Judicial system must consider Native views

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A professor of Native Studies at the University of Lethbridge wants the legal system to become more just and less punitive.

Leroy Little Bear, speaking at a seminar on Native people and the justice system in Edmonton, says it's not enough for lawyers to learn about the culture of Natives. "It's more important to achieve justice."

He says the law is "too scientific in its approach which has caused it to lose the notion of justice."

He spoke of two men, one rich and the other poor, found guilty of jaywalking. "Is it fair to fine them both $100? That money means nothing to the rich guy but it means a lot of suffering for the poor one."

Lawyers, says little Bear, must "push towards justice rather than equal treatment."

To achieve justice the system "must look at intentions," he says. Little Bear also calls on the justice system to adopt the "Native way of thinking where the whole idea is peacekeeping and prevention is opposed to punishment.

"If I tell a policeman I'm going to go rob a bank, he won't stop me, he'll wait until I do it. If I were to pose a similar threat in the Native community, they'll try to stop me."

The system must take on a more rehabilitative role, "which will serve society better than punishment," he says.

"In Native culture if a member is excommunicated from the group, his possessions and status are taken away, but when he's allowed back in, he will be put in as good a position as he was before he was banned."

Little Bear predicts "the Native world view will dominate society in the next 50 years."

National Indian leader Harold Cardinal, who also attended the seminar, urged lawyers to re-examine their fundamental approach to dealing with Indian cases.

Since colonial times, says Cardinal, "our nation has been taught Indians are not human beings and therefore they could not have any rights.

"Five hundred years later we're still dealing with that mindset and that's why we don't have sovereignty. Examine the racists beliefs your profession has engrained in you," he urged.