Response to Rebuttal Page 3

Response to Rebuttal

The concept of an “aboriginal orthodox” is just an excuse to justify why Indigenous people are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.  More often than not, Aboriginal communities have participated in trials to ensure that it is conducted fairly.According to Chris Anderson, they do this in order to attempt to reduce the shocking incarceration rates of their people. There are various ways in which Aboriginal Justice can be represented in a court of law, such as Aboriginal policing, indigenization of existing criminal justice systems, and the use of Aboriginal courts (1999, p. 306). The latter seems like the best way to counter Coyne’s notions of unnecessary aboriginal precedents. Giving them their own courts to make decisions on behalf of their own people would be the best way to ensure that Indigenous people are represented fairly. 

Alternatively, the use of diversion programs has become increasingly popular as a means of increasing community participation in sanctioning criminal activity. Most notable of these programs is the sentencing circle, shown in Figure 4. According to the Department of Justice, sentencing circles invite members of the indigenous community to sit with the defendant, judge and other members of court in a circle format in order to examine the offence, the factors contributing to it, methods of sentencing and a means of reintegrating the assailant back into society. While several critics have denounced sentencing circles as too lenient (CanWest News, 2008), aboriginal leaders have described the event as “tough justice”. Christopher Pauchay, a man convicted for the freezing death of his two daughters, was called to attend a sentencing circle in front of his peers and community members. Restorative justice of this kind, as opposed to the punitive justice offered by courts of law, may be a better method of ensuring that incarceration rates do not rise and that reconciliation is achieved.

As visualised in the Palladio network graph below, the use of Sentencing circles or Gladue courts is available in 5 provinces, namely: Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Alberta. Seeing as this useful means of administering justice for aboriginal people is not yet widely accepted, this further proves that the Canadian government has a long way to go before fully implementing Aboriginal justice methods and furthering the reconciliation process.