Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 29/99) - Deputy minister of Justice Don Cooper returned from a conference last month confident the NWT is leading the rest of the country in some key areas.

The Quebec City conference involved deputy ministers from the departments of Justice and Solicitor General.

Topics discussed ranged from organized crime to developing a national DNA data bank to stiffening stalking legislation.

"These conferences are where a lot of change on justice issues comes from," Cooper said.

"That's why these conferences are important."

One area where Cooper hinted the NWT is ahead of many provinces in change is restorative justice.

The phrase refers to the traditional aboriginal approach for dealing with offenders and victims in a community.

"We've had a program on restorative justice here for the past nine years while other provinces are just getting going," Cooper said.

"The person is dealt with outside the formal justice system in a circle with the victim present, the offender present, and relatives and friends are there."

Another area where the NWT shows itself to be progressive is in the area of dealing with young offenders.

"We've been at the forefront on this issue for a long time. We have open custody facilities that are basically houses which very few other jurisdictions have," Cooper said.

"Certain other provinces are still stuck in a time warp."

Cooper said the NWT has bush camps where corrections officials take young offenders out on the land to spend time with elders.

"We have been working in a rehabilitative as opposed to a punitive model up here for a long time," Cooper said.

He said though there are certain young offenders who are very violent and dangerous and therefore need to be locked up for safety reasons, there are others who need treatments such as probation.

"I don't think the philosophical approach is always to get tough," Cooper said.

"Incarceration is the last thing to do. You're not going to just stick them behind bars because that doesn't seem to work all that well."