KENORA — A new, innovative approach to providing justice has launched in Kenora.
The Kenora Justice Centre is a collaboration of Indigenous leaders, the Ontario Court of Justice, and community partners that offer a courtroom that incorporates supportive justice that encourages rehabilitation and dialogue between individuals, judges, Elders, Crowns, duty/defence counsel, victims, police and members of the community.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Derek Fox, who’s also a trained lawyer, said its important to balance social services and justice.
“I’ve spent about two or three years in various areas of law, but what is saw was the over-incarceration of our people, of young people. This constant circle. You see the same people coming in and out of the system. It’s deeply rooted. There’s has got to be a lot of preventative measures taken and that falls under the responsibility of other areas like infrastructure and social issues,” said Fox.
Fox acknowledges that there is a link between crime and poverty. With the lack of access to services like healthcare and recreational sports, youths turn toward what’s accessible.
“Often times that is drugs and alcohol and they start getting into trouble. Then they end up in places like here. Once they get caught up in that system, it’s a vicious circle. They are not criminals, but they become criminals,” Fox said.
The Kenora Justice Centre provides access for Indigenous people to break that circle. The centre has a primary health-care room to support Indigenous-led health and treatment services with 25 to 30 beds for people with mental health and addictions. There will also be a transitional housing program that will support the homeless in finding residents.
People will have access to technology for those lacking reliable internet services for court appearances, tribunal hearings or medical appointments, and access to on-site Elders and interpreters to create healing plans and opportunities for ceremonies, workshops and training for all community partners.
"For the mental health of our young people, just to have the access to be able to talk to someone talk, to just get it off their chest, whatever they are carrying, be able to talk to a councillor or a mental health expert, and just get that whatever they are carrying on their chest that day, may prevent a crime," Fox said. "It may prevent that angry outburst that we see.”
Fox believes that mental health should be incorporated into every aspect of the justice system.
Grand Council Treaty Three Ogichidaa Francis Kavanaugh said the purpose of the Kenora Justice Centre is to assist in evaluating court cases that will lead people on a path to their cultural roots.
“Right now, a lot of our youth people are lost," Kavanaugh said. "They lost their language and they lost their identity. A lot of them don’t know if they have a clan. This facility here is about that aspect. This courthouse is not about punishing people. It’s about providing healing and providing a safe pathway to recovery and maybe a healthy transition back to their home communities."
Ontario Indigenous Relations Minister Greg Rickford said the Kenora Justice Centre will be beneficial for the Kenora-Rainy River region through its initiatives.
“We about talk about wrap-around services. This building here today is going to give people an entirely different experience around justice. Provide them with the physical presence of all the support systems you could possibly think of to help families, to help victims, communities, and the offender,” Rickford said.
Attorney General Doug Downey said that it took years of communication and collaboration between Indigenous leaders and the Ontario government to get the Kenora Justice Centre in place and “doing justice differently.”
“Imaging taking all the social services and putting them all in the courthouse. We can meet people’s core needs as opposed to the event. We’ve instead taken part of the justice system out to where the social services are and we are going to see different results,” Downey said.
