Review of the Nunavut Community Justice Program: Final Report

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APPENDIX 6 - CONSULTATION GUIDELINES AND INTERVIEW GUIDES

CONSULTATION GUIDELINES

Community Justice Committees

Consultations with each Community Justice Committees will be structured but open-ended. A set of information needs (listed below) will be addressed. Discussions that range beyond the information needs listed here will be included in the analysis as long as they are relevant to the program review. The consultation sessions will be facilitated by Scott Clark and James Arreak. Mr. Arreak will provide Inuktitut interpretation as required.

General Community Information

• What do you see as the main problems in the community? (This may lead to a discussion about alcohol abuse, spouse assault, lack of facilities, etc.)
• What kinds of offences mainly occur?
• Is the offending mainly by youth or adults?
• Are there community programs or facilities (other than the Community Justice Committee) that help with crime prevention or with victims and offenders - either directly or indirectly?
• If so, are these effective? (Elaborate.)

Background Information on the Committee

• How long has this Committee existed?
• How many members are there?
• Is this a good number? If not, why?
• What is the process by which individuals become members of the Committee?
• What are the membership criteria? Who set up these criteria? Are they appropriate?
• What is the current make-up of the Committee in terms of age and gender?
• Does each Committee member know how he/she is appointed to the Committee and the length of his/her appointment?
• Does the Hamlet recommend people to become members? If so, is this a problem in any way?
• Does the Committee actively recruit members?
• Does the Committee have guidelines to help identify who can become a member?
• Is it a problem to retain individuals as Committee members? If so, how does the Committee address this problem?
• Does the Committee deal with youth or adults or both?
• Does the Committee handle pre-charge referrals? Post-charge referrals? Other types of referrals from other agencies (specify)?
• How many of each type of referral does the Committee handle?
• What facilities does the Committee have for doing its job (e.g., office space, computer)?
• How often does the Committee meet as a whole?
• Does the Community Justice Committee have sub-committees? If yes, what are those sub-committees and what do they do? Is having sub-committees an effective way to deal with issues?

Community Justice Committee - Roles and Challenges

• What do you see as the mandate and role of the Community Justice Committee?
• Does the Committee have a Mission Statement? If so, how was it developed?
• Does the Committee have clear goals?
• In overall terms, do you think the Committee is as effective as it could be in meeting the goals?
• Specifically, what does the Committee do now?
• What do you think the Committee should do?
• What types of cases and clients does the Committee handle now? Why is that?
• Does the Committee intend to handle different types of cases or clients in the future? If not, why? If yes, on what does the change depend (e.g., greater capacity, more training)?
• What approaches and techniques does the Committee use in its work?
• What training or workshops has the Committee or its members had in order to help understand its role or do its work more effectively?
• What are the capacity limits of the Committee (e.g., volunteer hours, number of cases, skills, funding, infrastructure, organizational development)?
• Does the Committee have enough capacity to take on added responsibilities under the YCJA?
• Are there specific program development needs that would enable the Committee to carry out its mandate more effectively?
• Does your Committee need more opportunities to communicate with other Community Justice Committees in order to share ideas and develop skills?
• If so, how could this be done?
• Are current guidelines and agreements with government departments and agencies (territorial and federal) sufficient and effective in assisting the Committee to do its work? If not, why? What improvements could be made?
• Is additional funding required? If yes, how much additional funding is required and how would it be used to carry out the mandate of the Committee?
• How does the Committee account for its revenues and expenditures? Is this effective? If not, how could the Committee's accounting practices be improved?
• What does the Committee need to be able it to do its job better?

Coordinator and Regional Justice Specialist

• Does the Committee have a Coordinator?
• If so, is the Coordinator full-time or part-time?
• What do you see as the role of the Coordinator?
• Does the Coordinator have a job description? If not, why?
• How does the Committee provide supervision and support to its Coordinator?
• Is the Coordinator able to do his/her job effectively?
• What could help him/her to be more effective?
• What do you see as the role of the Regional Justice Specialist?
• Is the Specialist able to do her job effectively?
• What could help her to be more effective?
• [Two especially important issues will be training and opportunities to share information and experiences for Community Justice Committees and Coordinators. These issues and others will be discussed extensively.]

The Community Justice Committee and the RCMP

• Describe the relationship between the Committee and the RCMP with reference to diversion.
• Is the relationship effective? If not, how could it be improved?
• Is there a diversion protocol in place? If not, why?
• If there is a protocol, does it include the Crown? If not, why?
• Is the protocol adequate and effective? If not, why? If yes, what enables it to work effectively?
• Does the RCMP work with the Committee in other ways? If yes, what are those ways?
• What does the Committee need in order to work more effectively with the RCMP?
• What does the RCMP need in order for the relationship to be more effective?

The Community Justice Committee and Judges / Crown Prosecutors / Legal Aid Lawyers

• Are there working relationships between the Committee and the Judges, Crown Prosecutors and legal aid lawyers who visit the community?
• If so, what is the nature of the relationships?
• Are they effective? If not, how could they be improved?
• What is the nature of the relationships between the Judges/Crowns/legal aid lawyers and the community itself?
• Are they effective? If not, how could they be improved?
• Does the Judge sit with elders in your community? If not, why? If yes, is this effective? How is it effective?

