Yellow Quill First Nation;Who’s Justice will be served
February 14, 2009 by Dirk
A sentencing circle has made several recommendations for , Christopher Pauchay the Saskatchewan father whose two young daughters froze to death last year — but none of them involves sending him to jail.
One can only hope that the Judge will heed & respect the recommendations of the community,which are as follows ;
[1] allow Pauchay to be reunited with his wife Tracey Jimmy and their child.
[2] Pauchay take drug and alcohol treatment
[3] assist elders with cultural and spiritual activities.
Nothing can possible be gained by sentencing Christopher Pauchay to jail. Indeed justice has no meaning if the needs and wishes of the community are not respected and adhered to.
Yellow Quill chief Larry Cashene said the community supports Pauchay and Jimmy.
“Our people continue to fail when they enter the justice system due to the systematic barriers that exist,” Cashene said in a written statement. “Rarely do they find healing and rehabilitation.”
He said the community has been working to improve programs on the reserve and wants to build a “healing centre” to aid that process. [ @ ]
If ever there was a time to embrace new thinking & “allow” First Nations cultural traditions & sensibilities to begin playing a bigger role that time is now. In fact it is long over due.
Probably one of the most serious gaps in the system is the different perceptions of wrongdoing and how to treat it. In the non-Indian community,committing a crime seems to mean that the individual is a “bad person” and therefore must be punished…The Indian communities view a wrongdoing as a misbehavior which requires teaching or an illness which requires healing.’ [ @ ]
UPDATE: read more about this in The Toronto Star
I certainly hope that the courts will respect the Elders on this. Compassion is far more important than vengeance.
Eric…You are missing the point.Letting the community decide,is all about justice,at least justice that has some meaning,think about it.
As for the outrages sums payed to some Chiefs and Band counselors,that is part of what’s wrong in many First Nations communities for sure,but…
That said this does not negate or take away from the idea, that F.N community/traditional based justice initiative’s such as “Healing Circles” do not have a role to play and or can help solve many of the injustices faced by F.N peoples at the hands of the Cnd justice system(a form of justice that grew out of European cultural traditions and sensibilities) Also one can not forget that,this system of governance was forced(literal and figuratively) on F.N peoples via the “Indian Act” and other government assimilation based policies.
These same “Chiefs” and “Elders” are beholding to the government and the Indian Act,not to their own people,at the community/grassroots level.
This is why many “Chiefs” etc can not only give themselves big salaries and perks,(although the link you provided is not an example of nepotism or corruption,it for a 2 year contract with Corrections Canada to service 30 women & their children) but also get away with it.Despite grassroots/community demands for transparency and accountability.
In my opinion healing circles and other systems of governance and community responsibilities based on indigenous cultural traditions/practices and governance modals are vital.The first step(s) needed to right the decades of government assimilation attempts and the subsequent bullshit, misery,dependency etc that resulted.
Only F.N peoples can find the path back to healthy communities & Nations,as was the case before settler society,motivated by greed and lust for F.N lands,did everything possible to assimilate and destroy F.N peoples as distinct peoples and Nations. Non-indigenous people can help,but they must quit telling or forcing their ways and system of governance etc on F.N peoples.
Mr. Pauchay killed his children. this man is not a victim, he is a man who even after he killed his two children went back to the bottle.
Compassion for a man who killed his two children? What does this tell society, that you will be loved and cared for if you kill your kids?
Where I live in SW sask the “elder” is paid $823,157.10 if you do not believe me check out this website – http://www.dgmarket.com/eproc/np-notice.do?noticeId=3366492 for a three year contract while ten to fifteen people are living in a house with black mold. The apartheid First Nations system in Canada has to change in order for First Nations to get out of the system that allows people like Mr. Pauchay to be in the cycle of victimization and abuse that often ends in tragedy.
This man is a victim in the sense that he has no consequences for his actions. The tight knit community that wants to “heal” him is the same community that did nothing until his two innocent children were found frozen dead in the snow.
These communities are no different than the slums of South Africa before the end of racial segregation, they will not heal until, in the words of Haile Selasse, the colour of a mans face is of no more importance than the colour of his eyes. Compassion is indeed more important than vengance, in the case of Mr. Pauchay however delivering justice, not vengance, for the killing of his children by gross negligence is paramount.
His two kids are dead because he took them into the cold.
They are dead.
He is, by his own admission, guilty.