Desmeules calls for Metis-run justice system

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"Metis should be involved in all aspects of criminal justice as an important step toward self-government," says the president of the Metis Nation of Alberta.

The existing system is administered by people who do not understand the Metis culture," said Larry Desmeules in his organization's submission Oct.22 to the task force on the criminal justice system and its impact on Indian and Metis people.

"We want the government to redirect existing dollars to help us establish our own justice system which could co-exist comfortably within the mainstream system," he said.

The key issue is to reform the process, he said.

"Once we've got the process in place, hen we can really make some change. There must be change,," he continued, "because too many of our people are being put in jail without hope for having a sense of belonging to a community when they come out."

He said a Metis-run justice system would include Metis correctional services, police and judges.

"The Metis people are part of the problem so they must also be part of the solution and be given the opportunity and resources to regain responsibility for, and control of, their own lives as individuals, families, communities and as a nation," he said.

Task force chairman Justice Allan Cawsey asked how a separate Metis justice system would fit into the urban areas outside Metis settlements.

Desmeules said his group does not have a suggestion for that issue yet but he said the Metis Nation was willing to work with the task force to develop a plan.

About 4,000 of Alberta's 65,000 Metis live on Metis settlements with the rest living in towns and cities.

Desmeules told the task force, which was established in Jan. 1990 by the provincial and federal governments, that his people are tired of being an "economic base for the status quo which perpetuates and guards a system that works well for them but it's not so hot for us."

Native people represent about 4 per cent of the Alberta population yet make up 30 per cent of the population of correctional institutions.

"We could spend all of this day and man more citing tragic examples of the failure of the current system. Libraries and filing cabinets are full of such documentation from previous studies - studies that would appear to have resulted in little change," says Desmeules.

Desmeules stressed he wants to "get down to the nuts and bolts to negotiate a way to achieve Metis control over their own justice system."

He said his organization hopes that task force is "not just an exercise in public relations."

The task force was set up to identify problems and propose solutions to ensure Indian and Metis people receive fair treatment within Alberta's criminal justice system.

But Desmeules told reporters later he doubts whether anything substantial will be accomplished through the task force, which is due to release its findings Dec. 31.