Prince George Will Soon Have Indigenous Court
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Prince George will soon be home to the province’s sixth Indigenous Court. Provincial Court Judge Thomas Crabtree made the announcement Monday, with the court to have its first sitting in April.
“It’s an opportunity to shift how we do our regular practice within the criminal justice system, explains Christina Draegen, the Regional Manager for the Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of BC. “We recognize the sad reality of our indigenous people being so severely overrepresented both in the provincial and federal correctional institutions.”
A news release from the Provincial Court of British Columbia explains an Indigenous Court as such:
“A First Nations Court is a sentencing court. It provides an indigenous perspective, based on a holistic and restorative approach, to sentencing indigenous persons who have acknowledged responsibility for their criminal offence. Local Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers who have completed a program of orientation give advice on a healing plan. The healing plan may then be incorporated as part of a fit sentence for the Indigenous person who has pled guilty.”
