Cambridge Bay: March 11-18, 2011

After preparing the files, three of us (another prosecutor and a court worker and I) flew to Cambridge Bay via Rankin Inlet and Yellowknife. 

Legal Aid has an office in Cambridge Bay and has at least three resident lawyers. We met with the lawyers on Saturday and Sunday and met with the witnesses for the trials. I only had one trial proceed in Gjoa Haven and here I had a trial and a preliminary inquiry. My colleague resolved his trials. It was a full day of court Monday to Thursday at noon. The court party flew in on Sunday evening and flew out on regular airlines Thursday afternoon. Here everyone stayed at Green Row and did their own cooking. The court in Gjoa Haven was held in the gymnasium whereas in Cambridge Bay court was held in the upstairs of a hotel, Inns of the North. We had a heavy hockey bag of files here too.  

Before we had arrived there had been a musk ox hunt as there is a meat packing plant in Cambridge Bay. The hides were stacked up near the hotel.

Groceries are very expensive here. Two litres of milk cost $7.29. We bought most of our groceries in Yellowknife as soon as we arrived there, just before the Co-Op closed. 

We often saw people walking down the road in front of our hotel carrying their groceries in green cloth bags. Plastic bags cost $.65 in the Northern.

Most of the files involved breach of probation, breach of recognizance and assault charges. There were some sexual assault charges and a couple of drug charges involving cannabis marihuana and cocaine.

The Wednesday evening, one of the lawyers who lives in Cambridge Bay had all of us for a lovely supper at her house. 

Thursday everyone flew to Yellowknife and then I flew to Calgary the following day. 

Another view of Green Row:

Iqaluit March 4, 2011 to March 11, 2011

We took Lucy for a walk on Saturday. I spent the following week preparing for the following week in Cambridge Bay.  Barry and Lucy are chasing a frisbee on the Road to Nowhere

The cemetery near Frobisher Bay.


This is the other PPSC office next to the Legislative Building. 

Here is the Legislative Building. There is some lovely art here and a library on the top floor. 

Gjoa Haven: February 25, 2011 to March 3, 2011

I went to Gjoa Haven on my own lugging a 70 lb hockey bag of court files, my suitcase and my back pack. To get there one leaves Iqaluit at 5:30pm and flies to Yellowknife, staying there overnight. The next day one catches a flight to Gjoa Haven with one stop at Taloyoak. It was absolutely freezing on the plane when it stopped. It was pretty cold even when it was flying. 

When I arrived at Gjoa Haven someone from the hotel picked me up. 
My room consisted of three single beds and on the last evening I did have a roommate. 
All my meals were eaten at the hotel. Defence counsel arrived on the Saturday too and we met about the files Saturday evening and Sunday evening with defence meeting their clients in between. 
I walked to the RCMP office and met the members. One officer gave me and my 70 lb bag of files a ride to the court house each day and helped out with the files.

 The hotel. Looks like an ice palace!!!!!

The RCMP detachment. 
Court was very busy. There were two defence counsel and me. Everyone was represented. The Judge, the court reporter, the clerk and interpreters flew in Sunday evening and left as soon as court ended on the Wednesday flying directly back to Iqaluit. Defence counsel and I spoke to a high school class the next day and I flew back to Yellowknife. Then I spent all day Friday flying to Iqaluit. 

Up North February 20, 2011 to March 18, 2011

Due to technical difficulties (generally mine) I did not post a blog for this time when I was Up North.
I did manage to take a few photographs although it was at least -40C every day. 
The first week from February 20-24, 2011 was spent in Iqaluit preparing the files for the first circuit in Gjoa Haven. There was a lot of snow and I wore my Sorels and my Canada Goose jacket every day as well as a toque and long warm mitts. 

This will give you an idea of the snow. It was hard and crusty, the days were often sunny but there was no melting snow anywhere. 
I stayed at the Frobisher Inn. One of my colleagues had one of the office vehicles and she kindly picked me off and dropped me off each day. Two friends were there this first week - Beth who was a colleague in Calgary and Linda who is a court reporter in Calgary. We usually ate out in the evenings. I did see one lovely soapstone carving that someone was selling in one of the bars and regretted that I did not buy it. 
My former colleague, Barry McLaren, who is the Chief Crown for Nunavut and his partner, Dawn, now have a dog, Lucy. We took her for a couple of walks when I was there. 

The PPSC has two offices in Iqaluit. 

This scupture was outside one of the offices of PPSC. The art school is just behind. 


The photos of the court house is from a previous trip to Iqaluit: