Court staff program transferred into Indigenous hands

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This article was published 30/06/2021 (1800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AFTER a staggering decline in court assistants who help First Nations and Métis navigate the justice system, the Pallister government is putting this service into the hands of Indigenous leaders.

“When these supports are offered at the earliest point possible, it provides for the greatest potential for connection to restorative justice,” Manitoba Justice Minister Cameron Friesen said Tuesday.

The Indigenous Courtwork program has Ottawa match funds for full-time staff to help Indigenous people understand the court process and their rights, including helping an accused understand the process or translate into their first language.

Yet, the Free Press revealed in February 2020 the program had been on the decline in Manitoba, despite the province having the highest incarceration rate, with a majority of Indigenous inmates.

Internal documents showed provincial spending on the program had dropped from $520,000 spent in 2018 to $389,000 the next year.

Manitoba Justice could not provide more recent data Tuesday, but Friesen suggested the provincial funding has since been roughly $375,000 a year.

Meanwhile, the number of case workers dropped from 15 in 2014 to just seven in 2020. The number of people helped by Indigenous court workers has similarly halved from more 10,000 clients in 2017 to 4,500 in 2020.

Manitoba Justice previously said it was due to staff turnover and retirements.

Yet, Friesen said Tuesday those positions were deliberately left open “to prepare them to transition them to devolution. However, now is obviously the time for us to proceed.”

The Opposition NDP was unimpressed, saying the funding could have still been used to help shore up court supports.

“After five years of PC cuts, this program lacks the staff and the funding to deliver. Now the PCs are handing off a program that’s starved for staff with no promise of long-term funding and additional resources,” wrote justice critic MLA Nahanni Fontaine.

Friesen said Indigenous people will have control over the program for the two years left in a federal contract, with Ottawa matching provincial funds. He said Indigenous people will still be in control of the program under the next federal contract.

“When you have that greater connection to counsel and the courts, prior to that first appearance, it actually can help to reduce things like court delays, or when people don’t show up for proceedings,” Friesen argued.

The northern and southern chiefs, along with the Manitoba Metis Federation and the chiefs of the Island Lake region, will now oversee a combined 10 court workers.

Indigenous leaders praised the government Tuesday for giving them control of the program, which has an annual budget of $1 million, if fully tapped into.

“The legal terminology is always very difficult for Indigenous people, because it’s a very technical system,” said Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee.

“We need people who can break down the language into a common language, so our people can understand it better.”

Southern Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said the new arrangement will help link provincially funded staff with existing Indigenous programming, to divert people from jail.

“I have family who has gone through the justice system, and they didn’t necessarily come out better people, especially when they go in there at a young age,” he said.

Julyda Lagimodiere, justice minister for the MMF, said the new structure will allow a focus on families and communities.

“Our approach has never been solely on the individual,” she said. “It’s part of healing, and being accountable to the community.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca