by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 24/97) - Should Nunavut have one or two courts? A two-day meeting on justice in Nunavut last week ended leaning in favor of just one.

The idea of unifying the territorial and Supreme courts, and the conference itself, flows from recommendations in Footprints 2, the planning document published last year by the Nunavut Implementation Commission.

In Footprints 2, NIC noted experienced justice administrators have suggested the community-level understanding of the justice system, and the efficiency of courts, would increase with a single-tier court system.

GNWT assistant deputy minister of justice Nora Sanders said combining two levels of courts into one makes sense for another reason.

"When you have a very small number of judges in total, scheduling their appearances can become a very complicated matter."

Currently there is only one judge residing in the Eastern Arctic, territorial court Justice Beverly Brown of Iqaluit.

Sanders noted the Supreme Court, which deals with serious crimes, can be assigned to deal with territorial court matters, but it doesn't work the other way.

The federal government has indicated that, if a unified system is to be in place by division, a decision must be made by December to allow time to make the legislative changes required.

"It needs three to fly," said Anne Crawford, an Iqaluit lawyer who works for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

Crawford was referring to the three parties to the Nunavut Final Agreement, the federal government, NTI and the territorial government.

Each is now formulating a position on the issue.

Asked which way NTI was leaning on the issue of a unified court system, Crawford said it "probably has the most diversity of opinion right now (of the three parties)."

Unifying the courts goes hand in hand with increased responsibilities for justices of the peace, possibly having them preside over preliminary hearings.

Currently most Supreme Court matters in the territories are heard in Yellowknife.

If it chooses to do so, Nunavut would be the first jurisdiction in Canada to have a single-level court system.

Other recommendations that arose from the meeting include:

• establishing resident judges for the Court of Appeal in the NWT

• establishing a resident Nunavut Supreme Court judge

• encouraging court officials to consult with community justice groups in municipalities where cases are tried.

Currently there are only two correctional centres in Nunavut -- the Baffin Correctional Centre and the Isumaqsunngittut Youth Centre.

Both institutions are operating at capacity, so many Nunavut offenders are held in Western Arctic jails, far from home.

Almost half of the inmates, 78 of 179, in the Yellowknife Correctional Centre committed their crimes in Nunavut. Another 15 are serving time in either Hay River or the Territorial Women's Correctional Centre in Fort Smith.

Upon division, Nunavut will take responsibility, in one form or another, for those inmates.

"It certainly would be nice (if Eastern inmates could be held in Eastern institutions), but there could also be exchange of service agreements," noted Margaret Ravensdale, director of corrections for the territorial government.