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NORTH Yukon latest to establish native court system Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. The Teslin Tlingit Council Administration of Justice T Agreement will apply to all its tribal members, no matter where they are located, and also affect anyone occupying or visiting Teslin Tlingit traditional lands. The Teslin Tlingit area spans 1,100 square kilometres and is near the B.C.-Yu- kon border. The council is the first of 11 self-governing First Nations in the Yukon to sign such a justice agreement. According to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the agreement signed in February gives the Teslin Tlingit the power to enact laws and impose penalties or sanctions for breaches in a variety of areas, including: adoption; inheri- tance; wills; solemnization of marriage; management, con- trol, and protection of settlement lands, rights, and interest on settlement land; natural resources; hunting, trapping, and fishing; protection of fish, wildlife, and habitat; prevention of overcrowding in buildings; and zoning, planning, and development. The council will establish a Peacemaker Court, correc- tions programs, and services for persons sentenced in the court, as well as train and hold accountable enforcement officials. The agreement, though, does not give the council jurisdiction over criminal matters or areas that fall under federal jurisdiction such as national security. "We are seeing some exciting times in regard to aboriginal courts across Canada as there is more thinking about this kind of court system," said Terrace, B.C., lawyer Karen Whonnock, a Royal Roads University doctoral candidate looking at aboriginal law and Wet'suwet'en tribal member. Whonnock, from 2002-04, sat as Colville tribal judge for the Colville Confederated Tribes located in northeast Washington. While native justice systems exist in some form in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and now the Yukon, Whonnock said other provinces such as New Brunswick have shown inter- est. She said she believes that many of the eastern Canadian provinces will start to look at First Nations court systems in coming years. However, it is Ontario, she said, "that is leading" with the work undertaken by the Gladue (aboriginal persons) courts. Toronto's first court opened in the fall of 2001 and was the first urban aboriginal court to fully implement the Supreme Court of Canada decision of R. v. Gladue that set out s. 718.2 (e) in the Criminal Code of Canada outlining the need for the justice system to consider special circumstances surrounding aborigi- nal crimes. In 2007, two additional courts were established in downtown Toronto operating five days a week. Canada's first aboriginal court started in 2000 in Alberta on the Tsuu T'ina First Nations lands. Despite the inroads made in Canada to establish courts that For an overview of the Canadian First Nations court system, see Whonnock's fact sheet from the Scow Institute, available at deal with First Nations offenders over the past decade, it is only a short legacy compared to that in the U.S. "We have really just taken the first small steps," said Whonnock, who points to the Marshall Trilogy, a series of three U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1823-32. As a result, the U.S. has nearly a cen- tury of native justice system legacy. — JS Searching for a better way to attract candidates? www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com A PRIL 2011 15 he Teslin Tlingit Council in southern Yukon has become the latest First Nations group to bring forward a native justice system, adding to those in tin yurl.c om/4z2x g66.