Lawyer outraged by client serving time in Edmonton
Peter Harte slams Justice Department for ignoring recommendation of judge
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife criminal defence lawyer is furious that one of his clients is serving her sentence in Edmonton.
In sentencing Beverly Villeneuve for manslaughter this January, Supreme Court Justice Louise Charbonneau strongly recommended she serve her five-year sentence in the territory. Villeneuve was credited one and a half days for each day in custody leading up to the sentencing hearing, leaving her with two years and eight months to serve.
Despite the recommendation, Villeneuve is serving time at the Edmonton Institute for Women, a place her lawyer Peter Harte says she should not be.
Villeneuve, 48, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the stabbing death of her common-law partner Archie Paulette at a home in Ndilo on June 8, 2015.
Technically, people serving time in NWT corrections facilities have been sentenced to two years or less, but exceptions to that policy are made. However, Harte said it appears exceptions are only being made for male inmates.
"Justice Louise Charbonneau wasted her time making a strong recommendation that Beverly Villeneuve be permitted to serve her sentence in the NWT," stated Harte. "And the reason is that the NWT doesn't care enough about women to make it happen."
In the e-mail, Harte also called out the Department of Justice for having to be "embarrassed" into providing proper accommodations for female prisoners in pre-trial custody.
It was only last year that the department created space for females at the North Slave Correctional Centre after Judge Robert Gorin ruled in May 2016 that the practice of housing female prisoners awaiting bail hearings in Yellowknife in RCMP cells violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
RCMP holding cells are lit 24 hours a day, there are no visitors aside from lawyers allowed, and prisoners are not given pillows.
"Once again, it is clear that women come second," stated Harte.
According to Harte, Correctional Services Canada pays the territorial government to offer programming to federally sentenced offenders (those sentenced to more than two years). That programming is delivered to men, Harte stated, but the GNWT has nothing for women.
He added that under its current policies, the Department of Justice is ignoring at least two of the recommendations contained in the Truth and Reconciliation Report. The report calls for territorial, provincial and federal governments to commit to eliminating the over-representation of indigenous people in the corrections system over the next decade, provide realistic alternatives to imprisonment for indigenous offenders, as well as respond to the underlying causes of offending.
"Everyone else is trying to reduce the number of aboriginal inmates – why is the GNWT doing what it can to increase those numbers?" Harte asked. "When a Supreme Court judge is effectively ignored like this – exactly what does the GNWT have against women?"
In an e-mail response to Harte's accusations, deputy Justice minister Martin Goldney stated part of the problem is the number of female inmates in NWT jails is too low for programming, which in many cases is done in group settings, to be effectively offered on-site.
"There are very few women in the NWT receiving federal sentences," he stated, adding four women have received them in the past 10 years.
Goldney added the preference is to have federal offenders serve their time in the North, closer to family supports, but the primary consideration in placing inmates is what is best for their rehabilitation.
He said in some cases that means inmates, both male and female, will have to serve at least a portion of their sentence in southern facilities where there is access to relevant programming.
Goldney said the Justice department is trying to address recommendations made in the Truth and Reconciliation report.
"This is a long-standing and complicated issue," he stated. "Addressing it requires the active collaboration of many entities including all GNWT social program departments, aboriginal governments and communities at large."
Goldney pointed to territorial programs such as Wellness Court, Domestic Violence Treatment Options (DVTO) Court and A New Day program, which helps men with family violence issues, as examples of ways the department is trying to reduce the number of incarcerated indigenous people across the territory.
