MAA to gather grassroots feelings on justice system

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The MAA has established a project team to tour the province to hear from Metis people about their experiences with the criminal justice system.

The Metis Association Of Alberta project team will tour the six regional Metis zones, said association president Larry Desmeules.

He said the MAA intends to present the results and make recommendations to the federal/provincial Native justice task force currently touring the province.

Desmeules remains disenchanted, however, that the numerous studies into criminal justice for Native people have so far borne little fruit.

"There has been about 3,000 studies done. It's been over-studied," he said. "But our jails are still filled with Native people."

Desmeules insisted the latest task force has to bring results. "We don't just want a report once it's done. There has to be a follow-up, so the project team's submission is acted upon," he said.

The task force was established after the MAA and the Indian Association of Alberta (IAA) expressed concerns over the criminal justice system's handling of Native people. Of particular concern is the high percentage of Native people serving sentences in correctional institutions across Alberta.

Zone 4 MAA vice-president Joe Blyan said Native people have to take a serious look at the criminal justice system and how it deals "unfairly" with Native people.

Blyan was speaking at the first of six workshops scheduled by the MAA to give Metis people an opportunity to present their views on the criminal justice system and its impact on Indian and Metis people of Alberta

He said Native people faced with a sentence, stand in front of a judicial system that "still to this day" does not understand Native people.

"We are judged by people who do not understand our culture. Knowing this, I believe every person who purports to represent Native people has to get off his rear-end and become directly involved with changing the system."

Jim White, Native liaison worker with Edmonton Police Services, stressed the need for a "preventive program" to start at the home and in the communities "especially when it comes to youth.

"I see so much in my job. It's depressing when you hear of a child going to an empty cupboard and finding a dry loaf of bread alongside a case of beer. Basically, our kids are out there trying to survive," he said.

"It's not their fault when they're going to school every day hungry."

"When they're thrown in jail, they're stripped of their pride and dignity and are exposed to violent offenders"

"I think the whole judicial system must be educated -- child care workers, judges, prosecutors, police, all the way up the line," he added.

White, who has worked with the Edmonton police department for a number of years, said there is no such thing as rehabilitation in jails.

"It's just a punitive society that wants to keep offenders in jail. These issues need to be addressed," he told the MAA project team.

Project researcher Jacob Pete, an ex-RCMP officer and criminal justice system consultant, said community-based policing must be looked at.

"There is no automatic right for aboriginal people to have a say on the police commission, about how our law enforcement policies are determined. So who are the police accountable to?

"There are no special Metis programs available for the employment of Metis policing. There is for Indian people but not for the Metis. These things must be looked into," Pete said.

He also said Native people, who want a career as a police officer, face discrimination.

"Many Native people have criminal records. They can't become policemen. If you go north, most Native people are small and don't reach the standard height requirement to join a police force. All these things are of a discriminating factor. It prevents them from joining a police force," he said.

Pete said Native people must aim higher to have changes made in the criminal justice system.

He said involvement is needed both in the attorney general's deartment and the solicitor general's department.

"If changes are to be made, then we should start at the top," he said.

The MAA project team will visit each of the regional zones over the next two months until June 3.

Project team coordinator Clint Buehler said it is vital they have their recommendations in place in time for task force hearings scheduled for June 15.

The task force is chaired by Mr. Justice Robert Allan Cawsey of the Court of Queen's Bench. He is expected to prepare a report for the federal and provincial governments by Dec. 31,1990.