Peter Penashue is the President of Innu Nation. Innu Nation is the
political representative of the Innu in Labrador to the Federal and
Provincial governments.
PBI: What is the impact of the Canadian judicial system on the Innu?
Peter: The Canadian judicial system has failed the Innu. The European
colonisers set up institutions and laws which came from a foreign
European perspective. They didn't consider the economic, cultural or
social needs. They set up an adversarial system with officials from
outside the area, non-Innu. They chose to implement a system designed
by and for Europeans, and developed over many years in the European
system based on old traditions, which are conservative. This was
planted in the heart of Innu land. The cultural clash produces
outbreaks of chaos which are dealt with in the Canadian system.
The Innu people had never dealt with Europeans, they came straight out
of the bush where they had only answered to themselves and their
families. In the last 40 years, Innu have no longer had any
responsibility for their own decisions.
Someone who has committed a crime already feels inferior, and then
finds himself in a place where he has little understanding or the
system or the language. People plead guilty because they feel
intimidated. This is the system that has operated for the Innu. We
have no input and no control.
When the 6 kids died in the fire, (6 children from Davis died in a
house fire while their parents were out drinking) it shocked the Innu
community. It led us to have a community enquiry. People who were
watching the chaos in our community wanted other Innu to understand
what was happening. The enquiry terrified the government, who wouldn't
pay for it. They didn't want to know what Innu people were thinking.
[Editor's note: the results of this enquiry were published in a two
volume publication called "Gathering Voices".]
To change our chaotic life and bring stability and order, we needed to
look at the problem and look at ways to proceed. We decided we
couldn't separate welfare dependency and country life from the
judicial system. We needed to look at the whole, we needed holistic
healing. Family violence, sexual abuse, breaking and entering,
drinking, are symptoms of much deeper hurt, pain, and confusion. The
judicial system is not outside of counselling, healing and social
reconstruction.
We've said that the institutions are either working for us or against
us. We advocate courts and institutions be more human. For example,
the RCMP only deals with the facts, then the crown takes it to court.
The crime is compartmentalised and moves away from the community. The
judge looks at the previous decisions on similar sentences, he is
afraid to do anything radical. More emphasis should be placed on
healing individuals so that the same problems are not recycled over
and over again. It needs to be kept in mind that each cases is going
to be different and has to be judged by it's own merit.
Our approach is that the federal and provincial governments aren't
going to disappear, and we would wait for ever for them to give us
some power. So we say, work with us and help us look at this process
in the context of community healing.
Some people won't want to go through the healing process, but no-one
wants to hurt people. People have become as they are because of
internalised anger and hatred. Community healing and counselling needs
to be available to people. The Canadian system produces monsters.
People in Canada are reactive, not proactive. People in power should
put programs in place for young people in school to help deal with
personal problems. There are children who are going through personal
and family crisis who aren't sure how to get help. Because children
are unable to deal with the crisis such as sexual abuse and family
violence they will be hyper, will not listen, act out, lash out, and
display violent behaviour. These are the same people that will end up
in prison ten years from now with charges such as murder. But no-one
is dealing with them right now, they just wait until they are
criminals and then lock them up.
We can't deal with people in isolation. Problem families create
problem families. People don't start out bad.
PBI: Do you think that there is a difference in the way Native and
non-Native people view peoples basic nature?
Peter: I don't want to say this is a Native way of seeing people. It's
more like a human way of seeing people. Some people have gone beyond
humanity to individualism and that's what society teaches. There is no
sense of community or togetherness in Canada.
People close off and stop feeling. They become like machines. Then
they either become drunks, or they stay sober and get competitive.
PBI: Will you be able to carry your community with you in your vision
of a new justice system?
Peter: My own people can be just as reactionary. But I think that
someday soon, people are going to say yes, this is the way we need to
go forward. Every case is different, and some will still go to court
because they are in denial.
We will have to compromise and go through the courts, but eventually
we hope to opt out of the courts. People in pain feel that no-one
understands them.
We have to carry on with what we are doing. There is no other option
for us, because otherwise we are going to end up with a large
proportion of our community in jail.