Tinkering with system to accommodate needs of first nations

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Two provinces are taking steps this year to build changes into their court systems that will better accommodate first nations needs and concerns.

Consultations are underway in Manitoba between the province and Metis and Native communities to develop a model for a three-year pilot project.

Under the proposed system, councils of Elders and Metis senators would advise judges on cases involving Native people. Native judges and para-legal workers would also be able to accept guilty pleas and impose sentences for lesser crimes for non-jury

trial and certain youth offences.

Provincial Justice Minister Jim McCrae said the proposed project is not a step towards the separate justice system recommended by the Manitoba Native justice inquiry. Such a move would be a step toward apartheid-like separation, he said.

The pilot project has received only lukewarm approval from the Assembly of Manitoba chiefs. But it has garnered support from at least one organization.

Mary Staniscia, a spokeswoman for the Winnipeg-based Aboriginal Women's Collective, says the news system could be financed through the offset costs from less incarceration.

Meanwhile, Quebec Justice Minister Gilles Remillard has announced the creation of a special committee to adapt the courts to Native needs.

The three-member group will spend the next year studying models which could be used to administer Canadian laws in the Native communities. It will also set a timetable for the implementation of its recommendations.

To coincide with the committee's work, Remillard announced training sessions for judges and court workers to familiarize them with Native traditions and cultures.