More Yukon women are calling on residents to demand an appeal of a former Liard First Nation chief's probation order for a two-hour beating of his wife.

The public plea is being made after evening meetings held by interested victims' and women's groups Wednesday and Thursday in Watson Lake and Whitehorse.

'This sentence of 24 months' probation lowers the standard for the level of violence society is willing to accept, and minimizes the serious nature of crimes of violence against women,' Cynthia Kearns, a board member for the Whitehorse-based Victoria Faulkner Women's Centre, said in a news release this morning. 'We demand an appeal.'

Though a final decision hasn't been made yet, the B.C. Crown's office is currently looking into whether it will appeal Daniel Morris' sentence, a spokeswoman said today.

'The Crown is reviewing it with respect to appeal,' said spokeswoman Lee Porteous.

The prosecution has 30 days after the Feb. 26 sentencing to file an appeal if it decides to do so, she said.

The appeal must be made to the B.C. court system because Morris was sentenced in the northern B.C. community of Lower Post, near Watson Lake.

Morris was given a suspended sentence and two years' probation to be served in the community. He had pleaded guilty to pointing a gun at his estranged wife's lover when he caught the two together last summer and to assaulting her for two hours afterward.

The Crown had asked for 18 months' jail. As well, 49 area residents had signed a letter to the prosecution from the Liard Aboriginal Women's Society (LAWS) calling for jail time.

Morris' probation includes 60 hours' community service. Those work hours are to be directed in consultation with the Kaska Tribal Council and LAWS.

'The judge made that decision by himself without even asking us if we wanted to take part,' LAWS executive director Anne Maje Raider said this morning.

Her organization is also calling on B.C. Attorney General Geoff Plant to appeal the sentence.

Not only was LAWS not asked whether they wanted to participate in Morris' sentence supervision, the organization set up to address the legacy left behind by residential school abuse believes its concerns outlined in the letter and petition were ignored by the sentencing judge.

As well, said Raider, the society simply doesn't have the resources to abide by the judge's ruling.

Past March 2005, it's not known if LAWS will even exist. Its half-million annual dollars received from the Aboriginal Healing Foundation are set to run out when that program's $350-million funding ends next year. It was set up for five years.

Raider points to findings by the Aboriginal Women's Action Network based in Vancouver that argue restorative justice programs shouldn't be used in cases of family violence until there are clear indications community safety has dramatically increased.

Raider says women and men are concerned about their families' safety, and some are afraid to speak publicly about violence and in particular the Morris case.

Currently, LAWS has no safe place to run such programs, said Raider, though the group has a proposal into the territorial government asking for $500,000 to build a healing and cultural centre at Frances Lake.

With the right infrastructure in place, LAWS would be more than willing to offer the help required to deal with physical and sexual violence and offenders' needs in particular, she said.

See editorial, p. 14; letters, p.p. 15, 16.