Detention conditions still a sore spot in Nunavik community

Staff work at the front of the KRPF station in Puvirnituq. The holding cell area is located in the back of the station, where both local offenders and detainees flown in to appear in court are held together—an issue that has caused friction and overcrowding. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

PUVIRNITUQ—It’s the second day of a week-long criminal court session in Puvirnituq, along Nunavik’s Hudson coast. An inmate flown in from Quebec’s Amos detention centre appears before the court Nov. 14 on a break-and-enter charge.

His lawyer wants to request a Gladue report—a pre-sentencing report Indigenous offenders can have prepared to explain their background and life experience.

The lawyer also asks to have his client’s case postponed until Thursday, so the detainee can arrange a visit with his family before he returns to detention.

That means keeping the detainee in a holding cell for two more days, in a community where overcrowded cells are a major issue. The local police station has just six 10-by-6-foot cells to accommodate both local offenders and court detainees. Overnight, 10 new local arrests have pushed the total detainee count to 25.

The two groups don’t mix well, police say: local offenders have often been drinking, some are suicidal, and that can be disruptive to detainees awaiting trial in the morning. Certain detainees must be segregated, which forces crowding in other cells.

This was one of the more pressing issues flagged in a 2016 report by Quebec’s ombudsman’s office.

The 2016 report called the detention and hygiene conditions in Nunavik “the worst the Quebec ombudsman has ever seen.”

Nunatsiaq News wasn’t permitted to view the holding cell area in Puvirnituq while it was occupied. But the report noted that the detention conditions were most strained in this community of roughly 1,800, where it said the cells were dirty and detainees had limited access to water, clean laundry and fresh air.

A year and a half after the release of that report, different organizations and government departments who oversee Nunavik’s justice and correctional system say conditions and communications have improved.

The number of holding cells in the Nunavik communities that host court proceedings hasn’t changed, however, nor has either level of government committed to funding new police stations or court facilities.

It’s not for lack of initiative. The Kativik Regional Government has submitted a plan requesting the construction of three new police stations. In Puvirnituq, the KRG has asked that the new station be fitted with 13 cells, plus another 15 holding cells in an adjacent court services facility.

In the meantime, managing the detainees in the limited number of cells and transporting them to and from the courthouse is like playing with a Rubik’s cube, except that human rights are at stake.

When the circuit court visits Puvirnituq, its priority is to process detainees as soon as possible. A charter flew in Nov. 14 to pick up some of the dozen accused who’ve already made court appearances, to free up space for other inmates.

Back in the courtroom, Quebec Court Judge Jean-Pierre Gervais has agreed to the lawyer’s request for a case postponement.

“The detainees are a priority, but we cannot rush,” Gervais said. “Take the time you need with your client.”

No one from the Quebec’s ombudsman’s office was available for an interview with Nunatsiaq News, but the office said it has been in regular contact with Quebec’s public security and justice ministries over the last 18 months since the report was published.

“There have been improvements in logistical and material aspects, particularly to ensure greater safety of the premises,” a spokesperson for the office said in a Nov. 20 email.

“Fixing more complex issues, such as adding [holding cells] in Puvirnituq or setting up an effective video conferencing system, will require more time.”

To ease the crowding, Nunavik’s circuit court has added more flights during week-long court sessions. But the department hasn’t yet responded to Nunatsiaq News’ request for the number of additional court charters the region has seen since the report was released.

“We’ve added additional flights to bring people in a more humane and logical way,” said Richard Coleman, who oversees Indigenous relations for Quebec’s Ministry of Public Security.

“I think that’s a really proactive way to make the court easier to manage.”

Coleman agrees Puvirnituq needs new infrastructure, but says the province is still in talks with the federal government on what Ottawa is prepared to contribute. The two levels of government fund policing in Nunavik 52 to 48 per cent.

Many of the factors affecting cell conditions have been addressed, said Michel Martin, chief of the Kativik Regional Police Force, and much of that is simply due to better communication.

The KRPF stays in better contact with the Northern Village of Puvirnituq, for example, to let water and sewage drivers know in advance when the court will arrive.

The KRPF now uses a local caterer to prepare healthier meals for detainees, Martin said, and the local Inuulitsivik health centre in Puvirnituq has the contract for laundering clothing and bedding at the police station.

At least one correctional agent on every court circuit flight is trained in suicide prevention.

And in response to another recommendation, the ombudsman office’s complaint forms and contact information are now available in every police station in Nunavik, in Inuktitut.

Over the long term, however, Martin would like to see the court operate independently of Puvirnituq’s police station.

“We don’t want to mix our local detainees with court detainees,” he said.

Ideally, a new police station would be constructed closer to the courthouse, so detainees, police and lawyers could move more easily between the two. Puvirnituq’s police station and courthouse are currently located at opposite ends of the village.

In its 2016 report, the ombudsman’s report recommended that Nunavik’s inmates be concentrated in the same detention facility—in this case, in the newly constructed Amos detention centre set to open in early 2018.

And to support that recommendation, the report calls for a dedicated air link between Nunavik and Abitibi to facilitate easier travel.

That has yet to happen.

In recent years, Makivik Corp. has advocated to keep Inuit inmates in Montreal-area detention centres so detainees have better access to the Inuit community and culturally relevant services.

Nunavimmiut and Quebec leadership have been debating for decades the best way to manage the incarceration of people in the region.

In the early 2000s, Inukjuak was slated to see the construction of a 40-inmate correctional centre.

But by 2007, regional organizations and the Quebec government signed off on a new agreement that would instead give the region $300 million for crime prevention initiatives over a 25-year period.

Nunavik’s Ungaluk fund awards about $10 million a year to different programs around the region.

It’s not clear what will fill that gap once the agreement ends.

“To be frank, because there’s still seven or eight years left on that agreement, there hasn’t been any discussion on renewing Ungaluk or what it could mean for the future,” Coleman said.

A correctional agent who works with Nunavik’s circuit court shows one of the holding cells or “bullpens” at Puvirituq’s courthouse, used to hold detainees awaiting court appearances. The courthouse has four cells, though they can only be used on a temporary basis, while court is in session. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)