRS $35,300 Per Person
GNWT PAYS 70% AS PER RCMPlGNWT CONTRACT COST TO HOUSE AN INMATE IN A CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
P" 4d BASED ON THE EXCHANGE OF SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
$165.10 PER DAY PER OFFENDER
This rate does not take into consideration the Utilities, building maintenance, purchasing and vehicle maintenance responsibilities transferred from DPW as a result of User PaylUser Say. 1
COSTS OF COMMUNITY OUTPOST CAM'PS
POND INLET - MOSES KOONARK
PER DIEM PER OFFENDER
MAXIMUM PER DIEM 365 DAYS X $97.50 X 2 offenders $71,175 AVERAGE CLOTHING (Summer and Winter) 2 OFFENDERS $1,100 AIRFARE TO AND FROM IQALUIT (2 off. & 2 escorts, 6 times a year) $32,016 TOTAL ANNUAL COST $104,291 COST PER OFFENDER PER DAY $142.86
Note: There was a one time capital contribution of $26,934 when the camp was setting up operation
TERRITORIAL COURT BAFFIN CIRCUIT ARCTIC BAY - GRlSE FIORD - RESOLUTE BAY
$1,445 X 3 STAFF and 1 Judge + $5,000 (Charter)
ACCOMMODATION 2 nigMs(A.6.) @ $220 + 2 nights(R.B.) WOO +$55 ( meals in Grise) x 4 $3,800
OVERTIME * Court Reporter 12hrs + Court Clerk 16hrs
INTERPRETERS
Including Judge
HALL RENTAL A.B. $3001day x 2 + G.F. $1501d +R.B. $3001d x 2
Overtime may vary dependlng on Court Schedule, amount shown Is fllght Ume only Wages shown are based on new staff, wages will be higher dependlng on renlorlty of staff traveling.