Riley Brandt

'It’s fantastic to see that the justice system is moving in a direction that welcomes our community,' says Christy Morgan of the Calgary Urban Aboriginal Initiative

Elders from southern Alberta First Nations took time to bless an aboriginal courtroom in the Calgary Courts Centre earlier this month — a specially designed space that organizers hope will deepen Canadian understandings of justice.

A ventilation system in the 18th-floor courtroom allows for smudging ceremonies, and a green circle on the floor represents braided sweetgrass. “It’s a place where you can share and feel free to have your culture honoured,” says Christy Morgan of the Calgary Urban Aboriginal Initiative (CUAI). “A space to provide that through smudging and pipe ceremonies is, I think, a wonderful opportunity for our community.” The multi-purpose room will be used for aboriginal sentencing circles — also called peacemaker circles — and other trials for which the judge decides an intimate space is appropriate.

Elders and members of Treaty 7 First Nations — Tsuu T’ina, Blood, Piikani, Siksika and Stoney — blessed the space with a traditional smudging ceremony February 6. Afterwards, Alberta Justice Minister Alison Redford said it’s important to recognize that the aboriginal understanding of justice differs from the European view of justice on which Canada’s legal system is based. “We need to find ways to bring those two together,” says Redford. “So often when I talk to aboriginal leaders, we talk about that misunderstanding as being a reason that we’re not able to come together to find ways to create whole people out of the system. So it’s very important that we find ways to do that.”

While western justice systems like Canada’s deal with offenders using punishment and imprisonment, aboriginal communities have traditionally taken a more restorative approach. Justice is viewed as a community responsibility, and the community takes an active role in helping the offender heal wounds and make amends in an effort to restore societal balance. Recognizing this tradition, the Canadian government started using sentencing circles in the early 1990s. Offenders, their victims and other community members all participate.

Leonard Bastien-Weasel Traveller, a member of the Piikani band, says the use of peacemaking circles in the Canadian justice system is a way of “combining two worldviews.” “It’s bridging that gap,” says Bastien-Weasel Traveller, 57. “I think that everybody wants the same thing. We want jobs. We want homes. We want security. We want safe communities, healthy communities. So this is a part of that.” Bastien-Weasel Traveller says a courtroom that recognizes native tradition represents a “more trustworthy” access to the legal system for aboriginal people.

According to Statistics Canada, one of every three incarcerated adults in Alberta in 2007 was aboriginal. “It’s fantastic to see that the justice system is moving in a direction that welcomes our community, given that we’re overrepresented in the justice system,” says Morgan. “It’s a great opportunity and a step forward for our community and for the justice community to come together to crumple down some of those barriers or misunderstandings.”