Restorative Justice in Colonial Saskatchewan
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RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN COLONIAL SASKATCHEWAN : AN ANALYSIS A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Laws in the College of Law University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By Robert Norman Mackenzie © Copyright Robert N . Mackenzie, January 2005 All rights reserved . PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection . I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor who supervised my thesis work or, in his absence, by the Dean of the College of Law . It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission . It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis . Requests for permission to copy or to make other use of material in this thesis in whole or part should be addressed to : Dean of the College of Law University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 5A6 ABSTRACT This thesis is an examination of the place of restorative justice in the practice of criminal law in Canada generally and in Saskatchewan in particular. It takes as its focal point the fundamental tension between traditional Anglo-Canadian Law in this area, and the newly founded practices of restorative justice . This project accepts that retribution, vengeance and proportional justice are important components of current practice . It argues that these imperatives find their place not only in practice, but also in justice system structure . This space is made both culturally and legislatively . Earlier societies are examined to develop a sense of the connection between societal norms and punitive paradigms, and an argument is made that Canada is no different from earlier societies in the way its legal values reflect the social values of the dominant settler culture . Into this analysis is then added reflections concerning the effect of colonialism on aboriginal people generally and on Canada in particular . The thesis then goes on to situate this tension specifically in current criminal justice by analysing legislation, policy, courts and practice . It examines restorative justice, and demonstrates that it has significant potential to ameliorate the deleterious effects of the colonial project on aboriginal peoples . However, it remains a marginalised practice precisely because it is an anti-colonial force in a powerful colonial justice structure . It concludes that the forces that have the inclination to change this situation have not acted to do so, and the justice system actors with the power to effect change have proven themselves to be similarly disinclined . 11 Acknowledgements I thank many people who have provided me with assistance, support and patience throughout this lengthy project. I am grateful for the able assistance of my thesis supervisor, Professor Tim Quigley, and the members ofmy committee, Professors Mark Carter and Glen Luther . In particular, I thank the College of Law for providing me with the facilities to work on my thesis, and some financial support whilst attending, and the College of Graduate Studies and Research for their patience . There have been many critical and analytical influences upon my work . I would be remiss if I failed to convey my gratitude to Dr Harry Blagg and Professor Neil Morgan of the University of Western Australia, Dr Anne Worrall of Keele University, Professors Marg Benson, Norman Zlotkin and P . T. Mackenzie (emeritus) of the University of Saskatchewan, and Rae Mitten. Their help over the years has been invaluable . I am also thankful to the Saskatchewan Legal Aid Commission, which kindly granted me the sabbaticals necessary to complete this work . Its embattled practitioners are an inspiration, if sometimes only because of the futility of their struggle against under- resourcing. 111 DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my family; my parents, siblings, children, grandchildren and in particular my partner Karen Eckhart, from whom I have drawn emotional sustenance . I also dedicate it to Kona and Marie, who understand restoration better than anyone does . iv 1 .1 Introduction 1 1 .2 The chapters 7 1 .3 Thesis themes 1 .3 .1 Fiscal imperatives 10 1 .3 .2 Colonialism and conflict resolution 10 1 .3 .3 The uncomfortable place of Restorative Justice 14 1 .4 Methodology 14 1 .4 .1 The Comparative method 19 1 .4.2 Historical analysis 20 1 .5 Deconstruction 24 Chapter 2 2.1 Introduction 2.1 .1 Punishment 27 2.2 History 31 2.2.1 The Ancient world 32 2.2.2 The Greeks 39 2.2.3 The Romans 46 2.2.4 The Christian heritage and its modem resonance 55 2.3 Vengeance in modern practice 