Justice system tough to decipher, KRG told

KUUJJUAQ— Nunavik’s justice system can be as complicated and hard to understand as a big city road map.

At least that’s impression left by a diagram of the adult criminal process presented— in English and Inuktitut—to the Kativik Regional Government council meeting in Kuujjuaq and from comments made there Sept. 13.

The justice system is foreign to Inuit, Maggie Emudluk, chairperson of the KRG, told the meeting.

“It’s very different from Inuit culture,” she said.

As a result, Nunavimmiut who break laws can be baffled by the entire process— from their arrest to courtroom appearances to ending up in jail.

There now are 80 Nunavik men jailed in the St-Jérôme detention centre north of Montreal and about 30 more serving time in federal penitentiaries, along with a growing number of women from Nunavik in federal and provincial jails.

To help explain how judges find someone guilty or innocent of a crime, KRG lawyer Eve-Marie Préfontaine used the example of a snowmobile trip.

If you want to travel from Kuujjuaq for Tasiujaq, you need gasoline. If you don’t have enough, you don’t go. In a similar way judges, who don’t feel there’s enough evidence to find someone guilty of a crime hand down a verdict of “not guilty,” she said. If there’s enough “gas” or evidence, judges will find someone guilty.

But, after listening to a description of how the system should work, Mary Pirlutuut, mayor of Kangiqsujuaq and a member of the KRG executive, said she was skeptical about the entire judicial process: for two years her community didn’t even see Nunavik’s travelling court due to cancellations.

These kinds of cancellations lead to long delays that are difficult for all involved, Pirlutuut said.

“Can we charge (court officials) if they don’t do their job?” she asked.

The answer from Préfontaine was yes because the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement says Inuit have the right to receive justice services. But similar court delays also occur in southern Quebec, she added.

The travelling court is “always rushed,” and lawyers have no time, said regional councillor Michael Cameron of Salluit. Sometimes lawyers encourage clients to plead guilty or make a deal to speed up proceedings, he said.

This year, the travelling court has adjusted its schedule for more flexibility in travelling to outlying communities— but any need to de-ice an aircraft in a small community which lacks the equipment may still lead to cancelled trips and court sittings, councillors learned.

From now until next June, the travelling court will sit in Kuujjuaq for 62 days, for 47 days in Puvirnituq and for 28 days in Kuujjuaraapik— the only communities in Nunavik with courthouses. The court spends three to 10 days a year in most other communities.

Kuujjuaq has a resident Crown prosecutor, defence lawyer and court clerk, but there are no permanent court services on the Hudson Bay coast and no resident judge for the entire region.

Also on hand at the KRG meeting were Inuit who work in services related to the judicial process, in victims’ services, community re-integration, the Makitautik halfway house, justice committees and the Qajaq men’s network in Nunavik.

They spoke about their efforts to assist Nunavimmiut, efforts which often suffer from staff turnover, too little money and inadequate infrastructure.

Even Nunavik’s lack of housing can lead men to re-offend, said Martha Grieg of the Qajaq network. They may be under orders not to be able to go home, so they re-offend just to have a roof over their heads and food to eat, she said.

Some councillors at the meeting suggested youth in Nunavik need more education about the court and corrections system, so they can stay out of trouble.

Aileen Mackinnon, the chief of the Kativik Regional Police Force, promised to deliver that as part of the police force’s prevention efforts.

Mackinnon also wanted those at the meeting— and those listening in to the council’s discussion live on the Taqramiut Nipingat Inc. radio network— to know that it’s not the police who have the final say in what happens to offenders— but the lawyers who work as Crown prosecutors.

“We don’t make final decisions. We don’t lay charges,” she said.

Emudluk also reminded the Nunavimmiut network that elected officials like her can’t change the judicial process— although people often call mayors and other elected community leaders for assistance.

Some information on Quebec’s legal system is also available in English and Inuktitut at a website called Educaloi.

Nunavimmiut working in judicial and corrections system were in Kuujjuaq Sept. 13 to tell the Kativik Regional Government’s council more about their work. From left to right: community re-integration officers Patsy Tulugak and Jennifer Lapage; victims support counsellor Sarah Ekomiak; and Zebedee Annahatak, director of the Makitautik halfway house in Kangirsuk. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)