Lawyer accuses Nunavik cops of incompetence

KUUJJUAQ — Nunavik’s sole resident legal-aid lawyer says local cops are bungling their job, ignoring legal processes and, in some instances, even trampling on the legal rights of defendants.

“I don’t want to start a war,” said Kuujjuaq-based lawyer Jean-Claude Latraverse.

But, according to Latraverse, these procedural foul-ups are just “the tip of the iceberg.”

Latraverse points to violations of civil liberties, particularly with the plight of offenders sent out from Nunavik for preventive custody. These offenders are on occasion held from four to 10 days in the St-Jerôme detention centre near Montreal before they appear before a judge.

This personal hearing in front of a judge is supposed to be held within 24 hours when offenders have been charged long-distance with crimes. Bail hearings are to be held within three days.

Latraverse said members of the Kativik Regional Police Force also try to influence cases, either by seeking to keep certain offenders within their communities, or discouraging the defense of others, such as a Kuujjuaq man who is accused of raping a health worker from the South.

“Cowboy justice” is how Latraverse terms the current system, comparing it to old movies about the Wild West where the sheriff and judge turn out to be the same person.

Latraverse is also critical of other elements in Nunavik’s costly and inefficient travelling court process.

For example, lawyers hired privately by those who can’t qualify for legal aid try to finance their trips from the South to Nunavik by taking on a number of legal aid clients. This guarantees some money to cover travel expenses.

But as long as he can handle the caseload, Latraverse doesn’t see any reason to perpetuate this longstanding practice, much to the anger of legal-aid lawyers who have traditionally used this as a way of having their travel expenses covered.

While Latraverse rocks the boat with his criticism, he isn’t endearing himself to local officials and elected leaders who fought for years — and with success — to have a legal-aid lawyer assigned to their region.

He has also reportedly managed to enrage Quebec traveling court judge Daniel Bédard, who isn’t impressed with Latraverse’s courtroom demeanor and vocal criticism of court decisions.

Latraverse now finds himself in the middle of an unpleasant battle.

This turmoil has also slowed down the pace of Ungava’s travelling court to a painful crawl, causing the Amos detention centre in Southern Quebec to overflow with offenders held in preventive custody.

Tensions among the various courtroom players escalated when Latraverse wrote a letter in mid-February to the Kativik Regional government about the Kativik Regional Police Force. In this letter Latraverse said the KRPF has repeatedly violated due process and has shown a lack of judgment.

Latraverse went on to write that cops don’t always obtain warrants for searches or arrests. On one occasion he said they arrested the wrong individual who had the same name as the accused.

They’ve used undue force, he said, and one woman was arrested in public view at the airport, creating the immediate impression of her guilt among the many witnesses to the arrest.

“She felt like a criminal although she is still presumed innocent,” he said.

In response to this letter there will be an independent inquiry into the regional police force’s operations by a lawyer hired by the KRG, and likely another inquiry conducted by the provincial police ethics committee.

At the recent meeting of the regional government leaders, KRG chairman Johnny Adams said it was important to establish whether Latraverse’s allegations concerning the police force are valid.