Gladue Growing Pains

Racist Sentencing Discounts or Emancipation from Racist Sentencing?

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013, 12:00 to 1:30 PM
Franklin Lew Forum, UBC Faculty of Law at Allard Hall
1822 East Mall, Vancouver, BC

This event will commence with a salmon feast to welcome attendees

Panelists: the Honourable Judge Cunliffe Barnett and Ms. Pamela Shields, Legal Services Society Indigenous Programs Manager

Introduction: Gail Davidson, Executive Director, LRWC

A special report tabled in the House of Commons on March 7th, 2013, by the Correctional Investigator for Canada showed an increase of almost 40% in the incarceration of indigenous peoples between 2001-02 and 2010-11. The report, illuminating the racialized sentencing that clouds Canada’s domestic human rights, showed that indigenous peoples are sentenced to longer terms, spend more time in segregation and maximum security, are less likely to be granted parole, and are more likely to have parole revoked. The report calls for an immediate increase in opportunities for provision of care and custody of offenders in urban and rural indigenous communities, whose diverse legal traditions express values and mores that are similar to those of the common law tradition – both educate, deter, punish, and seek to restore order.

The Gladue presentation on March 20th will deal with the question of how to make space for indigenous legal traditions in the criminal context. Panelists will include the Honourable Judge Cunliffe Barnett (retired), who acquired repute for inclusion of indigenous legal traditions in judicial decisions and who is currently developing a First Nations Court in Kamloops, and Ms. Pamela Shields – Legal Services Society Indigenous Programs Manager who provides Gladue competency and indigenous awareness training. Facts and argument will centre on ss. 718.2(b) and 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code and the decisions of R v Gladue, [1999] 1 SCR 688 and R v Ipeelee, [2012] 1 SCR 433, which mandate reconciliation for Indigenous peoples in both rural and urban communities. Gladue reports provide factual linkages that can enable lasting restoration for offenders, victims and society.

Co-sponsored by: UBC ILSA, the UBC Indigenous Legal Studies Program, the UBC Law Students’ Society, the Legal Services Society of BC, the SFU Indigenous Students’ Centre, the Capilano University Kéxwusm-áyakn Students’ Centre, the UBC First Nations House of Learning, Kwantlen University Indigenous Services, and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada