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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A wellness court for accused people who suffer from addictions and mental health issues is being discussed as a possible alternative to harsher criminal court proceedings.

An interdepartmental committee of territorial government officials is currently developing a plan on how to implement such a court system in the NWT. MLAs approved a motion to look into a mental health diversion court 18 months ago, and now the assessment of a broader wellness court is expected to be completed by the end of March.

While the committee is putting together the feasibility study, it will be judges that make the final decision on whether an alternate court is established, said Sylvia Haener, deputy chief of the Department of Justice.

She likened the court to the current domestic violence treatment option (DVTO) court - the only specialized court currently operating in the NWT which began in the summer of 2011. Each week there is a specific time in territorial court set aside to hear these matters, with a screening process in place to determine whether or not an individual is appropriate for that court.

"Risk has to be low and the programming that connects to that court has to be appropriate given the individual and the risk level," said Haener, adding the offences would be relatively minor and the sentence would not usually involve jail time.

In wellness court the accused would have to plead guilty and agree to participate in programming. A person can be diverted the wellness court at several points during court proceedings: before charges are laid, post-charge, pretrial and during a trial if an offender agrees to treatment. Currently, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Yukon have mental health or wellness courts.

The Yukon Community Wellness Court started in 2007 and, according to its website, "is an innovative therapeutic court designed to contribute to the building of safer Yukon communities through crime reduction. It does this by working with offenders in the criminal justice system on the root causes of their criminal behaviour."

Haener said in the Yukon's case, it can take an offender up to 24 months to complete what the territory calls "their wellness journey." The individual is required to report back to court on a regular basis to provide updates to the judge until the programming is completed.

"To run another specialized court, particularly one that's focused on wellness, addictions, requires a fair bit of programming to be available to support that court," said Haener.

Lydia Bardak, executive director of the John Howard Society, said specialized courts dealing with domestic violence or substance abuse is a part of a growing trend across the country right now, but the territory doesn't currently have the resources to uphold the programs needed for a court like this.

"We have such a profoundly disabled and widespread population here in the North," she said.

"It's going to take some real commitment on the part of our legislators, resources will need to be found.

"There's only a brief period of time where they have to invest new resources but ultimately, the savings in the criminal justice system will yield the money you need to continue it ... and then we're going to see something that is very likely more cost-effective but certainty more humane by treating people in the communities more appropriately."

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley agreed that savings would been seen from investing in helping the root causes of a lot of criminal activity through proper programming versus incarceration.

"We have so many people that are just rotating back into our jails as soon as they get out and typically it's related to mental-health issues or addictions," he said.

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