wtBMimiMmiiisiiiiJi'iiri»niiMiiiiimi»<'Pi'ir>-.-iini — ' - — ji)l.iii JT̂ I- ., SC 02. 1/ OJl^ J 1 IN THE TERRITORIAL COURT 2 IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES 3 •; IN THE MATTER BETV.'EEN il Ml! ll ii 6 7 HER MAJESTY TKE QUEEN,.. 8 Complainant 9 10 - arid -11 12 FRANK ISAAC ESAGOK W3-433, 13 Defendant iii \*» 14 15 16 Reasons for J"udgment by the Honourable Mr. Justice W.G. ^-^z 17 Morrow, given at Inuvik, N.W.T., / • on the 11th day of January 1971. 18 19 mm liF» 20 21 ZZ Appearances: 23 O.J.T. Troy, Esq., Q.Co, on behalf of the Crown, 2̂ . G. B. Purdy, Esq., on behalf of the Defence 25 .iO 27 ^ ^
1 The Court: Stand up Mr. Esagok. This is not the first time, 2 unfortunately, and probably v;ill not bo the last time 5 that I have to pass sentence in a case of this serious 4 nature. Mr. Troy has pointed out, as is his duty, the 5 leading authorities, one of v/hich is the Wilmott case, 5 which is an Ontario Court of Appeal case and which 7 reviews at great length and in great detail the sentencing g procedures as presently follov/ed and adopted by the 9 courts across Canada. 10 Rehabilitation, reform, punishment to the lesser 11 degree, and the protection of society must always be 12 taken into consideration by the sentencing court. I 13 like to think I always do that. A* 14 I think that in the Northwest Territories, more 15 than any other part of Canada, I have a tougher problem. 15 than most trial judges, because I am dealing with more Ik. 17 than just normal sentencing problems. I am dealing ! !' 18 perhaps with the clash of social cultures. You, Mr. ' 19 Esagok may not be aware of it, and it may be you are 20 not part of it, but my own thought is you represent 21 unfortunately a part of this clash, and unfortunately 22 it is the duty of Mr. Troy to prosecute this typo of 23 case. It is the duty of Mr. Purdy to defend it. It is 24 the doty of myself to try it and sentence on it. \.'îa I 25 • that in mind I think I have a heavier burden than most 26 trial judges in an attempt to hit the proper .̂ .in̂ encG. so 27 that the impact of the culture that is taking over ycur . ^ ^^
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unDiHiiiaiinHiiiBu uanawwHi s I f 1 country from the south is not too harsh, and yet at tha 2 same time it must be in a way that educates people such S as yourself, for it is no excuse to merely get drunk, it is 4 no excuse to say you have not an education. 5 I have to take all these things into consideration. 6 Now, I have said on occasion, and I repeat it 7 now, that when I am dealing with a person such as yourself, 8 who is an Eskimo, I am reluctant to send you to the 9 penitentiary, because I think there is a danger that it 10 may do more damage to you to send you to a penitentiary 11 than to put you in jail, than if I kept you here, 12 because you may be put 'into contact with all kinds of i I 13 bad men. 14 You have had an unfortunate experience here. You 15 have caused the death of a person, you have done wrong, 16 and in' the eyes of the lav/ you must be punished, but I I' 17 am reluctant to send you where it may make you worse, 18 because I think'at this point probably if I could give 19 you a chance you would not do it again. 20 The second thing I have always said, and I repeat, I '; 21 is that so long as our health statistics indicate that 22 Eskimos on the average have a shorter life span than 23 other people in Canada that some adjustment should be 24 made in the sentencing procedure of the court. For 25 example, it was always the belief of the late Judge 26 Siosons — and.I follow his belief -- that to give a 27 year to an Eskimo at the moment was taking almost two bSi^i^v
=wc: P years out of his life because of the average life span.
That is something I am av/are of, and I think the court 3 should pay attention to. 4 If- I folt free to follow my inclination I would 5 adhere to what Mr. Purdy asked, and give you a sentence 6 that would keep you ax the Correctional Institute with 7 a long period of probation. ^ 8 However, recently the Court of Appeal of the 9 Northwest Territories in a case involving an appeal from 10 me, exercising their powers as a review court have 11 disagreed with my sentencing procedure to the extent that 12 they feel that I am not paying enough attention to the f 13 deterrent factor. I must obey the Court of Appeal, and 14 therefore in this case against my inclination I feel 15 that I must sentence you to the penitentiary. 16 In doing this I am going to read part of an arxiclo 17 contained in the December 3rd 1970 issue of the Edmonton 18 "Journal". It describes conditions in the penitentiary 19 to which I am required to send you. 20 The penitentiary here has become a nightmare of hatred, violence, and 21 fear. The Prince Albert penitentiary on the western outskirts of this » 22 community of thirty thousand Ls knov/n to the tov/nspeople as a dump, with 23 the criminal refuse of two provir.ces, their's and Alberta's. Tho place is 24 simply no longer high v/allŝ armed I . guardr. "1 towers, paxrolling dog.s, 25 flood . .. ,;.ts and maxim.um security. It contains some of the armed rot';oer.3, 26 and Canada's most dangerous crimi.-T.l.~, iriurderers, arm.od robbers, escapeeo, 27 tv/o psychotic killers, rapistst cop ^ \ ^
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nnniiniMiniiwnT^iBOnnni V 1 killers, and one mass murderer v/ho took eight lives. No, Prince Albert, 2 hand-built in 1921 is like a human tomb, and some of the animals have 5 gone rabid. 4 I would like to keep you out of there, but I 5 can't. Accordingly I regretfully sentence you to three 6 years, to be served at the pen.ltentiary at Prince Albert. 7 I m.ake the direction that if possible the matter be 8 brought to the attention of Mr. Gilbert of the Parole 9 Board, and I hope that he finds it appropriate to send 10 you to Drumheller, and prevent you going to the peniten-11 tiary at Prince Albert. 12 At the earliest'possible date I intend to visit 13 Prince Albert penitentiary, and if you happen to be r 14 there, I will look you up, I also ask that if they see 15 fit to take my recommendation to send you to Drumheller ill 16 that they attempt to upgrade your education if you are 17 willing to work, and if you upgrade your education I 18 would ask that they give you an opportunity to perhaps 29 learn how to do the v/ork on the projected gaslines and 20 pipelines that are being projected for the north I 21 country. You heard not long ago that the Alberta gas 22 and pipeline people are holding a course for people from 23 this area so that when the time comes they hope they 24 will be building a pipeline along the Mackenzie River I 25 with you people. I would say you are the material which 25 should be used if possible. 27 In conclusion, I hope that the Director of Legal
71*..Jff«; f Affairs, Frank Smith, v/ho is here on his first circuit
under his nev/ position, may be able to get some changes in the correctional procedure in the Northv/est Territories, so the sentencing of people like you in the North is 5 such that you can be kept in the North. 6 That is all. 7 8 9 10 11 12 I 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 I .55 26 27
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