Hamilton’s bold goal to streamline justice system

It’s a bold idea — a 20 per cent reduction in the demand on the formal justice system by 2020.

But for the organizers behind Hamilton’s Boldness Project: “failure is not an option.”

In Hamilton, like many cities, courts are overrepresented with Indigenous and racialized people, those suffering from addiction and mental health, and the criminalization of people who are poor, homeless and young, said Jayne Mallin, vice-president of Legal Aid Ontario’s south-west region.

“Everything is funnelled into the criminal justice system ... we’re trying to find solutions to address the underlying problems,” said the former manager of criminal legal services for Legal Aid in Hamilton.

For instance, there are many young offenders who end up in custody for “normal youth behaviour,” Mallin said.

This includes being charged with breaching a court order, such as a curfew.

By sending young people to jail the system is “almost helping to create criminals,” she added.

The Boldness Project was sparked following a hackathon, which examined challenges to the justice system in November 2016 by Legal Aid Ontario in Hamilton.

From there the Hamilton Justice Collaboratory, which includes a number of other stakeholders across the city, formed.

A free, four week pop-up event begins Monday and will feature a new topic each day, including missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, transgender and two spirited people; how the justice system intersects with mental health; and barriers for newcomers and young people.

Hamilton is in a perfect position to make changes, not only because the need is real, but because stakeholders across the city appear to finally be on the same page wanting to make a change, Mallin said.

This includes police, school boards, social service agencies, those working in the justice system, Indigenous community partners, health and mental heath partners, and the City of Hamilton.

“We think the time for change is right ... everyone’s on board ... the appetite has changed,” she said.

And the event is so Hamilton, it’s even being hosted at Tim Hortons Field — the home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, at 64 Melrose Ave N, said Matt Hammond, manager of civil legal services for Hamilton and Halton and one of the event organizers.

The hope is community members with lived experience will participate in the fun, but important, daylong brainstorming sessions. In the end, organizers hope participants will sign off on ideas or projects.

Each day they’ll meet and discuss that day’s topic, highlighting some suggested recommendations. But as the discussion grows, they can break off into smaller groups to discuss particular ideas.

Food and entertainment. And it’s not just the criminal justice system they’re looking to change, but immigration and refugee law, family court, and civil law.

An issue Hammond noted from his experience in family court is the re-victimization and lack of supports to help families where there has been domestic violence. Are there things outside of a courtroom that could be done to better support those families? Minimize the risk of further violence? Help the children?

In family court it’s common to see multiple proceedings involving the same family, where the court is being asked to make decisions on matters, such as permission for one parent to take a child on a vacation outside the country, that clog up the courts.

“These are matters that really shouldn’t be resolved by a judge, but that’s where it ends up,” Hammond said.

The Ministry of the Attorney General recently announced Community Justice Centres are coming to three Ontario communities — Kenora, London and Toronto’s Moss Park — with the goal to improve how marginalized people interact with the criminal justice system.

Depending on what recommendations come out of Hamilton’s four-week pop-up event, Mallin expects Hamilton will need physical infrastructure. She thinks this city would be ideal for a Community Justice Centre.

For a listing of all the Hamilton Boldness Project events, visit the Hamilton Boldness Facebook page, @HBoldness on Twitter, or the The Hamilton Boldness Project Legal Aid Ontario blog.