Nunavut chief justice asks for more judges

Nunavut Chief Justice Robert Kilpatrick says Nunavut's four judges are overworked and overwhelmed and he's asking the federal government for two more.

Crime in Nunavut is four times the national average, according to crime statistic from 2006, Kilpatrick points out in a report to the federal government. There were 8,500 criminal code charges laid in Nunavut in 2002, but that number jumped to nearly 12,000 in 2009.

Many Nunavut lawyers support the request.

"We do not have enough judges," said Peter Harte, a lawyer at the Kitikmeot Law Centre in Cambridge Bay. "People wait in jail for trial for extended periods of time. Matters are adjourned from one sitting of the court to the next because we don't have enough time. Victims have to wait to find out if they're going to have to testify.

"Everyone in Nunavut is affected by these problems."

Steven Cooper, another lawyer who has worked in Nunavut, also supports the call for more judges.

"I stopped doing criminal law because I could not handle all of the travel," Cooper said. "When you combine the caseload, the fact that there's one level of court in Nunavut and the travel, it is not at all surprising that Justice Kilpatrick would make that request."

But Paul Okalik, a former premier and former justice minister of Nunavut, doesn't think more judges will solve the territory's court troubles.

"There are far more underlying causes," he said. "I'd like to see more Inuit lawyers, for example, to assist the courts in finding unique cultural solutions."

Tackling social issues, such as drinking, will ease judges' workload, Okalik said.