Okay, I'm glad you're enjoying this. It's good stuff, isn't it?
That dais, Mr. Chair, is probably—I don't know—10 feet above the main floor. It creates a psychological barrier. It creates a barrier that the judges of this particular court wanted to break down. They've insisted that when they come into the court, they move directly into a circle.
The circle was designed to be respectful and mindful of indigenous traditions. When important decisions are being made with elders, family members and outside individuals, you want to have a circle so that there is an understanding and there is a chain of communication that will not be broken by having various members displaced within the courtroom.
We also had the benefit of an eagle feather. An eagle feather is very important for indigenous men, women and children because it represents their connection to Mother Earth. It binds their conscience and allows them to speak freely on an issue without prejudice, without fear, without criticism. The only way these indigenous circles can work is if you break down the traditional norms of a traditional criminal setting.
We would start these circles with an indigenous knowledge keeper. In the Six Nations of the Grand River, there were probably a half-dozen indigenous knowledge keepers who would regularly attend the Indigenous People's Court. We would run these courts, Mr. Chair, roughly twice or maybe three times a month. The indigenous knowledge keepers would attend and they would open the ceremony by speaking in their indigenous tongue. They would then translate that for the non-indigenous members of the circle. Quite often it was along the lines of opening up your soul, your mind and your ears to accept the information that you were about to receive, to abandon your traditional legal role, to be part of the circle and to have a clarity of understanding.
After they gave the opening, they would pass the eagle feather in a counter-clockwise fashion—I don't know the significance of that, but there is a significance—and you would be allowed to speak only when it was your turn and you had the eagle feather in your hand. We would do various rounds, Mr. Chair, and the first round was simply to introduce yourself to the offender. The offender quite often would have family there and sometimes they would have nobody there. We would also have representatives of social agencies that deal with indigenous offenders in the Brantford criminal justice system.
When it came time for me to hold onto the feather in round number one, I would identify myself, indicate what my professional role was, and inform the offender that this was a non-judgmental format and that I was not there to criticize. I was there to listen and learn, and I wanted to be in a position, Mr. Chair, in which I was armed with all the necessary tools to discharge my responsibility and to exercise discretion if it was appropriate. I would explain that to the offender.
I just gave you an overview of the Indigenous People's Court. In this particular first round, I'll get more specific to this case that I'm referencing. In this particular case, this offender whom I referenced—