Aboriginal Justice Strategy, Summative Evaluation

4. Key Findings (cont'd)


4. Key Findings (cont'd)

4.2. Training and development

Training and development projects assist communities in building their capacity to manage a community-based justice program. This subsection assesses the level of activities to date and the key results that this component has achieved during the current AJS funding allocation.

4.2.1. Rationale

There is a strong rationale for offering training and development activities. Community-based justice programs are dealing with complex issues, and Aboriginal communities have historically been restrained from using restorative justice (since Aboriginal offenders were systematically sent to the mainstream justice system), contributing to a loss in capacity to offer community-based justice programs. During the consultation with federal, provincial and territorial governments, key informants often pointed to the lack of capacity among Aboriginal communities to effectively manage community-based justice programs. Additionally, justice coordinators who participated in the evaluation survey acknowledged that their communities are facing challenges in implementing community-based justice programs. More than 80% of survey respondents indicated that they have faced important challenges during the implementation of their AJS programs.

Aboriginal communities face a range of challenges in the implementation of their community-based justice programs, including the high level of turnover among the program staff and mainstream justice personnel (prosecutors, police offices) who refer Aboriginal offenders. Participants in one of the case studies conducted in support of this evaluation also identified other challenges that their community had been facing:

“[Participants] emphasized the importance of having resources to conduct training. Training is required to help mediators deal effectively with difficult people especially since communication and coping skills were identified by interviewees as lacking in the communities. Many of those who participated in the case study made a reference to the importance of receiving training in the areas of communication, healing, developing circles, and dealing with the effects of residential schools.”[25]

4.2.2. Level of activities

During the first four years of the current AJS funding allocation, the program supported over 100 training and development projects (see Table 8). Some of these initiatives have been entirely funded by the AJS, while others have been co-funded by provincial or territorial partners. These projects supported a range of activities, such as conferences, workshops, seminars, strategic planning sessions, and a variety of other training initiatives tailored to needs that funding recipients had identified. Some of the training topics addressed during these activities include program management, forming justice committees, recruiting/retaining volunteers, dealing with special-needs clients, conflict resolution, mediation, and substance abuse screening.

Table 8: AJS-funded training & development activities by fiscal year

4.2.3. Key results

Training and development activities are essentially supporting communities that already manage AJS programs. As indicated in Table 8, approximately 80% of agreements signed under this component supported communities that already manage community-based justice programs. In that sense, this program component is predominantly addressing the developmental needs of current funding recipients, but it is making a limited contribution to the goal of supporting the development of new programs.

While they may incidentally support the victims' role or women's role in restorative justice initiatives (which are part of the funding criteria), it is unclear that these two goals are the primary focus of training and development activities.

4.3. Self-government capacity building

This program component, funded entirely by the federal government, supports the development of pilot project and resource material designed to build self-government activities.

4.3.1. Rationale

Activities funded under this program component relate only indirectly to community-based justice programs. This program component's target audience is Aboriginal communities that have signed self-government agreements or that are in the process of signing one. The central goal is to support these communities as they exercise their authority to pass Aboriginal laws. As they consider strategies to enforce these laws, communities under self-government agreements may decide to use community-based justice programs funded through the AJS.

4.3.2. Key results

Since 2004, the AJS has funded four projects under this program component involving the following Aboriginal entities:

The range of activities supported to date includes the development of communication tools and the delivery of training on the administration, adjudication, and enforcement of local laws.

The fact that the program has funded a limited number of projects to date is largely attributed to policy issues regarding the fiscal sustainability of Aboriginal law enforcement models, a lack of resources necessary to prepare proper submissions, and a different set of priorities addressed in the self-government agreement. Many negotiations have focused on topics other than the administration of justice, such as land management, education, language, and culture.

The 2005 formative evaluation of the AJS emphasized the need to monitor this program component as well as to address any issues that would impede its full implementation.[26] Since the Aboriginal Justice Directorate committed all the financial resources available for this program component, it has considered this program component fully implemented for the purpose of the current AJS funding allocation.

4.4. Policy development and support

Under the current funding allocation, AJS policy-related activities have been limited. The program has not experienced major shifts in the type of activities undertaken or the intensity of these activities. Regional coordinators and program analysts from the Aboriginal Justice Directorate have been providing ongoing support to provincial, territorial and Aboriginal partners, but this support relates primarily to the implementation of contribution agreements and not to the development of new policy initiatives.

4.4.1. Division of roles and responsibilities

As a result of the June 2006 realignment of roles and responsibilities (see section 2.3), the AJD now focuses its activities on the implementation of AJS contribution agreements, while the Aboriginal Law and Strategic Policy group focuses on a wide range of policy and legal issues, including the renewal of the AJS and the support to self-government negotiations in collaboration with the AJD. Representatives from federal, provincial, and territorial governments consulted as part of this evaluation have emphasized the need to maintain a close collaboration between these two groups to ensure an efficient and consistent approach in the implementation of the AJS.

The 2005 formative evaluation of the AJS recommended that the AJS review its current support structures “to ensure better coordination on Aboriginal justice issues with partners and early identification of priorities for next mandate.”[27] At the time of this evaluation, limited resources from either the Aboriginal Justice Directorate or the Aboriginal Law and Strategic Policy group were directed toward a broad coordination of Aboriginal justice issues within the federal government or with the provincial and territorial partners.

4.4.2. Turnover within the Aboriginal Justice Directorate

Provincial and territorial partners involved in supporting community-based justice programs, have expressed concerns with the consequences of the level of turnover within the Aboriginal Justice Directorate. In light of the active role that the Aboriginal Justice Directorate plays in the implementation and monitoring of the contribution agreements, any shift in personnel, particularly at the regional coordinator or management level, may trigger delays or adjustments. The reduced number of coordinating meetings held between the federal and provincial/territorial governments has been attributed, in part at least, to the turnover within the Aboriginal Justice Directorate.

4.5. Outreach and partnerships

During the first three years of its current funding allocation, the AJS supported the Aboriginal Justice Learning Network (AJLN). In 2005–06, the Department of Justice reorganized the AJLN and assigned its functions to the new Outreach and Partnerships (O&P) component.

4.5.1. Rationale

Community-based justice programs are varied and complex—they address sensitive issues, and, as a result, there is a need for those involved in the delivery of these programs to exchange information and best practices, and to generally learn from each other about restorative justice as it applies to Aboriginal communities. As indicated by those justice coordinators who were surveyed, the vast majority of Aboriginal communities with AJS programs are facing important challenges in the delivery of these programs. Representatives from federal, provincial, and territorial governments consulted, as part of this evaluation, also referred to the need for capacity-building—particularly if the AJS was to be expanded to other communities.

4.5.2. Key results

Internal resource pressures required the Aboriginal Justice Directorate to focus primarily on the community-based justice programs. As a result, a portion of O&P funding was allocated to other governmental priorities. The annual budget of over $330,000 that was allocated in 2002‑03 was reduced to close to $38,000 in 2004-05. During this period, the number of activities went from 29 to 5 (see Table 9).

Table 9 : Overview of AJLN-funded projects by fiscal year

  2002–03 2003–04 2004–05
Total committed funding $330,236 $102,960 $37,807
Number of initiatives 29 9 5

AJLN-funded activities: 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05
Conferences and training sessions X X  
AJS awareness-building and promotion X    
Youth fairs X X X
Sweat lodge program X X X
National Aboriginal Achievement Awards   X X

Source: AJS annual reports

At this point, stakeholders are largely unaware of what the Aboriginal Justice Directorate is implementing through the O&P component. This is essentially due to the fact that these activities are carried-out internally. In 2005–06, the Directorate worked on a new visual identity and logo for the AJS, as well as a redesigned and updated website, and the identification and solicitation of partners who would support the AJS within their professional networks. The Directorate also identified and attended events that were suited to the promotion of justice professions as a career option for Aboriginal people.

The 2005 formative evaluation of the AJS recommended that the Aboriginal Justice Directorate review the structure of this program component to determine if its structure was sufficient to fulfill its mandate.[28] It appears that the Aboriginal Justice Directorate has yet to clearly articulate the goals associated with this program component, which is expected to be addressed as part of the program renewal process.

4.6. Self-government negotiations support

Like the self-government capacity-building component, the self-government negotiations support component relates primarily to self-government agreements, and not to community-based justice programs. A legal counsel with the Department of Justice is providing legal advice to self-government on justice-related issues. The goal is to allow First Nations communities to access the tools they need to enforce, administer and adjudicate their own laws consistent with Canada's policy parameters, without enshrining AJS community-based programs within self-government agreements.

Self-government negotiations are ongoing, and so is the need for support. At the time of the evaluation, the legal counsel was developing guidelines for the administration of justice in self-government agreements, but these guidelines have yet to be finalized.