Justice committee  I know that once a conviction is imposed, the judge will order a Gladue report, where a Gladue writer will meet with the victim, the offender's family and the offender themselves to get the background. Don't get me wrong. As I stated before, Gladue does work in certain cases. I

Justice committee  Thank you, sir. It's kind of both. I've sat before Justice Arrell in his court before. He's a very competent judge. As far as the Gladue factors, I know the Supreme Court has made this case law for sentencing, as well as for bail. It's quoted as “Aboriginal offenders” in the co

Justice committee  To me—and I'm not being detrimental to the justices when I say this—there needs to be more education on their part to understand specifically the community of Six Nations. There are a couple of judges who sit in Brantford—Justice Edward and Justice Good—who are both of indigenou

Justice committee  Yes, it would, because more and more we're seeing mainly those trafficking in illicit drugs possessing handguns. I grew up in a society where hunting was a way of life for indigenous people—long guns, rifles, shotguns. As of late, in the last year, maybe two years, every time our

Justice committee  In cases involving offenders from the Six Nations of the Grand River community, for those who are brought up for sureties, as the superintendent said, there's hardship. There's no cash deposit made. Some of those folks who are designated as sureties should not be. There needs t

Justice committee  No. We don't have the manpower or resources to do that. I'll allude back to the commissioner's statement in the Ontario legislature. I feel, as Chief Davis does, that the onus is on the offender to ensure they're abiding by the conditions. They made that promise prior to being re

Justice committee  I think I understand your question, sir. Looking at the way the courts work on bail and mandatory minimum sentences, as far as Gladue goes, we go to the bail first and they take into consideration the background of the person specifically if they are indigenous. Previous charges

Justice committee  Thank you for the question, sir. I agree that there is that overincarceration of indigenous and other marginalized peoples in custody, but to me that stems from a societal issue in the case of indigenous people, with the residential school system that was in place for over 100 y

Justice committee  I echo Chief Davis's comments. We look at the mental health stability of a person upon arrest, if that's the case. If it's more stringent that they seek professional medical help for their mental health status, we ensure that they go for a mental health assessment first. As fa

Justice committee  From the perspective of the accused, as Chief Davis said in his opening statement, there's no requirement for these offenders to prove they are indigenous. They're taken at their word, and there are individuals—

Justice committee  They provide no proof that they are indigenous. They could have great-grandparents who are indigenous, and that factors into whether or not they receive bail based on the Gladue considerations. I have to ask how many generations after residential school factors into those people

Justice committee  Thank you for the invitation to appear before this committee. I echo a lot of what Chief Davis said, wholeheartedly. Chief Davis and I police together on the Six Nations territory. I grew up there. My whole career has been spent on Six Nations of the Grand River. I am Mohawk. I

Justice committee  It would be very frustrating, because we would be continuously dealing with the same people over and over. That's been my experience in the last several years. It's the same group of people—even family members who traffic drugs, and they're trafficking in the serious drugs fentan

Justice committee  Where's the deterrent to the offenders? I've seen robberies with firearms increase due to drug addiction. Homicides with firearms are prevalent nowadays in this community, as well as other communities in and around the Six Nations of the Grand River territory. Again, I go back t

Justice committee  Yes.