Number of Indigenous provincial judges in province triples with recent appointments
- Chelsea Laskowski | April 16, 2018
Saskatchewan is tripling its number of self-identified Metis and First Nations judges. Natasha Crooks and Mary McAuley, both Metis lawyers, will start training to be provincial court judges in April. McAuley will be stationed in La Ronge and Crooks in Saskatoon. Prior to their appointments, Gerald Morin of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation was the only self-identified Metis or First Nations judge. He runs Cree court in the north.
McAuley, raised in Cumberland House, said she applied for the post because she felt her knowledge of life in the north gave her something to contribute as a judge. As a lawyer who speaks Cree, she has been able to help interpret court proceedings for other Cree speakers.
“You see a lot of miscommunication, misunderstanding in the court system with Aboriginal accused,” she said. “They’ll say, ‘Yes, yup, yes,’ to things that are asked of them, but do they really understand it? So when I spoke Cree to them, they suddenly opened up.”
As a judge, she said her Cree language “might be able to prove a little bit more direction in terms of Aboriginal clients.”
McAuley’s path to law has not been a direct one. She attended hairdressing school after graduating high school and then studied business administration, which took her to work with mines up north and with SaskPower. McAuley went back to law school in her 30s and worked as a Crown prosecutor and legal aid before opening her own law firm with locations in Prince Albert and Flin Flon.
Her advice to others considering pursuing education as mature students is to not doubt their abilities, because they have life skills and a drive that will help them succeed.
“It is a bit of a sacrifice, you’re leaving a full-time job, work, to go back to school but you’re really investing in your career,” she said. “You’re not going to take that lightly.”
McAuley said she believes the current non-Aboriginal judges in the province “go out of their way to try to understand Gladue factors,” which are the unique factors Aboriginal people face that must be taken into account during sentencing.
While the number of First Nations and Metis judges in the province is disproportionately low when compared with the province’s population, McAuley said she thinks the province is striving to remedy that with its appointments with all minority populations.
“I think just the fact that there’s minorities on the bench, I think it does help a lot especially in the public’s perception of justice,” she said.
Crooks comes to the judge post after working with the federal government doing litigation and being appointed to the Parole Board of Canada in 2013. On the executive committee her role includes shaping policy, interpreting legislative change and providing leadership, “particularly on Aboriginal issues,” according to a provincial news release.
She holds a number of roles with the Parole Board. As the Chairperson of the Aboriginal Circle with the board, she works with the committee to give advice on issues that impact Aboriginal offenders, victims and communities, according to the release.