The Native Courtworker program is delivered to dozens of communities across the province by the Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of British Columbia (NCCABC).

Image Credit: Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative

Indigenous people involved in the criminal justice system who require legal guidance from a Native Courtworker at the Kamloops courthouse are currently without on-site support.

Sources say the office has been vacant since the beginning of the month, with no clear timetable on when the Native Courtworker position will be filled, or if it will even resume. Speculation around funding and restructuring have left its future uncertain.

Connie Allen had been serving as the Native Courtworker for Kamloops and Merritt in an interim role since November, working with around 80 clients over a period of seven months. 

By the time her tenure concluded at the end of June, she was still in the midst of supporting nearly 30 people, she said.

“The whole purpose of the Native Courtworker association is to help Indigenous people navigate the criminal justice system. You need boots on the ground for that,” said Allen.

While a future in the role was never confirmed, she said she expected some sort of extension or permanency, after building a strong rapport with her clients and courthouse faculty. Instead, she said she was offered — and declined — a junior courtworker role with less pay.

She’s not sure why the position wasn’t extended.

“I was really upset about leaving my clients behind,” Allen said. “Now they don’t have anybody (at the courthouse).”

The Native Courtworker program is delivered to dozens of communities across the province by the Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of British Columbia (NCCABC). Its primary function is to walk with Indigenous clients through the stages of the criminal justice process, and provide them with referrals to legal, social, medical and other resources.

Native Courtworkers often act as a liaison between Indigenous clients and criminal justice personnel, where they provide appropriate information to the courtroom such as cultural teachings and values, and are even able to speak on behalf of their clients. 

“You walk into the courtroom and there’s a different energy in there. For First Nations people, it’s very, very intimidating,” said Allen. 

In her role, she said would also help find a lawyer best suitable for her client, and assist in facilitating the process of gathering support letters for her clients from chief and council, their community and family.

She would often sit with them in court, and at times would cross the bar to speak to the judge on behalf of clients.

“They’re a lot more comfortable working with you to do those things, than they are working with someone who isn’t Indigenous,” she said.

“When you go up to somebody and tell them you’re the Native Courtworker, there’s a shift — here’s somebody who can help me. The system is so against them in many ways that they feel that way.”

She’s given her personal contact to eight of her former clients, agreeing to be their support person in First Nations Court, which is a criminal sentencing courtroom that focuses on healing plans and restorative justice.

One of those clients, an Indigenous man who has asked to remain anonymous because of ongoing legal proceedings, spoke of the importance of being supported by Allen, who had advocated for his wellness in the courtroom.

“She’s on her own time and has agreed to still support me, because she’s been supporting me for eight months,” he said.

“I’m lucky that she’s there, because I feel more concerned for new people. They’re not going to benefit from having the same experience that I have of being supported.”

He called Allen’s situation unfortunate, because outside of First Nations court, he described his experience in “Canada’s” criminal justice system as “very penal and not rehabilitative.” 

He added that he didn’t receive any notice from NCCABC management regarding Allen’s position ending, or any follow-up since she’s been gone.

“And you have one person there that’s supportive, out of all of those people — I think it’s ridiculous,” he said. “Why get rid of the one person that’s there to support people?” 

‘I feel kind of sabotaged’

IndigiNews reached out to NCCABC to ask about the future of the Native Courtworker office in Kamloops.

Darryl Shackelly, the association’s CEO, confirmed in an email to IndigiNews that the office is vacant, but didn’t provide any more details. He did not respond to follow-up inquiries regarding the history of the Kamloops office and what its future entails.

According to Allen, she was told by NCCABC that the reason her contract wasn’t renewed and the position remains vacant is because of funding and internal restructuring.

“You’re hiring people down on the coast, so it can’t be funding,” she recalled telling them.

“(They) said, ‘Those are jobs that are vacant that are just being refilled.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘so is Kamloops.’”

As of writing, there are five job postings listed on NCCABC’s career site, all located in the Lower Mainland.

In 2021, NCCABC reached a three-year tentative agreement with the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU), which expired this past March. Bargaining discussions over positions like the Kamloops Native Courtworker are expected to continue into the fall, Allen said.

Consistency issues around retaining a Native Courtworker in Kamloops precedes any bargaining agreements, she said.

“This office has had a hard time keeping a worker in here. For the last three or four years, that’s been true,” she said.

During her time in the role, Allen said that she felt unsupported. She said she learned through the help of other Native Courtworkers in nearby regions and courtroom faculty, as well as guidance from lawyers and judges in the courtroom.

No feedback was given on her job performance, Allen said, and when she would ask for better training, she said she was told that she wasn’t expected to know everything, as it could take up to a year for her to learn.

“I don’t even know why they hired me in the first place,” she said.

“Maybe I’m being dramatic. But I don’t feel like there was any effort made to support me and keep me in that office.”

A Secwépemc Community Justice Program worker with more than 20 years of industry experience in the region told IndigiNews that during the last three years, they’ve seen “a revolving door” of five Kamloops Native Courtworkers come and go.

The program is a local agency that works closely with NCCABC on referrals. The worker agreed to speak to IndigiNews under the condition of anonymity, due to fear of professional repercussions for speaking out. 

They also said that minimal training was also often the case with Native Courtworkers who recently came before Allen.

“That’s where I see the change, is they don’t get the training, otherwise the people would stay,” they said.

Since the Native Courtworker office in Kamloops first opened in the 1980s, the Secwépemc Community Justice worker has seen it change from two-full time employees and one part-time worker, down to one courtworker and sometimes none.

Some of the early Native Courtworkers in Kamloops had spent decades in their roles, said the justice worker.

It was around 2018 when the worker said they noticed efforts around maintaining the program in Kamloops begin to change, noting that this isn’t the first time the office has been left vacant.

“It’s just that they don’t want to fund us up here, that’s the main issue,” they said, similarly noting the list of resources pooled into coastal positions.

“The people don’t fight for it … They want the services, but I guess some of them don’t have the resources to phone and find out who they should talk to, write letters, that sort of thing.”

They said that they’ve written letters to chief and council for Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc and Skeetchestn Indian Band, advocating for better support of the program.

“Because I think it’s important to have a courtworker here to help the people. It’s not only that, a lot of this stuff is historical too,” they said, noting the impacts that intergenerational trauma and the former Kamloops Indian Residential School has had on many clients in the region.

“It may not be criminal or family, they just need somebody, where to refer them to, because there’s a lot of different things — education, housing, drug and alcohol counselling.”

Allen said that she misses her clients and feels for any new Indigenous people who are seeking help from a Native Courtworker in Kamloops only to find that there isn’t one.

“These are people. They’re literally some of my cousins. They are somebody’s family,” she said. “You stand close to them and you feel they’re kinda scared, lost or very skeptical. You connect to those people. You want to help them. Imagine how they feel.”

— This article was originally published by IndigiNews

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