Board spanks Nunavut lawyer for speaking out

Updated April 1, 4:36 p.m.

A prominent Cambridge Bay defense lawyer has been suspended by the Nunavut Legal Services Board because of comments he made about the use of deputy judges in the territory, Nunatsiaq News has learned.

Multiple sources have confirmed that Peter Harte was suspended after he appeared on CBC’s Northbeat evening televlsion news show this past February. In an interview, he said Inuit get less access to swift and fair justice because of Nunavut’s shortage of resident judges.

“We don’t have judges in the North who understand the conditions of the North, and it’s going to continue to be second-class justice,” Harte told CBC reporter Asha Tomlinson, in an interview broadcast Feb. 21.

“Sentencing, when you’re dealing with First Nations or aboriginal offenders, is more time-consuming than it might otherwise be because you’ve got to listen to this person’s life story. Judges who know what it’s like to work in the North understand the conditions people in Nunavut have to deal with and [are] in a position to dispense justice fairly,” Harte said.

Harte has worked as a defense lawyer in Cambridge Bay for six years.

Reached at his Cambridge Bay home on the morning of March 31, declined comment on this story.

Madeleine Redfern, Iqaluit’s mayor and chair of the Nunavut Legal Services Board, said Harte is on paid leave from the LSB, but declined to comment further, saying the matter is an employment issue.

Harte’s remarks closely echo those of Nunavut’s senior judge, Robert Kilpatrick, who has repeatedly called for more legal resources for the territory.

Specifically, Kilpatrick wrote in an October, 2010 report that resident judges develop community relationships that allow them to give judgments that better serve Nunavut.

“Those communities that can accommodate Deputy Judges are subject to a continuous turnover of judges, none of whom are familiar with the language, culture, customs and values of the people in that community,” Kilpatrick wrote.

“Southern judges are likely to apply the jurisprudence and procedures they are familiar with, but which have no resonance with the communities of the North.”

In its budget tabled earlier this month, the federal government announced $4.2 million to hire new judges and Crown prosecutors in Nunavut.

But the budget failed to pass before the government lost a confidence vote in the House of Commons, meaning any appointment of new judges would wait until some time after the May 2 federal election.

Cambridge Bay resident Millie Angulalik said many people in the community are outraged by what happened to Harte. She’s been circulated a petition demanding that he be reinstated and has so far collected almost 70 signatures.

She said Harte helped her stay out of jail and “get back on my feet.”

“He’s really here to help and he shows that he does care,” Angulalik said.