WHAT WAS YOUR PATH INTO LAW AND ONTO THE BENCH?

My path into law was not in a straight line. My introduction to law was when my father became a First Nation Special Constable with the RCMP when I was 10 years old. I didn’t quite understand what the “law” was, but I knew there was something called that, and my dad enforced it. I understood that there were bad people out there. My dad, being a single parent, didn’t often provide me with children’s books. So, I read his books that were around the house, such as the book entitled “Helter Skelter” on the Manson murders. That book opened my young mind to the legal world that arose when people committed terrible crimes. I understood that people could be arrested by the police. Yet, the concept of the law itself was like a shadow cast upon the wall of the dark cave in my mind. All I could see was a blurred form of the law through my young mind’s eye. But I knew there was something out there that was the actual law where people went to court and ultimately to jail. My dad’s crisp uniform was proof of the law’s existence. During that time, my dad would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said either a veterinary or a lawyer.

I didn’t immediately pursue law. Instead, I meandered through various jobs, traveled both domestically and abroad. I took my time studying for my undergrad degree. My summer jobs at the First Nation University (formally called the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College) library or as a taxi driver during my undergrad gave me tools for practicing law and in my work on the bench. The library work honed my eye for detail while driving taxi (mostly only night shifts) taught me how to trust my intuition and how to read people. These are all skills that I still use today. Travelling domestically opened my eyes to the circumstances of people from the Prairies, the Maritimes, and the West Coast. Travels abroad opened my eyes to the people in Europe, including seeing the remains of the Holocaust at Dachau that blew my young mind open. Mexico, Asia, Australia, and the US opened my eyes further to the diversity of our world and to the human commonality amongst us all. I eventually received my BA in Philosophy from the University of Regina. I learned about the hardcore realities of people in driving taxi at night while I studied the metaphysics of the universe and nature of human existence.

I applied to law school at the University of Saskatchewan in 1993 and to the Summer Law Program at the Indigenous Law Centre (formally called the Native Law Centre), College of Law. I was accepted and began my studies in 1994. I graduated in 1997 and completed my Articles with Saskatchewan Justice. That entailed a rotation through Civil Law, Constitutional Law, Crown Prosecutions, and a month at a law firm. I recall that when I was introduced to Prosecutions, I found that law school did not prepare me best for prosecuting but, in fact, driving taxi better prepared me. It was the same people in my cab at 2:00 a.m. who were in court for Monday morning docket. I did a short-term contract with the Constitutional Law Branch after my Articles and before I headed to Ottawa. Once in Ottawa, I was able to get on with Justice Canada.

I practiced with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs (formally called Indian and Northern Affairs of Canada) Legal Services in the Specific Claims Unit. I was responsible for drafting lawful obligation legal opinions, providing legal support for negotiation tables and drafting agreements in preparation to take matters to settlement. I also went on an Interchange Canada work exchange with the Indian Claims Commission. I was trained in mediation, negotiations, and project management. I practiced with the federal government for 14 years before I returned home to Saskatchewan. I then joined the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. With my experience in project management and water law, many of the claims I worked on dealt with flooding of Indian Reserve lands, of Crown lands and fee simple lands. I ultimately opened my own firm where I continued working on Specific Claims, water law issues, teaching Aboriginal Property Law at the Indigenous Law Centre Summer Law Program. I also designed and facilitated the Gladue Awareness Project for the Centre, College of Law, University of Saskatchewan. And, then I was appointed to the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan in Estevan, Saskatchewan in 2018.

WHAT DO YOU WISH THE PUBLIC KNEW ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM?

I will focus on the criminal justice system in my comments below.

There are various members of the public who have varying degrees of unfamiliarity with the justice system that I wished could be enlightened. For example, there are those members of the public who are subject to the justice system. They may be either an accused, an offender, or such related party. These individuals need to know that the justice system does not have to be the end-all-be-all in their lives. They need to know that there are other ways of living in Canadian society that does not involve the justice system.

There are also people who look at the justice system from the outside and do not realize that it is far more complicated than it appears. These members of the public need to know that the people in the justice system are generally not there by choice. Rather the people within the justice system are the result of dysfunction of family and community. This dysfunction is the product of such things as poverty, or of the residential school system, or of the foster care system. Very rarely is it the case that people are just born to commit crimes.

Members of the public also need to know that the statistics that are produced are measuring the number of people in the system, but that those numbers do not indicate how many people from a particular community are not within the justice system. For example, when statistics show there is a very high number of Indigenous people incarcerated, that high number is in comparison on a per capita basis with other Canadians who are in jail. Statistics should not be read to support stereotypes or biases.

I also wish that members of the Canadian public knew that those who work within the justice system work with limited resources. The justice system work with people within the system who quite often have addiction and mental health issues. These issues may be the result of having to survive poverty or from intergenerational trauma. The system is also working with people who are going through various difficult stages of their lives where they will eventually come out of the justice system when they overcome their challenges or have matured. For those employed in the justice system, resources that may help such people come through these challenges are limited and are not available in all parts of the country. There may be a will to work effectively in the justice system but lack the means to achieve that goal.

These are some of the things that I wish the public knew about the justice system.