Canada’s ombudsman for victims of crime made her first visit to the northern territories recently where she asked for knowledge from Indigenous frontline workers.
Heidi Illingworth met with people like Jaylene Buggins in Yellowknife before the pandemic hit.
Buggins explained that she’s experienced gaps in the territorial justice system first hand.
“I went through a jury trial as a victim of a sexual assault and there’s a juror sitting there… they stopped the trial three hours in and asked him if he was okay and he said ‘yeah I’m just bored.’ He was just bored,” she said.
This year Buggins was asked to sit on the first Indigenous advisory circle working with the office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime.
The watchdog is geared towards holding the federal government accountable to meeting its responsibilities for victims of crime.
