Edmonton Drug Treatment & Community Restoration Court

Non-violent offenders who meet the eligibility criteria and are found to be dependent on cocaine, opiates or other illicit drugs (not alcohol) and who are charged with possession or non-commercial trafficking (pursuant to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, or “CDSA”); or who are charged with eligible Criminal Code offences where it is determined that the alleged criminal act(s) was/were committed to support a drug addiction, will be given the option of entering the DTC. There are two alternative mechanisms for disposition as well as ultimate sentence. However, participation is identical.

 

1. “Track One” – a pre-plea stream whereby, for those charged with simple possession, or minor criminal charges, upon successful treatment completion, their charges are withdrawn or stayed, and;

2. “Track Two” – a post-plea stream where offenders with a prior record or facing more serious charges will receive a non-custodial sentence (probation) following completion of the DTC program.

 

Prospective participants are advised of the DTC program as soon as possible after their arrest. This activity is supported by the proactive participation of the defence bar and the police. Successful applicants begin treatment sessions as soon as practicable after formal admission. Participants attend DTC Court sessions on a regular basis (normally weekly), where the presiding Judge reviews their progress in consultation with the Court Team. In addition, treatment agencies and the Court Team, especially the in-house DTC program staff (“Program Staff”), collaborate with community and governmental agencies to meet the needs of participants, assist in their recovery, assist in their completion of program requirements, and ultimately support the first steps of their reintegration into the community.

 

The progress of each participant is reviewed at weekly (or more frequent) individual case conferences. DTC program staff present this information to the Court (and to the Court Team during pre-court meetings) and inform the Court and the Court Team of any actions or recommendations. Participants progress through various stages of treatment, recovery and rehabilitation as they reduce their drug dependency and recover from their addiction. Successful Track II graduates (and other participants who achieve significant or substantial performance) receive a suspended sentence with varying duration probation orders (as short as one day), or if in the pre-plea Track I stream, have their charges withdrawn.

Program Philosophy

 

Canada’s first drug treatment court opened in Toronto in 1998, with the second court in Vancouver commencing operations in 2001. The Edmonton DTC Steering Committee adopted many of the features and elements of both of those important pilot programs. It was the stated intent of the Government of Canada that those two courts be testing grounds for a national program. The Edmonton DTC Steering Committee has taken that intention seriously, and that continues to inform decisions of the Edmonton DTC Program Management Committee. A number of principles and elements were adopted from the Toronto and Vancouver DTCs. Information and advice was sought from and graciously provided by the Vancouver DTC program and its core team. The same is true of the Toronto team.

 

Demographics and social conditions in Edmonton require unique solutions, and are in certain cases connected to substance abuse. One important indicator is that Edmonton has more than 4,000 injection drug users. On a per capita basis this is essentially equivalent to Vancouver, although unlike Vancouver, very few Edmonton users are heroin addicts.

 

The issues and challenges faced by Edmonton’s Aboriginal residents are of specific concern to the EDTCRC Program Management Committee. Edmonton has a significant Aboriginal population, with an estimated off-reserve population of some 41,000 individuals. Of the approximate 41,000 aboriginal persons in the Capital Region (not including Reserve populations) there are an estimated 3,915 single parent families. Of long-standing concern is the fact that Aboriginal Albertans are over-represented in the criminal justice system, in Alberta jails and penitentiaries. The Edmonton DTC Program intends to support the aboriginal community in the Edmonton Capital Region. The Edmonton Urban Aboriginal Accord Initiative is one vehicle to partner with to achieve this objective.

 

Poverty is another concern, and this issue is linked in part to drug dependent lifestyles. In 2002, an estimated 18% of Edmonton children lived in low income. (Income Trends in Canada, 2002 Statistics Canada). The Edmonton DTC program hopes to make inroads into this child poverty problem by addressing the harmful links between drug dependence and marginalized income through programs incorporating restorative justice and community and personal rehabilitation.

 

It is incumbent upon the stakeholders to Alberta’s justice system to take these matters into serious consideration when considering new and innovative approaches to criminal justice. A focus of the EDTCRC is to offer sound alternatives to disposition, rehabilitation and restoration to participating offenders. The participant is required to actively engage with the Program, and will in return be given the opportunity to turn their life around.

 

The EDTCRC Program Management Committee was informed that marginalized individuals, including the poor, marginalized women and aboriginals, have been less than successful in the existing drug treatment courts in Canada. For example, Aboriginal women have experienced the highest failure rate in the Vancouver DTC program. We intend to turn that around in Edmonton. The Edmonton Program must be sensitive to cultural diversity, gender equality and the needs of the various groups and individuals who represent the socio-cultural diversity of the Edmonton Capital Region and who come before the Court.

 

Another issue relates to addiction treatment and recovery programs. Committee members were made aware that abstinence-based treatment regimens may not be always helpful to marginalized and disempowered women.  The Committee was apprised of research showing that treatment for women is often more successful when they are empowered to feel in control and provided with the tools they need to help achieve that control. The research recommends that treatment staff be aware that women in recovery may need to be presented with different treatment strategies related to issues of control. Confrontational styles and a requirement to give up control to, for example, a higher power, may be inappropriate for women who not only do not believe they have control, and also feel unworthy, full of shame and guilt and who may feel extremely threatened. For these and many other reasons, the Edmonton DTC Program is founded on the concept of an individual treatment, recovery and reintegration plan (see below, called the “I-TRIP”) of which the participant helps create and is encouraged to accept and support during early program stages.

 

The treatment, recovery and reintegration model for the Edmonton DTC Program is based upon a harm reduction approach. A harm reduction approach involves modifying a drug user’s behaviour and the conditions in which they use, thereby reducing harm and moving along a continuum towards eventual abstinence. This approach involves client self-determination, is therefore empowering, and may be more appropriate for marginalized populations. Participants who desire an alternative treatment approach will have access to those available, including the Salvation Army Anchorage Program, a key stakeholder in the Edmonton program. The mix of treatment and other assisting program elements depends on the circumstances and desire of each participant.

 

Important targets of the Edmonton DTC Program are prostitutes (of both genders) charged with trafficking offences. Experience, especially through program partner the Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation Edmonton (“PAAFE”) and during an Experimental Pilot of the DTC program undertaken between March 4 and August 31 2005 confirmed that addicted women, and men, who are involved in prostitution quite often feel uneasy sharing with others stories of extensive sexual abuse.  Their stories of abuse are sometimes greeted with scorn and many of these victimized people feel they are treated differently, and with less empathy, once sexual abuse or prostitution is disclosed. This may be especially true in mixed-gender substance abuse therapy groups. In particular, women participants, when uncomfortable, often choose to withhold their experiences, and lose the opportunity to resolve deep-seated issues that may have contributed to the drug abuse in the first place. Therefore, it is a policy of the Edmonton DTC Program that any treatment regimen approved for referral and use must be able to respond to these barriers and offer methods to assist the participant through a positive treatment experience.