Law and Good Order

A week or so ago, I was listening to the CBC radio on a Sunday morning and I heard Michael Enright interviewing Harold Johnson about his most recently published book, Peace and Good Order: The Case for Indigenous Justice in Canada.  Born from a Cree mother and a Scandinavian father, Johnson was raised in northern Saskatchewan where he worked in mining and logging.  He also served in the Canadian Navy.  He then earned a Master of Law degree from Harvard and worked as a defense lawyer and Crown prosecutor in northern Saskatchewan. He is the author of many works of fiction and non-fiction.

Now, in his sixties,Johnson is reflecting on his time spent in law, and so, he has written Peace and Good Order.  He states his case in a logical manner as any good lawyer would.  He reviews how the law was used to control Indigenous peoples in the territory we now call Canada.  For example the Pass System (1885 – 1951) meant that the Indian Agent on each reserve had to give Indigenous people a pass to leave the reserve to go hunting, fishing or gathering.  And between 1927 and 1951, it was against the law for Indigenous people or communities to hire a lawyer without the government’s consent to bring claims against the government to restore land or rights taken away by the government.  Johnson points out that everything the government of Canada did to Indigenous people was legal, because they made laws allowing themselves to do whatever they wanted.  He goes on to show how Canadian law is harming Indigenous people.

Johnson gives evidence to show that no matter what tweeking has happened to the judicial system over the years, the rates of incarceration for Indigenous people are skyrocketing.  He explains that the Canadian judicial system is based on deterrence instead of remediation.  And deterrence doesn’t seem to work.  He cites the US example.  The US incarcerates 700 out of every 100,000 people which is the highest rate in the world.  In other words, high rates of incarceration does not deter law breaking.  Instead it creates more criminals.

Harold R. Johnson

Johnson explains the links between intergenerational trauma, alcohol and crime.  The real problem is using alcohol to deal with trauma, he feels.  He developed a trial project in La Ronge, to get all the community members to work at decreasing the use of alcohol and the crime rate went down by 15%.  He invites other communities to do the same thing.

Woven throughout the statistics, is Johnson’s personal story and his remorse at working in the legal system without being able to change it.  He feels that it is too large and cumbersome to change and states a legal case for Indigenous people taking over judicial matters for themselves on reserves.  It is a compelling argument.

It was the death of Colten Boushie and the trial of the Gerald Stanley who shot him that instigated this book.  The interview starts with that.  The facts that Johnson reveals about Boushie’s death are somewhat different than the story that the media initially told.  If for no other reason, it is important to hear the actual story based on the evidence from the trial so that we can understand how Indigenous people are not getting justice in Canada.

This clear and well written book can easily be read in three or four hours.  I got a copy from my local library.  Or you can listen to the half hour interview here, where you can also read the transcript of the interview.  Check it out.  The last chapter of the book suggests a new story that would achieve better outcomes for all of us.