58 2.4 Modem retributivism 65 2.5 Retribution in Canadian sentencing 74 2.6 Conclusion Chapter 3 3 .1 Introduction 87 3 .2 Restorative Justice 87 3.3 Community 95 3 .4 Historical constructions of community 97 3.5 Colonialism 100 3.6 Classification 3.7 Bureaucratization 106 3.8 A theoretical basis 112 vi 3 .9 The three origins 120 3 .9.1 Religious 120 3.9.2 Commercial 124 3 .9 .3 Indigenous (or Indigenized) origins 127 3.10 The way forward 133 3.11 Conclusion 138 Chapter 4 4.1 Introduction 140 4.2 Aboriginal overrepresentation 140 4.3 Community justice 148 4.3 .1 Young Offenders Act 148 4.3 .2 Youth Criminal Justice Act 150 4.3 .3 Adult provisions 155 4.4 A comparison 156 4.5 Accountability 160 4.6 The language of marginalization 166 4.6 .1 Public safety 166 4.7 The new imperative of retribution 170 4.8 Judicial thinking about Alternative Measures 173 4.8 .1 Variable geographical application 174 4.8.2 Prosecutorial discretion 182 4.9 The influence of section 717 on sentencing 195 4.10 Conclusion 198 vii Chapter 5 5.1 Introduction 200 5 .2 Aboriginal Courts 200 5 .2 .1 Tsuu T'ina Court 201 5 .2.2 Gladue Court 204 5 .3 The Cree Court 205 5 .3.1 Origins 205 5 .3 .2 Cree Court practice 208 5 .3 .3 Evaluation 213 5 .4 Alternative/ Extra-judicial measures 216 5 .4 .1 Introduction 216 5 .4.2 Federal justice diversion 218 5 .4.3 The Saskatchewan programmes 221 5 .4.4 Youth Alternative Measures in La Ronge 223 5 .5 Conclusion 231 Chapter 6 6.1 Concluding thoughts 233 Bibliography 245 viii The main question, which has not been addressed by government, is the legitimacy or otherwise of the assumption that white domination of Aboriginal people is in itself a concept of justice .' what? Postcolonialism? Have they left? 2 1.1 Introduction In my work as a legal aid lawyer in northern Saskatchewan, I have had the pleasure of working with an almost exclusively Aboriginal clientele . Criminal legal aid assists only those charged with relatively serious offences who are unable to afford the significant expense of retaining private counsel . In the North, this means Legal Aid represents the vast majority of offenders . 3 Accordingly, the thesis that follows is the product of the view from the intersection of aboriginality, criminality, and poverty . 4 However, this intersection is more than just a perspective; it is also a motivation and an inspiration . I am not a member of a First Nation, and have no illusions about the advisability of becoming some sort of latter day Grey Owl . This is not an insurmountable disadvantage . ' R. B. Sykes, Black Majority, (Melbourne: Hudson Hawthorne, 1989) at 146 . 2 Australian Aborigine activist Bobbi Sykes at an academic conference on Postcolonialism, quoted in L . Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies, (Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 1999) at 24 . 3 Personal observation, 1994-2004. According to the 1996 Census, at that time Aboriginal people comprised 11 % of the total population of Saskatchewan, 9% of the urban population, 7% of the rural population and 98% of the reserve population . In the north, Aboriginal people are 80% of the population . In the North West census district and the Athabaska, the proportion is 94% and 95% respectively . By the north (census division 18), the census means an area roughly concurrent with the Northern Administration District. This is bounded on the south by a jagged line from Meadow Lake Provincial Park in the west to Cumberland House in the east . See N. L. Quann and S. Trevethan, Police Reported Aboriginal Crime in Saskatchewan, (Ottawa: Minister of Industry/ Canadian Center for Justice Statistics, 2000) Statistics Canada catalogue 85F0031-XIE. 4 The statistics for northern Saskatchewan with respect to poverty are appalling . Census division 18 1996 figures indicate that 84% of Aboriginal people receive some sort of government transfer (welfare, social assistance and child tax benefit. One might object that the latter would skew the results, but the statistics for 1 There is a clarity of view, which one can bring to the subject, arising from the distance that a non-Aboriginal living in an Aboriginal society has . This detachment is concurrent with, and corollary to, the barrister's duty to provide clients with dispassionate opinion as to their causes. This said, a passion for social justice can have its manifestation in a real and abiding dedication to issues that transcend the vital causes of one's individual clients . Northern justice is in a sad way . By this is meant not only the court system, but also the structures, and respects for those structures, which are its foundation, enablement and sequelae.