Coping with crime in Nunavut

IQALUIT — The numbers may be skewed — but they’re too serious to ignore.
That’s how Nunavut justice officials are interpreting the territory’s first full set of crime statistics, released two weeks ago by Statistics Canada as part of a package of national crime numbers.

“It’s always a little misleading with such a small statistical base, but having said that, there’s no doubt that there’s a high crime rate and we have to do something about it,” said Nunavut’s deputy minister of justice, Nora Sanders.

The numbers show that among the provinces and territories, Nunavut has the third-highest crime rate. Only the Yukon and the Northwest Territories fare worse.

Though the percentages may be distorted by inconsistant reporting methods and Nunavut’s small population, the raw numbers indicate that crime in the territory increased between 1999 to 2000.

In 1999, 5,085 Nunavummiut were charged with criminal offences. In 2000, that number climbed to 6,130.

That’s more than one charge for every five Nunavummiut.

Coping with family violence

But more alarming is the finding that Nunavut has Canada’s highest rate of violent crime — almost all of which occurs within families or between people who know each other.

For Nunavut’s justice department, which is responsible for running the courts and the territorial correctional system, that means there’s a need for programs aimed at people convicted of offences related to family violence.

“Those are the most common, and yes, those are the ones that we are trying specifically to address in our corrections program. We have a review being done right now to determine how we should adapt our programming further,” Sanders said.

But if it turns out crime is on the rise, Nunavut’s court system will be hard-pressed to deal with the extra work.

“Certainly, the more cases, the more challenging it is for the system to deal with. We are hoping for more cases to be diverted, but then that puts more strain on the justice committees,” Sanders said.

Approach with caution

Another set of numbers to be cautious about are those showing that some types of youth crime may be on the decline in Nunavut, Sanders says.

Statistics Canada reports that in 1999, 149 young offenders were charged with property crimes, while only 99 were charged in 2000.

“But I don’t want to read too much into those figures,” she said. “The youth population is a very small one, so again very small changes in numbers can make a huge difference.”

On the other hand, Sanders said it may also be true that justice committees — which now exist in most Nunavut communities — are beginning to have an effect on youth crime, as minor offenders are diverted into their care.

That includes people who, legally, are too old to be considered young offenders, but whose families and communities considered them “young people.”

“We’re seeing that working very well, and of course, Nunavummiut aren’t necessarily drawing the line at 18. A justice committee might consider someone who is 24 years old to be a young person.”

“There’s no doubt that we have a high proportion of violent crimes.”
— Nora Sanders, Nunavut’s deputy minister of justice

New corrections measures

Ron McCormick, Nunavut’s director of corrections and community justice, also says that Nunavut is finding better ways of supervising people on parole and probation.

“The other thing which won’t show up in these statistics yet is the establishment of the community corrections program, which handles probation and so on. It means that now there are some people dedicated to doing community corrections, whereas previously it was piled on top of social workers, in addition to their other duties,” McCormick said.

McCormick also said the growing use of “correctional camps” may reduce the number of repeat offenders.

“That seems to work very well for certain people. Some of the people who commit crimes seem to be those who don’t have a strong connection with their culture,” he said.

Now, Nunavut’s justice department has contracts for four adult correctional camps and five young-offender camps.

“We’re always using partners in a lot of these areas,” McCormick said. “We’re trying to look for those partners all the time.”

Unlike most Southern Canadians, who perceive crime almost exclusively as a public safety issue, Nunavummiut place a high priority on rehabilitation.

“What we hear from the public is that they want to see things taken seriously, but they also want to see young people, and in fact older people, receive the guidance and support they need to mend their ways,” Sanders said.