Canadian Lawyer

January 2017

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12 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m and representative. However, hope is once again on the rise and the new partnership with the University of Sas- katchewan is being welcomed by the Law Society of Nunavut. "We think it is a great opportunity to provide legal training in the North," says the law society's CEO, Nalini Vaddapalli, and "it will also increase our locally based bar." Currently, close to three-quarters of the members of the law society oper- ate outside Nunavut, mostly in Ontario, Alberta and the Northwest Territories. While there are exceptions, generally those lawyers fly in to take cases, then fly out. The University of Saskatchewan was chosen as the result of competitive bids on the latest project. The associate dean of the university's College of Law, Doug Surtees, says the plan is to staff the program with law professors from the University of Saskatchewan and per- haps from across the country. "There is tremendous interest," he says. "Several senior law professors [from outside Sas- katchewan] have already contacted the program." The program will be four years long (a year longer than most JD programs in Canada) and will not require the usual prerequisites of at least two years of university training and passing the LSAT. Surtees says first-year students will study, among other things, legal writing, land claims, Inuit history and legal systems. The students will then be ready for three years of more con- ventional legal studies. Upon successful completion, they will be eligible for a University of Saskatchewan law degree "exactly the same as the students who attended [law school] in Saskatoon," Surtees says. Alison Crowe is a veteran criminal defence lawyer in Iqaluit, though her practice takes her across the territory. Canadian Lawyer reached her awaiting a jury verdict in Pond Inlet, one of the most northerly communities in the world. Crowe explains that many trials are conducted in Inuktitut but with translators and Inuktitut-speaking court workers. She says the system works "fairly well," but, obviously, it would be better if the lawyers and the judges spoke the language. "People do their best," she says. "In my experience, in many ways, [the Nunavut judicial sys- tem] is more responsive than the south- ern system." Crowe welcomes the plan to develop more Nunavut-based, Inukti- tut-speaking lawyers. "It's a completely laudable project, and we want to bring on these new lawyers," she says, but she warns that "it is a goal that will take a while to achieve." The new law program will also incorporate traditional law and knowledge from elders, while promo- ting the need for more legal experts fluent in an Inuit language. Paul Okalik, a lawyer, former terri- torial premier and now the MLA for Iqaluit-Sinaa, told the CBC recently that "we can't even write our laws in Inuktitut, because we don't have Inuk- titut-speaking lawyers to assist us in drafting." He says he looks forward to the day when judges, fluent in Inuk- titut, will wrestle with the meaning of law written in the language of the people of Nunavut. The much-anticipated University of Saskatchewan law program could bring that dream a little closer. — GEOFF ELLWAND Nunavut government pushes for Sask. law program Continued from page 11 \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ P R A I R I E S \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP B.C.'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM MAKING STRIDES, SAYS REPORT I nnovative initiatives coupled with a major cultural shift are leading to an improved and more efficient B.C. criminal justice system, but there still remains work to do, said Geoffrey Cowper in his government update on B.C.'s system. "B.C. has become a leader in justice system innovation," Cowper said in his October release, which is an update on his 2012 report "A Criminal Justice System for the 21st Century" critiquing B.C.'s justice system. Cowper, at that time chairing the B.C. Justice Reform Initiative, found B.C.'s "criminal justice system was failing to meet the public's expectations." "Progress to date includes improving early resolution rates, achieving better timeliness, improving the handling of complex prosecutions, and improved judi- cial major case management. Most of the significant reforms, however, are still in mid-stream with only anecdotal results available pending formal evaluation." The past four years have also seen B.C. judges and courts handle cases faster. Cowper provided figures that showed cases pending for more than 18 months in B.C. dropped to 1,700 on March 31, 2016 from 4,856 on March 31, 2012. While some of it can be attributed to new tribunals (strata and small claims) introduced, plus the use of administrative law for impaired driving cases and a focus on early resolution, there is a culture change in the courts recognizing that more needs to be done to encourage timeliness in cases. B.C. is well positioned to meet "presumptive standards of 18 months in provincial court and 30 months in the Supreme Court for time to trial," but it will require "an effective managerial response," according to Cowper. That "managerial response" includes more cross-platform dialogue, collabor- ation and co-ordination between justice system participants and greater use of business intelligence technology systems that can also offer an early warning when a case is getting off track or when exceptional cases arise. Cowper also recommended that the B.C. government "refresh and clarify" the role of the B.C. Justice and Public Safety Council (a body established in 2013 to W E S T

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