Teen goes fishing, violates curfew

Justice Beverley Browne gave 18-year-old Patricia Joanise a break when she instructed the girl to take a training class instead of sentencing her to jail for violating the conditions of her house arrest.

“One option is [for me] to take no action and that’s what I’m going to do,” Browne said.

The girl was ordered to sign up for either cooking or carpentry class at Inuksuk High School.

Defence lawyer Greg Nearing said his client’s fishing trip on Aug. 23 ran some 45 minutes late because of taxi delays. Joanise is under a conditional sentence from a previous charge stating she must be home by 2 p.m.

A probation officer discovered the violated curfew when he called Joanise’s house at 2:45 p.m.

The terms of her five-month conditional sentence still apply.

Had Browne agreed with the Crown’s custodial recommendation, the girl would have been sent to the Fort Smith women’s correctional facility in the Northwest Territories.