Hall Beach (Jan 24/05) - A group of Hall Beach elders meet when needed, handing out justice.

And for their role on last year's elders committee - the hamlet's version of a community justice committee - the elders were given a certificate as well as a community feast in appreciation of their work on Jan. 11.

Mary Krimmerdjuar, the community justice specialist for North Baffin, flew in traditional food from her home community of Pond Inlet for the occasion.

"It means a lot," she says of the work done by the committee. "The court justice system seems to be failing. The Inuit in the past have dealt with their own problems, not punishing other people, but (using) more restorative programs."

In Nunavut, it often takes months before even a petty crime is dealt with in court.

Many youth, along with their families, tell of stress caused through waiting for the system to take action, Krimmerdjuar says.

Because of this, Nunavut's communities help take ownership of the justice system through what are often known as community justice committees. When possible, a community's youth can be better served outside of court, says Paul Haulli, the newly-elected mayor of Hall Beach.

"Instead of a judge looking after these younger guys, the justice committee looks after it," Haulli says.

The minister of Justice appoints members of the community, often a cross-section of the population, to sit on the committees.

Some deal also with crime prevention in addition to handling punishments for lesser offenses.

Each community's RCMP detachment refers files, with permission from the offender, to the committee.

More serious crimes such as sexual assault and murder charges are always dealt with under federal law.

"(Inuit) are new to this criminal justice system, and there's a lot of things that the elders don't agree with," said Krimmerdjuar.

Inuit want people to communicate about their problems, and a court-ordered separation for a husband and wife after a domestic dispute is an example of something elders may not understand, she says.

Each community decides what level of involvement its committee will have in the program.

Krimmerdjuar would eventually like to see the committees deal with a larger percentage of the territory's cases.

"We're looking for improvements all the time," she says.