Nunavut Justice Issues: An Annotated Bibliography

4.  Annotated Bibliography (continued)

Griffiths, C.T and A. Patenaude.  “The Use of Community Service Orders and Restitution in the Canadian North: The Prospects and Problems of ‘Localized Corrections’ ”,  in B. Galaway and J. Hudson (eds.) Criminal Justice, Restitution and Reconciliation Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press, 1990.

This article examines the Northern environment, the dynamics of community mobilization, and community mobilization and power dynamics. 

General Overview

Combining a literature review with relevant data on crime in the Northwest Territories, this article examines the failure of localized corrections to meet the needs of local community members and communities in the North. The vast distances between and relative isolation of Inuit communities in the North significantly influences the form, process and delivery of justice services.  As a result of this Northern situation, circuit courts have been the form of justice delivery. The researchers note that these conditions - vast distances and relative isolation - are prime conditions for the development of community-based justice services and programs.  However, although such community-based corrections have been used, several difficulties have hindered their effectiveness as potential community-based and community originated approaches.  The authors examines the way that the use of community service orders and restitution in corrections in the North have failed to be an effective community-based alternative that is relevant to the needs of the offender

Themes

Findings

Community-based corrections provide an alternative to circuit courts: Circuit courts are problematic.  Huge backlogs, time constraints, the absence of interpretive services and a lack of understanding of Inuit culture by those who fly in, have resulted in dispositions that are not relevant to the community. Community-based corrections, by involving the community in addressing crime is seen as an alternative that meets the needs of the parties for restitution and reconciliation and does so in a more relevant manner.  As a result, a number of initiatives have developed grounded in diversion  (Youth justice Committees) and corrections (community service orders, restitution, Elders Committees, Victim Offender Reconciliation Programs).  These are all commonly utilized corrections in the North. 

Difficulties that have been encountered - the limitations of community service orders and restitution in Northern communities: The researchers attempt to determine why the use of community service orders and restitution in the North have failed to meet the justice needs of the community in resolving disputes at the local level. They found three difficulties, or factors, that have limited the ability of community-based corrections to be a true community-based initiative, with a community originated approach.  Underlying these three factors is the formal criminal justice system and the way it operated to undermine the concept of localized corrections:

Lack of community involvement: This was seen as the major problem.  Instead of using the community and its resources, the initiatives were developed from outside, with no community participation or input.  The researchers held that local programs must be tailored, developed and implemented to meet the specific needs of the community, drawing on the community’s skills and strengths.

Consequences of inaction: If these limitations are not addressed the authors hold that there will be a continued dependency upon external forces for corrections and a further erosion of traditional practices.

Recommendations

Development of a bottom-up framework: The researchers suggest the development of a bottom-up framework for local corrections.  This framework would guide the use of localized corrections in the North.  Such a framework has many benefits for community members.  Specifically, community residents, rather than government and their agencies, have responsibility for identifying and addressing the needs of offenders and victims.  It also acknowledges the unique needs of each community and allows for direct input of community members in local corrections.  It is important to remember that such an approach requires a clear definition of who and what makes up ‘the community’.  Such a definition will certainly assist the community in many of its community-based alternatives and initiatives.

Kamin, Andrea and Romeo Beatch.  “A Community Development Approach to Mental Health Services”, in Northern Review 7, 1991 Summer.

This article provides a first-hand analysis of community control over the development, form, and administration of a shelter for battered women in Spence Bay.  The residents, initially led by the women in the community and then including concerned men, developed a response to domestic violence.  This response reflected the needs and concerns of the Inuit women in the community as both victims of violence attempting to end the violence, and as Inuit women, attempting to address the violence in an Inuit way. A mental health specialist assisted the women.  Her role as outside professional was one of initial guidance, continuing assistance and a constant resource.  This overview of the experience addresses lessons learned, the Northern environment, and community mobilization and power dynamics.

General Overview

This article chronicles the community-based development and administration of a shelter for battered women in Spence Bay, NWT.  Inuit women in the community decided that they wanted to address, in a culturally and geographically appropriate way the violence being suffered by Inuit women at the hands of their male partners.  Geographically and culturally isolated from Southern solutions and institutions, the women and men realized that any real solution had to flow from the community.  This article highlights the cooperative approach taken between the larger social services available to the community and the community residents.  This relationship was characterized by a sharing of information and educational resources in order to empower the community to take that knowledge, combine it with their community’s needs and begin the process of effectively addressing domestic violence.  This article also illustrates the primary role of community members, as paraprofessionals, in dealing with mental and social problems in the community. 

