The Law Society of Yukon says reports detailing aboriginal offenders’ backgrounds are “essential” to addressing overrepresentation in the criminal justice system.

The society supports the development of a formalized Gladue report program in the territory, it said in a news release Tuesday.

The Yukon Gladue Research and Resource Identification Project Report, released earlier this month, was put together by a committee made up of the Council of Yukon First Nations, Public Prosecution Service of Canada, territorial Department of Justice, Yukon Legal Services Society, Carcross/Tagish First Nation and Kwanlin Dün First Nation.

It found that the Yukon’s current system for producing these reports, used when sentencing aboriginal offenders to consider Canada’s history of colonialism and the impacts of residential schools, is “unsustainable.”

Since 2010, about 50 such reports have been filed in court, written by two court workers with no formal training, who received no additional pay for producing the time- consuming, all-encompassing documents.

“I think what’s rewarding about it is providing the court with a really clear picture of the accused as a human being,” Mark Stevens, one of the report writers, told the Star late last year.

“You’re looking at every aspect that went into creating the person that’s standing before the judge.”

Stevens is the former justice co-ordinator at the Carcross/Tagish First Nation.

He now works for Kwanlin Dün as a justice support worker and, in addition to his day job, continues to write the reports without any additional funding.

Chantal Genier, former manager of the CYFN’s justice program, no longer writes the reports, leaving a greater void in the territory.

“The current reality in the Yukon is that many aboriginal offenders are still being sentenced with only a superficial summary of their life circumstances and little to no information about community or culturally relevant resources at their disposal,” the report stated.

“Yukon’s comparatively high rate of crime and disproportionately high numbers of aboriginal people in the Yukon justice system do make it a good candidate for such a program.”

Dan Cable, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, told the Star a meeting will be held, likely next month, with the committee that produced the report.

They’ll discuss ways of improving the delivery of Gladue reports in the future, he said.

Gladue is the name of a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision that set out sentencing principles for aboriginal offenders, designed as a response to the overrepresentation of aboriginal people in jails across the country.

The decision obligates Canadian judges to take colonialism and systemic racism into account, and the role that history plays in bringing aboriginal people before the courts.

In its release Tuesday, the law society said government resources will be required to address the gaps in the Yukon’s Gladue report system.

Seven Canadian jurisdictions have funded Gladue report programs.

“An approach is required that involves educating the government and the public to develop support for proactive change,” the society’s release stated.