James Zion and Elsie Red Bird take questions after speaking at conference Wednesday in Saskatoon. (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Alternative Justice

PAGC hears from Navajo lawyers in Saskatoon

Nov 7, 2019 | 1:18 PM

Members from the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) are hearing about alternative forms of policing and justice this week.

The PAGC’s First Nations Policing and Indigenous Justice Symposium is set to wrap up this afternoon in Saskatoon. Over the three-day conference a variety of issues have come up from policing to incorporating traditional knowledge and customs into current practices.

Wednesday morning James Zion and Elsie Red Bird addressed the attendees. The two lawyers made the trip up from New Mexico to speak about their experiences working in the court system of the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation spans three different states including Utah and Arizona.

Red Bird, has over 30 years of experience working in the system. During this time she has worked on cases ranging from criminal matters to repossession of property. She explained the Navajo Nations courts have equal power to state courts. One of the examples of this is when it comes to creditors repossessing property, where the state and the nation have different procedures.

“In Navajo Nation the creditor must go into tribal court to do a repossession and then the court requires the creditor to attempt to settle, into a payback agreement with a Navajo party,” she said.

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Red Bird also discussed the different approaches the nation’s courts have in regards to helping people avoid the court process. Peace-making brings both people into a confidential session without lawyers. Red Bird said community elders play a big part.

“The community structures their peace-making program, so that the elders that are interested in serving as a peace-maker, they’re highly regarded,” she said.

For the matter to be resolved both parties must come to an agreement. The process starts off with prayer and aims to empower the parties, with the elder playing more of a guiding role.

“They (the elder) serve more as a facilitator to have the parties talking to each other,” she said.

When a resolution is reached the parties will return to the court, which in the majority of cases will sign off on the agreement.

During his time talking Zion touched on a number of issues, ranging from the various codes the courts enforce and the challenges of setting up courts as well as police forces. Zion stressed when it comes to establishing a court or police service it is crucial it be from the ground up.

“What is better is to give the community some help in deciding the different kinds of approaches they can take, make their decision on that and then work to implement it in accordance with what they decided,” he said.

Zion said when communities have a system where they have had input it leads to a sense of ownership as it meets their needs. He added it is important people be open to looking at all kinds of potential systems.

“Rather than copy off of something like Navajo as model, do understand there are other options,” he said.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn