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IQALUIT - The federal minister of justice continued his cross-country tour last month in Iqaluit with a roundtable discussion on the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).

Since announcing the YCJA review in October of last year, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has held similar meetings across the country to seek input from provincial and territorial governments, as well as youth and partner organizations, on improvements to the act.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Rob Nicholson visited Iqaluit last month to announce nearly $570,000 in funding to support crime prevention projects in Nunavut. - Carolyn Sloan/NNSL photo

During his visit to Iqaluit, minister Nicholson told media the government proposes to include deterrence and denunciation as principles of sentencing and to strengthen provisions related to pre-trial detention.

"Canadians want action on youth crime now," said Nicholson. "Our approach is tough, but it is also balanced. We will respect the rights of the accused but will not allow those rights to take precedence over community safety, the needs of the victims or the rights of law-abiding citizens."

According to those working in the legal system, the government's proposed amendment is a step backward as the intent of the YCJA was to address problems such as the overuse of incarceration, overuse of the courts for minor cases and unfairness in youth sentencing under the previous Young Offenders Act.

"At Maliiganik, we just don't really think that getting tough on kids by putting them in jail makes for better kids or safer streets," said Chris Debicki, executive director of Maliiganik Tukisiinikvik Legal Services. "When the YCJA came in about five years ago, it was, I would say, a very progressive step in the other direction, looking more at reintegration and rehabilitation as the guiding principles.

"The government's intentions now appear to be a 180 back in the old direction of treating kids not so differently than adults."

As Debicki explained at the roundtable discussions, Maliiganik's main concern is the dislocation of youth due to incarceration where there are language issues, cultural issues and geographic barriers between parents and their kids.

"It's particularly ill-suited in the North where there's only one youth facility in the territory," Debicki said. "There's a great (economic) cost ... but also a great social cost to dislocation that comes with the disruption to youth and their families by taking a child out of one community and placing them in Iqaluit."

Maliiganik would like to see the criminal justice system as a last resort, placing greater emphasis on meaningful community intervention for youth at risk.

Lori Idlout, executive director of the Embrace Life Council, said the brief meeting with the minister was hopefully the start of more communication between the federal government and Nunavut communities.

"I'm just hoping that it really is just a beginning," said Idlout. "I do hope they are able to appreciate the message that we gave to them.

"I think it ended up being more of an information-sharing session in terms of what the Nunavut context is and to sort of shed light to why our realities are different from Southern jurisdictions.

"The reality we tried to share with them is that we do have resources in our community and the resources are the community people. A resource we might have is a bus driver because here in Nunavut, a bus driver will see the same kids over and over again and they'll get to see who the bullies are or who the victims are."

The discussions in Iqaluit were followed by the announcement of nearly $570,000 in funding for four crime prevention projects in Nunavut. These projects include a contribution to the Iqaluit District Education Authority of $140,000 more than two years to support youth who are at a high risk of dropping out of school, a grant of $140,000 over two years for the Cape Dorset Youth Crime Prevention Strategy, and funding of $249,000 over three years to give students skills training and career planning assistance at Inuksuk high school in Iqaluit.

"The projects being funded will help ensure that our young citizens make smart decisions, lead healthy lifestyles and avoid temptations of criminal activity," said Nicholson.