September 14, 2010 First day of Court Baker Lake, NT

Today I was sworn in as a Member of the Nunavut Bar by Mr Justice Neil Sharkey ( a former classmate). The Court is in the Nunumiat Lodge where we are staying. It was formerly held in the arena.


I do not have a photo of the room yet so will describe it: Behind the Justice the windows look out on Baker Lake and two flags hang on the wall, the Canadian flag and the Nunavut flag. On the other walls are Inuit prints. One of them is by Simon Tookoome, the artist from whom I bought a piece of art a couple of nights ago. 


Beside the Justice sat two elders, one was Simon. If an accused entered a guilty plea the facts were read in, admitted to, the position on sentence was given and if he/she had a criminal record it was admitted and entered as an exhibit. Then the accused was asked if he/she had anything to say. The elders were then asked if they had anything to say. Generally they spoke in Inuktitut to the accused and those who did not speak the language put on their head phones and heard a simultaneous translation by one of two translators. The Court reporter had a computer but spoke into a mouthpiece repeating everything that was said. 


Michael and I had divided up the files and there were two defence counsel, one private I think and one from Legal Aid. Most of the accused appeared. It was standing room only for most of the day and sometimes others called the accused's name out into the hallway. I saw a few very young children in court but they were very quiet. A few people were out of the territory for medical procedures, both accused and witnesses. The trials were spoken to and either resolved or set over to Wednesday or Thursday for the trial. 


We had a couple of breaks. The day ended around 5pm. 


Most of the offences were assaults (most spousal), breach of probation or undertaking or impaired driving. Most of the offences involved alcohol. The impaired driving charges include operating an ATV, a pay loader and an SUV.


The Clerk wore a short gown shaped like a parka with seal skin as part of the pattern. The Justice wore a black suit with a shirt and tabs. Here is a photo of the Court:

After supper I went for a walk. During the day we had seen a large barge come to the dirt dock near the hotel with huge pieces of machinery on it and trucks. It was empty by this time. The lake was very calm and the sun was starting to set. So will include a photo.


Near the barge but a little further down the road was a large group of people including many children, on a cement slab in front of some playground equipment, A couple of women waved me over. There were about 50 adults there in a circle and they had a number of dice. There were a couple of people in the middle and they had a jar and some small plastic flowers. If you rolled a six then you could run to the middle, take the tweezers and start putting the plastic flowers into the jar. But if someone else rolled a six then they could take the tweezers and put the flowers into the jar. They were having fun. Hardly rolled a six and when I did was soon replaced by someone else who rolled a six. 


Now will upload my photos and add a couple:

The empty barge at the dock at almost sunset.
The sunset on the very calm lake: