A new project by the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN), the Carcross/Tagish First Nation (CTFN), and other justice workers is exploring the need for Gladue reports in sentencing aboriginal offenders.

The hope is that the initiative will lead to the establishment of a formal report-writing program in the territory.

A Gladue report tells the story of an aboriginal person’s life.

It’s typically written before a sentence is handed down, to give the judge a fuller picture of the offender and his or her history, including attendance at residential schools, abuse, and addiction, and present alternatives to incarceration.

A working group comprised of the CYFN, CTFN, Yukon Legal Services Society, Kwanlin Dun First Nation, Department of Justice, and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada received funding from the federal Aboriginal Justice Strategy to examine the value of Gladue reports, and develop policies for such a program.

The project is scheduled to wrap up in March.

Gladue reports are named after 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.

A Gladue handbook written by University of Manitoba law professors calls the principle, now included in the Criminal Code, a “remedial provision” enacted to reduce this over-incarceration and seek alternatives to jail for aboriginal offenders.

The Gladue court decision obligates Canadian judges to consider the history of colonialism and systemic racism when sentencing, and the role that history plays in bringing aboriginal people before the courts.

“The background factors which figure prominently in the causation of crime by aboriginal offenders are by now well-known,” wrote Justice Peter deCarteret Cory in that decision.

“Years of dislocation and economic development have translated, for many aboriginal peoples, into low incomes, high unemployment, lack of opportunities and options, lack or irrelevance of education, substance abuse, loneliness, and community fragmentation.”

Until recently, there were two people in the Yukon who wrote Gladue reports: Mark Stevens, the former justice co-ordinator at CTFN, and Chantal Genier, the former manager of the CYFN’s justice program.

Neither was paid specifically to do so – they wrote these time-consuming reports in addition to their day jobs.

But both have now left their positions, leaving a void in the territory when it comes to Gladue reports.

Producing these reports involves hours of interviews with the offender and family members, teachers or friends, and research to find out what supports are in place in the community and what viable alternatives are to jail.

Stevens has written more than 30 over the years.

“I think what’s rewarding about it is providing the court with a really clear picture of the accused as a human being,” he said. “You’re looking at every aspect that went into creating the person that’s standing before the judge.”

Many aboriginal offenders in the Yukon struggle with drug or alcohol addictions, FASD and mental health issues, and Stevens said some of the stories he hears are truly depressing.

“But for some people, stories are all they have,” he said. “It’s their story, and it might be a really sh---y story, but it’s theirs.

“For some of them, it’s the first opportunity they’ve had in their lives to sit down and go through their whole life history, from the time they were born to where they are today.”

It can be cathartic for them, he said.

“I don’t want to sound overly flaky, but I find when people leave the interviews, sometimes they seem to be stepping more lightly, like somebody has taken a little bit of weight off their shoulders.”

David Christie, a Whitehorse legal-aid lawyer, requests Gladue reports for aboriginal clients when they’re charged with a serious crime and are likely to face a sentence of more than six months.

He said it’s important for as much information as possible about the offender to be presented to the judge.

“The court said that a Gladue report doesn’t mean a get-out-of-jail-free card or less jail, but the objective is to have a measured, proportionate, just sentence,” Christie said.

“I think you have a better chance of having a just sentence if you have more information ... if you’re missing information, you could argue that that’s not entirely just.”

At a legal conference in Whitehorse last month, a University of Manitoba law professor and Gladue expert spoke about the need for funding these reports.

In many Canadian jurisdictions, money isn’t forthcoming from provincial, territorial or federal governments, Debra Parkes said in an interview with the Star.

“So much of the focus right now is on incarceration and increasing mandatory sentences…. All available funding in Justice tends to get sucked right into more incarceration.

“I would argue that (funding for reports) probably would pay for itself, in the sense that if you can actually get people on a different path, you can break that cycle (of crime),” Parkes said.

In the Gladue decision, Justice Cory wrote that neither aboriginal offenders nor their communities often benefit from incarceration.

“Where these sanctions are reasonable in the circumstances, they should be implemented,” he wrote.

“In all instances, it is appropriate to attempt to craft the sentencing process and the sanctions imposed in accordance with the aboriginal perspective.”

Alternative sentences could be community-based, involving restorative justice and land-based healing.