Nunavik now offers bail hearings by video
Pilot project started in Kuujjuaq and Puvirnituq in October
With no correctional facility in Nunavik, all detained residents are held in police holding cells until being transferred south for bail hearings. But, as of October, some inmates have had the option to appear via videoconference for their bail hearings in both Kuujjuaq and Puvirnituq. (File photo)
Since October, five Nunavimmiut have had bail hearings by videoconference. Until now, that was an option elsewhere in Quebec, but not Nunavik.
Now, the judge at the courthouse in Amos, along with the defence lawyer and Crown prosecutor, are all on the screen, while the detainee sits alongside a police officer in Kuujjuaq.
“We’re a three-hour plane ride away from Montreal and then a seven-hour drive, and we have to bring them in person. So, we felt like it was long overdue,” said Jean-Francois Morin, deputy chief of operations for the Kativik Regional Police Force.
By law, a person has the right to a bail hearing within three days of being charged. It’s not uncommon, Morin said, for detainees to be released after their bail hearing.
“They travel over most of the Province of Quebec to end up being released as soon as they appear in front of the judge,” he said.
“So, we felt if it’s possible to do this from here, it’s saving time and they’re released faster.”
It’s also far better for the well-being of the detainees, said KRPF chief Jean-Pierre Larose.
The problematic system of bail hearings was something Larose heard about on his first day with the force two years ago. But he said events over the past few years have put more pressure on the provincial government to move this project along.
Those include a 2016 report from the Protecteur du Citoyen, or the ombudsman, on better conditions for detainees, and the findings of the Viens Commission released just this year.
The commission looked at the treatment of Indigenous people by the Quebec public service. The resulting report specifically recommended instituting videoconferencing for bail hearings of accused people in Nunavik.
There is also a class action lawsuit underway against the attorney general of Quebec, for Nunavimmiut who have experienced longer than necessary detentions due to the lack of a correctional facility in the region and the need to travel to Amos.
The case claims this is a violation of the detainees’ constitutional rights.
The equipment needed for videoconferencing was already available in Kuujjuaq’s courtroom. But that meant it could only be used for bail hearings when court was not in session.
Through the pilot project, the videoconferencing systems are set up in the police station and a separate room at the courthouse in both Kuujjuaq and Puvirnituq. Bail hearings can now be done from either location, regardless of the court schedule.
Ultimately, Morin said, they would like to see this brought into the smaller communities, so others can benefit from local hearings.
After the two major centres, Larose said they would be looking at Salluit and Inukjuak.
But first, they have to complete the six months of the pilot project and do a full review.
There are challenges to work out, in particular the capacity of the KRPF to hold detainees who would otherwise be in Amos.
The local facilities don’t have all of the comforts of the south, Morin said. With limited resources in Nunavik facilities, this puts pressure on the defence to work fast or on the local police officers to hold the detainee.
While a person is entitled to a bail hearing in three days, they can sign a waiver to extend this, giving their defence attorney more time to prepare their case. They can also opt to go down south, and for more drawn-out cases, or those that will likely lead to imprisonment, a person might make this choice.
That’s part of the reason Puvirnituq has yet to see a videoconference bail hearing.
With fewer cells and no common area, Morin said they can’t hold detainees who have longer, more complex files. Since it’s been available, they haven’t seen any of those quickly resolved cases come through.
Larose said a new police station and detention area upgrades for the courthouse in Puvirnituq, planned in the next couple years, will ease this significantly.
But there is also the question of funding: currently, the KRPF is on the hook for the bill.
How this system will affect the budgets of the KRPF and their southern counterparts needs to be worked out.
And while the pilot project is underway, planning for a charter flight between Nunavik and Amos is on hold. The expectation is that the videoconferencing will reduce the number of people travelling to Amos, which may affect the case for a potential charter, Morin said.
The KRPF is working with the Kativik Regional Government and Quebec’s Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Justice on the videoconference bail hearings. Larose said they are in weekly talks with the provincial government on the project.
“Right now, all of the responsibilities are on our shoulders: financially, logistically and all that. And that’s why we want to evaluate all of this and have a good ballpark figure financially,” Larose said.
“So that’s why we told them we will do it in good faith because we believe in it, but we need resources to do so.”
Why don’t the police stop making arrest? Its become useless in the end anyway. Whether it be bail, and or a very light sentence for some big crimes. The justice system may be failing the detainees, but its a big threat to the victims, who have to see and face their abuser again and again. To me its one big joke.
A bail hearing is quite straightforward and usually in many jurisdiction is done by lay Justices of the Peace. This is the case in Nunavut in many communities and are done in person in the community. Quebec has that very colonial approach to only let the southern judges do bail hearings while this is often a waste of judges’ time. The reasons to order an accused to be detained pre-trial are very simple and it’s not the place to decide about the guilt or the innocence of an accused.
As well, this ferrying of detainees to the south is counterproductive and put Nunavimmiut at a significant disadvantage. Greenland doesn’t incarcerate offenders as much as Canada but they still have small institutions in some communities, located in a house designed for that purpose, to avoir sending them to Nuuk. Most offenders are very low risk of fleeing and must pay their room and board to the institution, so they must work and can leave the institution during the day to go to work – this is also part of rehabilitation programs. If they don’t show up at the end of the day they’re considered to be unlawfully at large and will face the local court again when they are located which is fairly easy in small communities, with no road access and awfully expensive airfares.
Aalakulugit Autualuk! what? Oh no!
Aangajaalukagasutsaqattariaq? See what happens when lose control from being drunkness or drugged, wishing people would wake and smell a coffee, this has gone too far since years and years people committing an offence, look at yourselves! Stop blaming the justice and the Police, which you have brought up yourselves in a mess!
If you are paining, why not talk to someone that you trust receive some counselling.
And stop abusing your own Parents, and Grandparents!