Gladue Practices in the Provinces and Territories

9. Appendices

Information collected about an Aboriginal offender’s background for sentencing procedures, as reported by the participants

(1) Regarding the Aboriginal offender

(2) Regarding the Aboriginal community

(3) Information collected about non‑custodial measures for purposes of Aboriginal offender’s pre‑sentence report

Questionnaire: Gladue Practices in the Provinces and Territories

Introduction

On April 23, 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in R v. Gladue [1999] 1 S.C.R. 688. The decision provided the Supreme Court’s first interpretation of s. 718.2 (e) of the Criminal Code of Canada. The section, which was part of a comprehensive series of amendments made in 1996 to the sentencing provisions, states:

718.2 A court that imposes a sentence shall also take into consideration the following principles:

(e) all available sanctions other than imprisonment that are reasonable in the circumstances should be considered for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.

While it has been over ten years since the Gladue decision, a 2009 Statistics Canada report indicates that in “all provinces and territories, the representation of Aboriginal adults in correctional services exceeds their representation in the general population.” Furthermore, “between 1998/1999 to 2007/2008, Aboriginal adults as a proportion of adults admitted to provincial and territorial sentenced custody grew steadily (from 13% to 18%)”.Footnote 19

Despite these findings, Gladue related practices (e.g. Gladue courts) do exist. With your assistance and input, we are interested in identifying and documenting in the form of a compendium report, any and all existing provincial/territorial practices across the various areas of the criminal justice system that reflect the principles of the Gladue decision.

Please note that while the questionnaire is not anonymous, there will be no collection of sensitive information and those providing information will not be named in the compendium report.

The Research and Statistics Division, Department of Justice Canada is responsible for this project.

Thank you for your input.

Questionnaire: Gladue Practices in the Provinces and Territories

Part A: The Judiciary and Existence of Specialized Courts for Aboriginal Accused/Offenders

1. Are there any specialized courts (as defined in footnote)Footnote 20 for Aboriginal accused/offenders in your jurisdiction?

1b. If yes, please identify them below:

  Court District/Region
1    
2    
3    
4    

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

2. Are you aware of any training or awareness initiatives provided to judges regarding the application of section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code and ensuing Gladue decision?

(For example, this may include awareness about their duty to take into consideration information about an Aboriginal accused’s/offender’s background and the kinds of non-custodial measures available when setting bail for an Aboriginal accused or deciding what sentence to give to an Aboriginal offender.)

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

3. Are you aware of any formal training provided to judges regarding Aboriginal people in Canada including Aboriginal people’s history, culture and experience of discrimination?

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

Part B: Sentencing Procedures when a Case Involves an Aboriginal Offender

4. Are there any formal administrative directives/policies within your jurisdiction requesting Crown attorneys/prosecutors to systematically submit information about an Aboriginal offender’s background to sentencing judges? 

Please provide additional comments if needed:

5. Are there any formal administrative directives/policies within your jurisdiction requesting Crown attorneys/prosecutors to systematically submit information regarding the availability of non-custodial sentences to sentencing judges?

Please provide additional comments. if needed:

6. Are you aware of any types of partnerships in your jurisdiction between courts and non-governmental organizations (NGOs, such as Mi'kmaq Legal Support Network) whose work is to ensure that information about an Aboriginal offender’s background and the kinds of non-custodial sentences available to Aboriginal offenders are incorporated systematically into the sentencing decision-making procedures?

6a. If yes, can you identify and name the court(s) and NGO(s) and indicate whether the identified NGO(s) receive government subsidies to support their activities and whether the NGO is an Aboriginal organization?

Name of Court Name of the NGO Does the NGO receive government funding (federal, provincial/territorial) to support their activities? Is the NGO an Aboriginal organization?
   
  • Yes
  • No
  • Don’t know
  • Yes
  • No
  • Don’t know
   
  • Yes
  • No
  • Don’t know
  • Yes
  • No
  • Don’t know
   
  • Yes
  • No
  • Don’t know
  • Yes
  • No
  • Don’t know

Please provide additional comments if needed:

7. How is information about an Aboriginal offender’s background provided for sentencing procedures? (Check all that apply.)

Please provide additional comments if needed:

8. What is the standard information usually collected about an Aboriginal offender’s background for sentencing procedures? (Check all that apply.)

Please provide additional comments if needed:

9. Who in your jurisdiction may be assigned the responsibility for collecting the information about an Aboriginal offender’s background for sentencing procedures? Check all that apply.

Please provide additional comments if needed:

10. How is information about the kinds of non-custodial sentences available provided for sentencing procedures?

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

11. Who in your jurisdiction may be assigned the responsibility for collecting the information about the kinds of non-custodial sentences available for sentencing procedures? (Check all that apply.)

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

12. Are sentencing recommendations made by the Crown systematically informed by the kinds of non-custodial measures available to Aboriginal offenders?

Please provide additional comments if needed:

13. Are you aware of any training available to probation officers, Aboriginal courtworkers, duty counsel or others on the preparation of independent sentencing reports (sometimes referred to as Gladue reports) or pre-sentencing reports involving Aboriginal offenders?

Please provide additional comments if needed:

Part C: Non-sentencing Proceedings for Aboriginal Accused/Offenders

Bail hearings

14. Are bail decision-making processes informed by information about an Aboriginal accused’s background?

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

15. Are bail decision-making processes informed by information about the kinds of non-custodial measures available?

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

If you replied “yes” to Question 14 and/or Question 15, please proceed to Question 16 and 17. If you answered “no”, please proceed to Question 18.

16. Who may collect and provide this information to the judge? (Check all that apply.)

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

17. Is the information standardized (e.g. in a standard form)?

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

Parole hearings

18. Are parole decision-making processes informed by an Aboriginal offender’s background?

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

19. Are parole decision-making processes informed by information about the kinds of re-integration measures available?

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

If you replied “yes” to Question 18 and/or Question 19, please proceed to Question 20 and 21. If you answered “no”, please proceed to Question 22.

20. Who collects and provides this information to the Parole Board? (Check all that apply.)

Please provide additional comments if needed:

21. Is the information standardized (e.g. in a standard form)?

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

Part D: Other

22. Are there community justice programs/resources available in your jurisdiction which are designed to assist Aboriginal accused/offenders throughout the justice process? (e.g. Aboriginal Courtworker Program)

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

23. Are there any after care programs in place or personnel (e.g. through the Aboriginal Courtworker Program) who are assigned with the duty to assist Aboriginal offenders in carrying out the conditions of their non-custodial sentence? (For example, facilitating the offender’s contact with required services and making the necessary arrangements for obtaining service according to the sentence.)

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

24. Are there any sample copies of the policies, protocol(s), outreach material and related resources available for sharing with the researchers of this project?

Please provide additional comments, if needed:

Demographics

25. Please indicate which province or territory you are from.

26. In the event that we would like to contact you for more information or details, we would appreciate if you could include your contact information below.

Thank you!