Gladue team makes difference for Indigenous sentencing
A relatively new team is working to change the face of bail and sentencing proceedings for Indigenous people who come before the courts — and it's already having a significant impact.
“I was very excited to see the results, in part because we have a really significant issue regarding over-incarceration (of Indigenous people) in the province,” said Dr. Michelle Stewart with the University of Regina, project lead and creator of the Integrated Justice Program (IJP) which launched a team in charge of Gladue reports in the fall of 2020. “It's using resources that we have available in innovative ways to try to bring about real-world change in the lives of individuals who are justice-involved in the province.”
Gladue reports are intended to take a deep dive into the lives and experiences of Indigenous offenders. Tracing back to a seminal Supreme Court ruling placing responsibility on courts to take Indigenous offenders' backgrounds into account during sentencing, Gladue reports look at such factors as poverty, racism, addictions and the impacts of residential schools in determining how individual offenders are before the court.
Typically, while Gladue factors were explored in some capacity in standard pre-sentence reports, they weren't always, nor was information contained in the Gladue section likely to be indepth. Meanwhile, full Gladue reports could historically prove both time-consuming and expensive, meaning they often weren't done.
The IJP is now preparing reports for both sentencing and for bail matters, redirecting existing funding — particularly that of partnering agency, the FASD Network of Saskatchewan — to provide reports quickly and at no cost to clients. This week, it shared some preliminary results which point to successes it's achieving for clients.
Six Gladue submissions were completed for purposes of sentencing. Of those, four resulted in no additional jail time for the offender while the other two led to reduced jail sentences. Results on the 10 comprehensive release plans prepared for interim release were equally successful, with nine of the 10 ending in release at the client's first attempt at bail. In the case of the final individual, a second report was prepared with an updated housing plan, and that time ended in a successful release.
Stewart, who has worked extensively in the area of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) said this process has worked well for these clients too — a fact appreciated by Andrea Kotlar-livingston, executive director of the FASD Network of Saskatchewan.
“I think that's one of the things we do really well on the Gladue reports is we really try and look at people's strengths and we make everything individualized because every person affected by FASD is impacted differently,” she said.
Robyn Pitawanakwat, program co-ordinator for the IJP and lead interviewer for the reports, said success comes down in large part to the team approach.
“Because we have a team and a number of people who can do research in any direction all at once, we're able to find the supports that are relevant for each individual client — and we're able to find them quickly and submit them as needed,” she said.
That might mean reliable and safe housing, programming or other supports.
Pitawanakwat added the process is client-led, allowing for supports to be tailored to the needs of the individual.
That holds true not only while a matter remains before the court but after, with what's termed “aftercare” worked into the plans as well. In this way, Kotlar-livingston said the program does more than deal with immediate issues; it also gives people a more promising future.