This article is based on the experiences of the authors in assisting the community residents of Spence Bay to develop and implement a shelter for battered women. Kamin is the Mental Health Specialist for the Kitikmeot Region and Beatch was the Director of the NWT Family Counselling Service. Their role as professionals and resources guided the project and workshops.  They visited the community at least three times over a period of two years and have maintained on-going contact. 

Underlying Themes

Findings

The relationship between engaging in traditional activities and the decline in domestic violence: The researchers note that during the summer months, when Inuit in Spence Bay are participating in traditional activities, less family violence occurs.  While the families are leading a traditional lifestyle (on the land, hunting and fishing for a number of months at a time, residing in tents, surrounded by other extended families in their own tents) conflict is not as common.

The experience of Spence Bay: An Inuit women’s group in Spence Bay, responding to the high levels of domestic violence and the inappropriate options available to abused Inuit women, organized themselves to address the issue.  The options available to an abused woman included either going South to a shelter, where they would be without the support of family and friends and face a form of culture shock, or remaining in the abusive situation.  The women wanted first, to deal with the family violence on a community level, second, tolearn the skills needed to operate a woman’s shelter in their community, and third, to learn counselling skills to address the needs of the victim at a shelter.

A community development model of addressing mental health services (spousal assault in this case): This model is community-centred, not problem-centred.  This means that it is the environment and the needs of the community members that determine what the problem is, how it will be addressed and what the intended results are. First, the community defines the needs and the problem.  Then, they are assisted by outside agencies to develop a plan that can facilitate the meeting of their needs.  During this time, the community members are trained as paraprofessionals in order to develop and administer a program at the community level, by the community members, in a fashion that represents the needs of the community. 

Paraprofessionals: Paraprofessionals are defined as people within a community who lack formal psychological training but who are involved within their society as community-type workers.

Advantages of paraprofessionals to address mental health issues in Inuit communities: The authors hold that a number of benefits flow from training community members to develop, implement, and respond to the social and mental needs of the community.  Specifically, they point out that trained paraprofessionals perform as well or better than professionals, that paraprofessionals (through learning and helping others) often experience personal growth, and that using paraprofessionals increases the number of people attended to.  Further, paraprofessionals tend to be more open to innovative strategies, they lack the formality that many professionals have (a formality that results in barriers between the client and the professional), and they have better knowledge of the community - its residents, its history and its needs.  As a result, traditional values are incorporated and the positive values that guide the community determine the route.

Role of the professional/specialist in a community development model: This individual is present to assist the community in defining, for themselves, what issues they want to confront and how those issues might be resolved.  They are information givers and background facilitators.  They help with problem identification and act as a resource for background information and consultation.  In this example, the professionals organized three workshops for the community.  These workshops, spread out over two years, dealt with sharing general information on spousal assault, provided specific training to men and women, and provided a forum for addressing issues that have come up. They were operated in such a way that encouraged trust-building and community empowerment since knowledge was shared, Inuit values were incorporated, and the information was given (through workshops and other resources) in both English and Inuktitut.  The mental health professional also arranged for financial support from the Department of Social Services, and got the support of the YWCA’s Allison MacTeer House, the women’s shelter in Yellowknife, to assist the women in Spence Bay in organizing and operating a women’s shelter.

Conclusions

Role of Preparation: The authors note that this approach - empowering community members through training and assistance to become paraprofessionals - was successful as a result of many things.  Consistent, organized preparation was an important factor. This involved a review of what has been tried and did not work, or only partially worked in the community and required the development of links with other organizations and resources.

Importance of grounding the training within the community: The authors note that the workshops and training took place in their own community of Spence Bay and the information was presented in Inuktitut.  This provided a familiar context and contributed to the development of community resourcefulness and confidence.

Importance of on-going support: The professionals had consistent contact with the community.  Their communication and contact was not limited to the workshops only, but they were available to the trained paraprofessionals in the community for telephone consultations.  This on-going support instills a sense of confidence and continuance to the project and plays an important role in empowering the community.  The authors note that it is important that this contact be maintained to provide continued support if and when necessary to the community. Continued contact will also assist in expanding and perpetuating community resources throughout the community.

Success in Spence Bay: The authors hold that the community development model in Spence Bay was successful.  This conclusion is based on the fact that the women of Spence Bay, at the time of writing this article, were organizing a regional conference of Inuit women from all Kitikmeot communities.  This conference will include discussion on the progress of family violence groups in the communities and Spence Bay women will be sharing information with other women on their approach to addressing family violence in their community.  This is a sign that the community is more empowered than it initially was.

