SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Department of Health and Social Services needs to step in and help youth who have been abused and neglected, said a group of lawyers working in the territory.

"Children in Nunavut are not being taken care of," stated Peter Harte, senior criminal counsel with the Kitikmeot Law Centre in a news release on Nov. 12.

"The unfortunate reality is that either we take care of our children or we put their name on a cell. It all comes down to money: either you spend it on social programs or you spend it on cells."

Harte stated the government can no longer use "the criminal justice system as a substitute for adequate child protection services" and that Social Services must intervene and help young victims.

In an interview on Nov. 15, he said an example would be where a girl under 16 was abused and sexually assaulted several times over two years with all cases being reported to the RCMP and social services. She was in the drunk tank over a dozen times facing criminal charges. RCMP went to social services again and it took another two weeks for the department to respond.

He said he is now seeing more and more youth get in trouble with the law. In Cambridge Bay in the last three to four months, he said there were 105 charges on the youth criminal court docket, involving individuals under the age of 18.

Another example Harte said would be where there were four sexual assault cases involving the same victim reported to police and even after a case went to trial, social services did not get involved.

In many instances such as this, the victims, often young women, will turn to alcohol to "try and dull the pain," Harte said.

He said Nunavut Chief Justice Robert Kilpatrick has, for the last several years, sent transcripts of cases of domestic violence to social services in attempts to shed light on the issue.

"The children in the family are exposed to pretty high levels of domestic violence and intoxicated drunken problematic behaviour that involves police coming to the house and the children being directly exposed to acts of violence," Harte said.

He does not think Kilpatrick has ever gotten a response from the department saying they stepped in.

Harte suggested representatives from Health and Social Services should go to court as it would be a way to follow cases where children might be abused.

According to the Child and Family Services Act section 7, subsection 3, a social worker can step in when a child's parent is "unavailable, unable or unwilling to care for the child." A forum reviewing the act was held in December 2009 and a report issued this fall said elders and Inuit culture could be used.

While the idea is good in theory, Harte said getting elders involved would be difficult for families who have perhaps lost connection with them.

He said the blame cannot be put on the social workers in the communities.

"The social services staff are amongst the best we have ever had. They work hard and they are creative, but they face overwhelming problems and they are seriously short of solutions," Harte stated in a press release. Instead the matter lies with those who made policy decisions and are reluctant to get involved sooner.

What might help or ease the number of youth appearing in criminal court would be the establishment of an ombudsman or child and youth advocate, an idea that was the brainchild of justice minister Keith Peterson. For several years, he has lobbied to have such a position created.

Harte said a person in this role might be able to pressure social services to provide support for the child and their family.

As much as he would like to intervene, Harte said as a lawyer he is limited as to what he can do as he is restricted by the relationship he has with his clients.

Premier Eva Aariak said the position of the child and youth advocate will not be created until 2013 as it is affected by upcoming changes in legislation, and the government must wait until Health and Social Services is done its comprehensive review of child and family services laws.

The review began in September and was scheduled to wrap up on Nov. 15, although there are still a couple of community consultation meetings to be held in Pond Inlet on Nov. 24 and Sanikiluaq on Nov. 25.

As part of the review, Nunavummiut were asked to submit their comments and suggestions on how the department could improve their services.

"The legislation needs more attention and there have been some comments it is not adhering to Inuit societal values," said Aariak in an interview on Nov. 17.

The Social Advocacy Office, under the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, will be responsible for the position and is conducting research and looking at other jurisdictions that have similar positions.

"We are ensuring voices are heard from the most vulnerable in Nunavut," she said.

Aariak said the government is also looking at other options to speed up the creation of the position.

It is also a question of resources as well. Instead of spending money towards crime control with the RCMP, Harte said more services should be made available for families, in an attempt to reduce the amount of crime and "long before the problems we see end up in the criminal justice system."

Harte said more group homes, substance abuse treatment facilities and more counselling services, could also help ease the burden on the system, adding it will take creativity and imagination to help solve the problem.

The Department of Health and Social Services declined to provide an interview.