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Rehabilitation over punishment
Tuktoyaktuk welcomes newly reinstated restorative justice committee

Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Friday, January 30, 2015

TUKTOYAKTUK
Tuktoyaktuk youth who find themselves in trouble with the law now have an alternative to court.

NNSL photo/graphic

The newly reinstated restorative justice committee in Tuktoyaktuk is taking cases. - NNSL file photo

The newly reinstated restorative justice committee in Tuktoyaktuk is taking cases.

The committee's focus is not on punishment but on rehabilitation and reconciliation.

RCMP or the court refers clients who have committed lesser crimes, such as theft, mischief or minor assaults, to the committee.

If the offender agrees to diversion, the co-ordinator will invite the victim and committee board members, volunteers who act as the voice of the community, to participate in the process.

As a group, they will come up with sanctions or reparative actions for the offender to carry out.

This could mean they have to do community service hours, apologize for their actions, write an essay on a relevant topic or take counselling.

"I think it's going to work really well," said Darlene Gruben, corporate manager for the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation, and former co-ordinator for the previous restorative justice committee. "There's a lot of youth cases, instead of them going to court and dealing with their charges, dealing with it this way would give them an opportunity to correct whatever they did wrong."

Adults may also be referred. The offender has to admit wrongdoing in order to be eligible.

The restorative justice committee in Tuk stopped running a few years ago. Members of the elders committee noticed it was missed and advocated for it to be brought back. TCC staff took on the task.

In 2002, the Sevoliq Justice Committee, as it was called then, saw about 27 clients.

Twenty-three communities in the NWT operate justice committees.

RCMP Sgt. Philippe Cyr said he believes in restorative justice because cases are dealt with quickly and in accordance with the offence. Every community should have a committee, he said adding he's glad there will be one in Tuk again.

"Our full intention is to use them as much as possible . I'm pushing for it to be in the forefront," said Cyr.

"Every situation is unique, but at the end of the day if this can help someone, stream them into a different line or different mind set or different pathway in their life, if they can say 'you know what I'm not going to do this again because of that,' then that's my goal. It's all about prevention."

The Inuvik Justice Committee handles 20 to 25 diversion files a year and 15 fine option clients, according to co-ordinator John Dempster.

"There have been a few clients, younger, who have moved past their teenage mistakes and are doing well in school and attending and have become productive members of the community here."

The committee doesn't take on files from Tuk because the distance makes it challenging to set up a meeting between all the involved parties. Also, Dempster needs to supervise the offender to ensure he or she is following through and that's difficult to do from Inuvik.

Ada Cockney will be the co-ordinator in Tuk. She is scheduled to attend training, provided by the Department of Justice, next month in Yellowknife.

"I think it's fantastic," said Dempster about Tuk restoring its committee. "I'm happy they're able to move forward and get one. I think they're the last community in the Delta to get a (restorative justice) committee going."

The group will do well, said Dempster, if they remember the sanctions aren't meant to be crippling.

"By giving someone a hundred hours, are they really going to be able to complete that or are you setting them up for failure?"

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