NUNAVUT
The leader of the federal opposition told media in Iqaluit on Wednesday federal and Nunavut governments need to take seriously the request for two more judges in Nunavut.

The request was made by Nunavut Chief Justice Kilpatrick in the form of a submission to the justice minister on July 9.

"Look, anytime a justice says anything so serious, a prime minister has to listen," said Michael Ignatieff, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. "This justice minister has to listen."

Ignatieff said "the federal government has to respond, no question about it."

He categorized the submission as something written in "very strong language" which "indicates there is a problem."

In his submission, Kilpatrick wrote there is a need for two additional justices to be appointed to the Nunavut Court of Justice because of an "unrelenting and accelerating rate of serious violent crime." There are currently three judges in the territory.

According to the chief justice, between 2002 and 2009 the court had to call on deputy judges to ease the workload 279 times.

"The (court) has been unable to service the existing volume of charges without substantial assistance from its ... deputy judges," Kilpatrick wrote.

Statistically, Nunavut has a far greater ratio of crimes per citizens than the national average, according to the submission - in 2009, there were 10 times more sexual assaults in Nunavut per capita than the national average, and 13 times the national average of domestic assaults against females.

The public prosecution office is not at full staffing either, according to Barry McLaren, the chief federal prosecutor for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in Nunavut's Regional Office, but he said he expects the staff to be back at full in the fall or winter.

There are seven Crown prosecutors on staff and three on leave.

"Many people I think come up here as a short term appointment," said McLaren on the problems of retaining prosecutors.

"Some people have their family circumstances change and they decide they will not be staying in the territory."

He added the "strenuous" workload for the people who remain and opportunities to do other types of work also contribute to high turnover.

McLaren said he understands the factors behind Kilpatrick's request for more judges and finds the request "reasonable."

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