Offenders Participation
The Aboriginal offender is part of the Gladue Report writing process and will have to:
Be interviewed, perhaps more than once.
Aboriginal Justice Workers will likely in the course of their investigation have to obtain some information to verify what the Court is being told.
It is a general principle that ‘consent to release’ information is generally required by those who control various sources of information, which could include justice records, medical records, employment records and such.
SUGGESTION: The most efficient way to obtain the information often is to get the Offender to obtain the information directly, and then provide it to you. Otherwise you usually have to provide consent forms signed by the person who the information is regarding.
If you were unable to obtain consent – you need to tell the Court why.
If you were unable to verify information, you must preface your comment with "It was reported to me . . . "
Gladue Tip: the Offender does not dictate who you talk to. Why?
because there is a risk that the offender will try to limit who you talk to only those people who would put the offender in the best of light.
"This becomes a bit more complex for Lawyers as the client does have a right to ‘instruct’ Legal Counsel as to whom you can and cannot speak to. Aboriginal Justice Workers have a duty to ‘assist the court’ whereas for Legal Counsel they are ‘representing the Offender’ and must follow his/her instructions.