The Community Justice Committee and Victims

• Does the Committee involve the victim in the diversion process? If not, why?
• If yes, how is the decision made to involve a victim? Are certain victims involved and not others? Are certain offences included and not others?
• Does victim involvement depend on whether the referral is pre-charge or post-charge? If yes, why?
• What are the numbers of victims who have been involved in the diversion process according to nature of the offence, gender, age?
• What is the nature of a victim's involvement?
• Has the involvement of victims in the process been successful? If not, why?
• If yes, what are the indications of success?
• Is the Committee involved in dealing with victims and offenders other than through the diversion process?

The Community Justice Committee and Corrections

• Is there a working relationship between the Committee and community corrections (e.g., the Community Corrections Officer)? If not, why?
• How could the relationship be established or improved?

The Community Justice Committee and the Community

• How does your community view the Community Justice Committee?
• Does the Committee work cooperatively with other committees, groups (e.g., healing teams) or individuals (e.g., elders) in the community? If not, why? If yes, what are those other committees, groups or individuals and what is the nature of the relationship? Are these relationships effective?
• Does the Committee share resources such as training or office space with other community committees or groups? If not, why? If yes, what is shared? Are these arrangements effective?
• What is the nature of the Committee's relationship with the Municipality?
• Is there a primary contact person at the Municipality (e.g., SAO, representative on the Committee)?
• Does the Municipality provide support to the Committee? If not, why? If yes, what kinds of support are given (e.g., long distance phone, meeting space, photocopying, training)?
• Does the Municipality advise the Committee regularly of the status of the Committee's budget?
• Is the Committee aware of its yearly budget?
• Are there ways in which the relationship with the Municipality could be improved?
• Do you think the Committee is effective in meeting the needs of the community?

The Community Justice Committee and IQ

• What are the traditional Inuit values and practices used by the Committee?
• How is the practice of traditional ways of justice important in supporting a healthier, safer community with less crime?
• Is IQ effective? If not, why? How could it be made more effective?
• Do other departments and agencies (the Crown, RCMP, Nunavut Justice, federal Justice) support the use of IQ in dealing with crime prevention and criminal offences? If not, why? How could this be improved?

Planning for the Future

• Does the Committee see its responsibilities as working within the formal justice system, or as providing alternatives to the formal system, or both?
• Does the Committee want to change its approach? If so, how?
• What does the Committee want to achieve over the next five years?
• Does the Committee have a process in place for planning the next five years? What process would the Committee use to set out goals and measures of success?
• Will the Committee be doing a planning exercise? If not, why?

General Observations and Comments

• What are the problems facing this Community Justice Committee?
• How could these problems be solved?
• What does the Committee need to be able to do its job better?
• Does the Committee have special successes that could be shared and that might benefit other Community Justice Committees?

INTERVIEW GUIDE

Coordinator - Community Justice Committee

Interviews with Coordinators will be structured but open-ended. A set of information needs (listed below) will be addressed. Discussions that range beyond the information needs listed here will be included in the analysis as long as they are relevant to the program review.

Community Background Information

• What are the main problems in the community?
• What kinds of offences occur here?
• Is the offending mainly by youth or adults?
• Are there community programs or facilities (apart from the Community Justice Committee) that help with crime prevention or with victims and offenders?
• What are the relationships between these programs or facilities and the Community Justice Committee?
• Could these relationships be improved? If so, how?

Roles of Committee and Coordinator

• What is the mandate and role of the Community Justice Committee?
• Describe the activities of the Committee. (This is a detailed discussion covering all aspects of Committee activities.)
• Do you have a job description? If not, why not?
• Describe your role as Coordinator in the activities of the Committee; e.g., family group conferencing. (This is a detailed discussion.)
• Describe your role as administrator for the Committee. (This is a detailed discussion.)
• What are some of the challenges you face in your job?
• What training have you had to develop your skills for this job? How did you get this training (from whom, which organization, who paid)?
• Have you received training or mentoring to help you understand your role with the Community Justice Committee? If so, how did this occur?
• Do you get enough supervisory and resource support from the Community Justice Committee? If not, why?
• Are there ways the level of support from the Committee could be improved?
• What do you need to enable you to do your job better?
• What does the Community Justice Committee need to enable it to do its job better; e.g., training?

Community Justice Committee - Goals and Relationships

• Does the Committee have clear goals? If so, what are they?
• In overall terms, is the Committee effective in meeting its goals? If not, why?
• Does the Committee work with other groups or individuals doing community based work in your community? If so, what are those relationships? Could they be improved?
• Should the Community Justice Committee work more closely with other community based groups or individuals? If so, which ones and in what ways?
• Are there ways the Community Justice Committee could improve?

Coordinator's Working Relationships

• Describe your working relationship with the Regional Justice Specialists.
• Are there ways your relationship with the Specialists could be improved?
• Describe your working relationship with the SAO and the Hamlet office.
• Are there ways your relationship wit the SAO and the Hamlet office could be improved?
• Describe your working relationship with the RCMP.
• Are there ways your relationship with the RCMP could be improved?
• Are there other individuals or groups with whom you have a working relationship? If so, what are those relationships? Could they be improved?

Committee's Relationships with RCMP/Judges/Crowns

• Is the working relationship between the Committee and the RCMP effective? If not, how could it be improved?
• Are there working relationships between the Committee and the Judges and Crown Prosecutors?
• If so, what is the nature of these relationships? Are they effective? If not, how could they be improved?

Other Information/Comments

• Other comments or observations about community based justice in this community.

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