WARNING: This story contains details of experiences at residential schools.
As Tofino provincial court Judge Alexander Wolf sentenced a man to jail for assaulting his girlfriend while intoxicated, he made sure to acknowledge the man’s intergenerational trauma.
His father and grandfather were residential school survivors, and many of his family members have struggled with alcohol use.
“You’ve got a lot of trauma and some of that trauma is not your fault,” Wolf told the man on Monday. “When I send an Indigenous person to jail, I’m mindful there are too many Indigenous people in jail.”
The sentencing didn’t happen in a typical courtroom, but at the site of a former residential school.
An Indigenous elder opened the session with a prayer. Wolf wasn’t seated on an elevated judge’s bench, but rather on a stackable banquet chair, at eye level with everyone else in the room.
Anyone present in the gallery, including victims’ family members, could stand up and share their thoughts during the proceedings.
The Tofino provincial court was relocated to the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, in an effort to indigenize the criminal justice system. All cases, not just involving Indigenous people, will be heard there for years to come.
The First Nation says it’s seeing positive progress from the move, as it incorporates Indigenous values into a colonial system.
“We are changing the court systems so that they fit our needs instead of us having to adapt and work with their systems,” said Dezerae Joseph, Tla-o-qui-aht’s women and girls project co-ordinator.
The space that houses the new courthouse has seen several iterations. It used to be the gymnasium of the Christie Indian Residential School, which closed in 1983.
The school originally opened in 1900 on Meares Island near Tofino. At least 23 students died at the school, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, before it was relocated to Tofino in 1971.
Years later, the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation turned the school gym into a conference centre as part of a tourism resort that the nation still owns and operates today. The space has seen positive events, including weddings and potlatches. The First Nation says, despite its troubled past, the building has become comforting for community members.
Thomas George, who was forced to attend the school in Tofino when he was 13, said it still feels eerie at times for him to be back in the building.
“Lots of bad things happened there, and it’s hard to talk about that,” he said in an interview with CBC News.
Now 63, George is one of nine members of the Tla-o-qui-aht justice committee, which supports victims and alleged offenders through the court process.
The committee members, who’ve taken an oath of confidentiality, update victims on cases and help them present victim impact statements.
During court, committee members greet those involved in cases and offer them coffee or tea to let them know that they’re not alone.
“Knowing that you have support in your family, in your community, I think that makes a big difference,” George said.
For minor offences, the committee also works to arrange alternative ways for families to resolve disputes outside the justice system, including through peacemaking circles.
First Nation says Tofino provincial court is becoming a safer space for Indigenous people
Joseph, who’s also on the committee, said she’s noticed some community members are now less intimidated by the court process.
She says she believes the changes could lead to more people reporting crimes.
“It’s all about relationship building and teaching our community that we can report things and that we can put an end to certain things like violence and sexual assault,” she said.
Kory Wilson, chair of the B.C. First Nations Justice Council, said it’s great to see a First Nation incorporate traditional forms of justice into the mainstream court system.
“I think it’s fantastic that the Tla-o-qui-aht has an opportunity because it’s a community-based opportunity, a community desire to do this,” she said.
With about 200 First Nations in B.C., she said every community’s approach to the justice system will be different.
“It’s not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach,” she said.
This year, the federal government released an Indigenous Justice Strategy, which lays out 26 priority actions aimed at addressing systemic discrimination and overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the justice system, through reforming the existing system and revitalizing First Nations laws and traditional justice systems.
“We know what the answers are. We just have to work together to make the actual systemic differences that are required,” Wilson said.
Tla-o-qui-aht said it has reached an agreement with the provincial government to hold court on its territory until 2028, though the First Nation hopes it can be there permanently.
In a statement to CBC News, the Ministry of Attorney General said, “It is committed to working respectfully with partners in the region to ensure continued court access in Tofino.”
Ultimately, Tla-o-qui-aht says its goal is to see fewer Indigenous people in the criminal justice system.
Indigenous people are overrepresented in the Canadian criminal justice system as both victims and offenders, despite making up only about five per cent of the total population. On an average day in 2020-2021, there were 42.6 Indigenous people in provincial custody per 10,000 population compared to four non-Indigenous people, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.
It’s a sentiment that Judge Wolf echoed as he sentenced the man for assaulting his partner.
“I don’t want to sit here in 10 years sentencing a person who beat up your daughter,” Wolf said.
“I need you to step up.”
A national 24-hour Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available at 1-866-925-4419 for emotional and crisis referral services for survivors and those affected.
Mental health counselling and crisis support are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat.
