Crown attorney helps youth, newcomers understand legal system

There are many ways to get involved with the Canadian criminal justice system, and most of them don’t involve getting charged with a crime. Most commonly, you might be called as a witness or empanelled as a juror. Or you could be a victim or complainant.

It can be a hideously confusing experience. For instance, if your high school Latin is rusty, you might not realize that Regina vs Smith does not mean that the capital of Saskatchewan has anything to do with whatever Mr. Smith did, or why it should be contending with him anyway. A certain amount of law Latin and French still remains embedded. Procedures are not user-friendly, and jargon can be arcane.

If, on top of it all, you are a new Canadian, it can also be threatening. Many new arrivals come from countries where the local police and courts system are things to be feared and avoided at all costs. They have no guideposts, and often no prior knowledge of what the Canadian legal system is all about.

Glen Crisp, a lawyer with nine years’ experience who works as Crown Attorney Downtown, is trying to help make it easier in his spare time—which as CA and a new father to boot, is not all that plentiful. He is organizing sessions (roughly on a monthly basis) at the St Lawrence Community Recreation Centre on The Esplanade to introduce new Canadians to the criminal justice system and how it works.

“We’re in a reactive position,” says Crisp. “We see people—witnesses, victims, complainants, after they’ve become involved in the system and a lot of times they don’t know what’s going on, and they’re scared. They have a lot of questions. Sometimes you hear that people don’t come forward because they don’t understand the system. They get a subpoena and they think they’re getting in trouble.” (After all, in Law Latin, ‘sub poena’ means ‘under threat of penalty.’)

“It just got me thinking, is there a way we can be pro-active,” Crisp continues. “and by ‘we,’ I mean the community, not the legal system. If we can help people to understand the criminal justice system then I think that would go a long way – I mean, it’s the old chestnut: knowledge is power. It empowers and lowers intimidation. In a way it’s part of my responsibility through the law society to give back.”

After some exploration, Crisp made a connection with the city rec centre, and after some negotiations and false starts, the first session of about an hour and a half was held on Nov. 16.  He also went to 51 Division’s community liaison committee and spread the word among stakeholders, and plans to spread the word among schools and other community groups. The first group attracted only about nine people because of difficulties getting communication off the ground, but Crisp expects more in the monthly sessions beginning Feb. 8.

Correcting simple misimpressions and describing how the Canadian system functions will be big elements of the program.

According to Crisp, a common mistake people make—especially those of us who watch too many American TV shows—is to assume that the Crown Attorney works hand in glove with the police investigators, as the district attorney’s office does in the USA. It’s different in Canada, and although the Crown definitely receives reports of investigation from police, it it not an active agent of investigation itself. The content for the sessions is based partly on outreach work that the CA’s office already does with schools and community groups.

“It’s going to be an evolution. We’ll be doing sessions with youth emphasis, or ESL issues, or Charter issues, and we’ll see how it grows. We might get more CA’s involved, and I do know from speaking to defence lawyers that some of them might like to get involved as well,” Crisp says. “The sessions will all have in common that they’re an introduction to criminal law. It can be for youth, it can be for parents, it can be for grandparents. I’ll adjust specific content to specific audiences. I can’t give legal advice in these sessions, but it will be general information about how things work in the system.”

“I have to tell you, it’s a great community here. Debbie Field with SLCRC is fantastic and there are a lot of people who are working hard to improve the community. I’m really looking forward to helping them.”

The next session will be on Feb. 8 at St. Lawrence Community and Recreation Centre from 6:30 to 8 p.m. For more information, please contact the SLCRC at (416) 392-1347.

Source: www.thebulletin.ca