NORTH BATTLEFORD - Offenders in the court system facing addictions issues will have more options with the new Drug Treatment Court program starting in the North West region.
The Government of Saskatchewan recently announced the expansion of this program to North Battleford.
According to the province, the court offers an "alternative approach to justice" for an accused person with a substance abuse problem that had a role in their offending.
"It’s a type of therapeutic court," Jonathan Bodvarson, Legal Director of Legal Aid Saskatchewan's North Battleford area office, told SaskToday. "People enter a guilty plea. Then, after they’ve entered a guilty plea, they go through programming to deal with the issue that created the problems where they occurred, when it’s thought that people [offend] when their crimes are driven by their addictions, an addiction to an illegal drug."
After the offender has completed their programming, which may take a year or two, if they’ve completed it successfully they may see a reduced sentence, "when they’ve gone through quite a bit of work showing changes, and hopefully beating their addiction."
Bodvarson noted the program may help reduce recidivism, too, since it helps the offender tackle the root cause of their likelihood to reoffend, which is their addiction.
"You are trying to incentivize the people who get arrested," he explained.
Most cases that will be considered for the Drug Treatment Court will be property offences and break and enters, by those offenders who have built up a bit of a record for property offences that are more serious than just typical shoplifting.
They are usually looking at one to two years in jail, but they may be able to avoid that by doing this programming.
Bodvarson noted it's usually the same people who are addicted to drugs who are committing the same property offences.
Currently, two drug treatment courts are running in Saskatchewan - in Regina, created in 2006, and in Moose Jaw, started in 2009.
More than 140 people have since graduated from the program in total.
The North Battleford program will start in the fall of 2024.
Starting the program in North Battleford will help fill a need in the area to offer more people access to the treatment.
Funding of $1.7 million for the 2024-2025 Drug Treatment Court program is cost shared by the province and the federal governments. From this amount, the North Battleford program will receive $240,000 for its initial year.
As part of the program, participants work with the judge, prosecutor, Legal Aid or another defense lawyer, a case manager and addiction counsellor to help them complete the initiative. Their involvement also includes regular court appearances, one-on-one and group counselling, and drug testing, and life skills or employment training.
Bodvarson said those who complete the program can find themselves with "an entire new start at life."
One of the reasons North Battleford was deemed a suitable location for the program is a perception of a high level of crime in the area, he noted.
"I think there’s a recognition that a lot of crimes, especially on the property side are, for the majority, addiction-based," Bodvarson added. "It's not a criminal enterprise type of chop-shop type of thing. A lot of times it's addiction based. I think there’s a recognition of that."
The Battlefords also has a number of community resources, such as residential addiction treatment programs, that make it an ideal site for expanding the program.
Bodvarson credits the work of a number of proponents who volunteered tirelessly to expand the program to North Battleford, including now retired judges Lorna Dyck and Daniel O'Hanlon, and a significant amount of local commitment for the initiative.
"I think it was based on the fact things were already in motion," Bodvarson said.