Johnston, Joseph C.  Northern Aboriginal Offenders in Federal Custody: A Profile.  Ottawa: Correctional Service Canada, Research and Statistics Branch, 1994.

It is important to know the needs and conditions that face many Inuit offenders that are now incarcerated.  While the Evans et al. report highlighted the facilities available within the Northwest Territories (for offenders sentenced to less than two years in custody) and the characteristics and needs of the Inuit population within them, this report looks to federal institutions.  Federal institutions (housing offenders sentenced to more than two years in custody), based in Southern communities, create special challenges to Northern Aboriginal offenders. This report speaks to those challenges as well as providing important information on the Northern Aboriginal offenders within these Federal institutions, providing an overview of the Northern environment.

General Overview

This report was prepared for Correctional Service Canada to highlight the characteristics of Northern Aboriginal offenders incarcerated in Federal institutions.  A number of factors prompted the need for a systematic and comprehensive profile of Northern offenders.  Specifically, the creation of Nunavut, self-government issues and the possible repatriation of Northern Aboriginal offenders incarcerated in southern institutions.

In-depth interviews with half of all the Northern Aboriginal offenders in Corrections Canada correctional centres (64 subjects) were undertaken, asking their opinions and studying their backgrounds.  Case file reviews of each interviewee also formed the basis for their findings.  The Prairie region institutions and the Yellowknife Correctional Centre were the sampling sites.

Underlying Themes

Findings

Demographics: 56.3% of the sample was Inuit.  English, if spoken at all, is a second language to 62.5% of the respondents, with 40.6% reported their first language as Inuktitut. 

Youth related information: Case files of the sample were examined and interviews undertaken to record the presence youth-related problematic factors.  A prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse, neglect and physical and sexual abuse was discovered.  Many of these offenders had a troublesome youth.  84.4% recorded alcohol abuse in their youth, 50% recorded being physically abused, 50% recorded drug abuse, almost 40% lived in poverty and suffered neglected by their parents, while 35.9% had absent parent(s).

Education: 53.1% had less than a grade 10 education.

Lifestyle prior to incarceration: Almost 40% led a lifestyle characterized by seasonal rotation between land (sustenance through fishing, hunting and trapping) and town.

Employment prior to incarceration: 46.9% reported being semi-skilled, 29.7% had odd jobs and unstable employment, 10.9% were skilled workers, employed full time, and 9.5% had traditional employment (i.e., fur trade, fishing, and carving).

Reported difficulties associated with being in a federal institution: 60.9% reported adjustment problems, 35.9% reported having no chance to talk with families, and 51.6% stated that they had no knowledge of federal institutions.

Contact with family and friends: 86% reported no visits in the federal institution.  67.2% responded that they speak to family or friends weekly on the phone, and 39.9% responded that they had contact weekly through letters.  These results mirror the geographic distance between the federal institution and the Northern Aboriginal person’s home community.

Recorded security incidents/problems: From the case files, 62.5% of the population sampled had no security incidents on file.

Institutional performance: From the case files, 29.7% had good reports and 48.4% had no problems at all reported.

Institutional programming: While 70.3% of the population sampled were taking part in some form of programming, their attitude towards that programming was mixed.  51.6% felt positive about it, 9.4% had negative feelings and 31.3% had mixed feelings.

Aboriginal programming: 45.3% of the sample reported having never participated in Aboriginal programming in federal institutions.  This is the result of federal institutions utilizing Southern/First Nations programming, a culture that is significantly different from Inuit or Northern Aboriginal culture.  Many Northern Aboriginal inmates didn’t feel comfortable with that programming.

Criminal histories: From the Canadian Police Information Centre Database, the researchers found a variety of criminal offences/histories of the sample.  The level of violent crimes was high and violent offences were common to the group.  40.6% had three or more assault convictions, 29.7% had one sexual offence conviction and more than half of the sample (57.8%) had at least one sexual offence conviction.

Conclusions

Violent legacy: The backgrounds held by these offenders were fertile soil for criminal activity and participating in violent crimes.  Poverty, substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, and neglect represent bleak social conditions that not only form the basis for criminal activity, they perpetuate the cycle of crime.

Problematic nature of the federal institution for the Northern Aboriginal offender: Set in Southern communities and using First Nations programming techniques and tools have made being incarcerated in a federal institution a real problem for Northern Aboriginal offenders.  Far from home, they are in an environment, climate and landscape that is alien to them, the food they eat is different, and visits from family and friends are rare. Compounding this is the fact that the officials in federal institutions, for the most part, do not speak Inuktitut.  Not surprisingly, all but two of those sampled said that they would prefer to be incarcerated in the North.