Aboriginal Family Courtwork Programme

Goals & Objectives

The goals of the AFCWP is to assist Aboriginal youth and families in contact with family, child protection and youth court to better understand their options, responsibilities and rights when appearing before the courts. This would include the following court proceedings: Families and individuals involved in child protection issues, separating couples, all persons involved in family court matters and Accused Person’s 12-17 yrs of age on the date of the offence not charged as an Adult under the Criminal Code of Canada.

The objectives of the AFCWP are;

Assist Aboriginal people to understand their right to speak on their own behalf or to request legal counsel, to better understand the nature of the charges against them and the philosophy and functioning of the criminal justice system.
Assist in enhancing the awareness and appreciation of the values, customs, languages and socio-economic conditions of Aboriginal people on the part of those involved in the administration of the criminal justice system.
Respond the problems and special needs caused by communication barriers which exist between Aboriginal and those who are involved in the administration of the criminal justice system.

Programme Summary

The AFCWP is unique because there are only five sites that offer services specifically for Family/Youth issues. These sites deal specifically with Families and individuals involved in child protection issues, separating couples, all persons involved in family court matters and Accused Person’s 12-17 yrs of age on the date of the offence not charged as an Adult under the Criminal Code of Canada.

Focus on Success

Some of the success of the AFCW can be attributed to the Justice Information System (JIS); this system has allowed the AFCW to easily maintain daily statistics which thus allows the AFCW to concentrate on developing plan for the client’s to succeed in obtaining goals from plans of action.

Development

There were a development of issues and concerns brought to the attention of the Justice Working Group, this was dealing with File Maintenance, Case Management and Time Management, theses situations were addressed at the recent Provincial Training and a resolution was initiated and completed. The Justice Working Group is continually evaluating and identifying new and existing strategies to address the Courtwork Programme.