Two thirds of BCC inmates waiting for trials

SARA MINOGUE

Of the 73 inmates serving time at the Baffin Correctional Centre, 48 are on remand – awaiting trials for their charges.

“That’s pretty consistent with what’s happening across the country,” said Nunavut’s deputy minister of justice, Markus Weber. “Remand counts are incredibly high everywhere.”

More prisoners held on remand could be a sign of longer delays in court.

“Court delay is often pointed to; there are some concerns that credit for remand time may be contributing to that as well, but we don’t have a full understanding of exactly what’s causing it.”

The GN recently increased the number of court circuits to communities by a small margin, but Weber notes, that does not mean the time allotted to deal with each case has gone up.

“The increase goes to communities where crime rates are up.”
The issue has been raised at meetings of corrections workers from across the country, Weber said.