COURTING DISASTER ONE CASE AT A TIME

Judge Thomas Gove Says It's Way To Early To Say If The Community Court
Will Truly Make A Difference, But It Sure Is Helping

It was 11:45 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and Judge Thomas Gove, presiding in
Vancouver's small Downtown Community Court, had heard from, in the space of
an hour: a mentally ill homeless man from Somalia found sleeping and
urinating in a downtownapartment building's elevator, for a second time; a
cocaine addict who spatin the face of a female McDonald's employee, then
screamed "F--- you, bitch!" at her after he had refused to wait in line to
be served; a man on permanent disability income charged with the theft of
approximately $1,000 worth of merchandise from a video store, and who
pleaded not guilty; a young man "with a very lengthy record" who Gove had
previously sentenced to community service a couple of weeks ago and who was
back in court because he had broken the terms of his curfew and never did
report to do his community service (Gove gave him a second chance, sentenced
him again to community service and warned him if he screwed up this time
he'd better bring his winter clothes when he came to court because he'd be
getting six months in jail); a man, who having lost his job, his girlfriend,
and his apartment in Kitsilano, and who ended up in the Downtown Eastside
severely depressed, charged with shoplifting socks and underwear from two
different stores; a young man who was being charged with assault for
allegedly getting into a fight with an employee of a video store where the
young man used to work, a charge the young man vehemently denied and
repeatedly said was "an injustice;" and a young, jittery man whose lank hair
fell over one side of his face like a curtain, who broke out into song while
he sat in the observers' gallery waiting for his turn in front of Gove, and
who pleaded not guilty to allegedly threatening a security guard after he
was approached for panhandling. When he was called forward, the young man
stood in front of Gove, his hands jammed in the back pockets of his jeans.
He listened, smiling, fidgeting, while Gove told him his trial would be set
for a later date. The young man turned, and on the way out, shouted happily
back to Gove: "Okay, thanks man!"

Gove, startled, looked up from his notes and watched the young man go.
He rolled his eyes and smiled. Community Court's level of formality is
set on low. Gove prefers it that way.

"The Supreme Court this isn't," Gove would say later. "I like the
informality of it. Remember, the people that usually appear before me
are often addicted or mentally ill, or they're poor, and few of them
have ever probably had cause to speak in front of people. They're
probably a little scared. So I try to keep it as low-key as possible.
Let them address me sitting down, for example, if they're more
comfortable with that."

As Canada's first community court, it opened, with high expectations,
on Sept. 10. It was designed to process as many as 1,500 cases a year
- -- an unheard of number compared to the rest of Canada's sclerotic
court system, and a number the community court will reach easily, Gove
predicts. It was targeted especially toward ending, or at least
slowing, the social and judicial revolving door that keeps the
Downtown Eastside spinning out of control.

Some numbers after 21/2 months of service:

- - Fifty-two people were referred to Vancouver Coastal Health
information sessions to access health services available to them.

- - Seven people eligible for income assistance were
processed.

- - The court sentenced people to 211 hours of community service indoors
doing laundry, janitorial, serving and secretarial work, and 301 hours
of community service on outdoor street cleaning and beautification.
(You can see these crews wearing bright yellow vests.)

- - Eighteen people were placed into housing. (This may seem like a
small figure, but in a city where social and emergency housing have
waiting lists, the number, Gove said, is testimony to the tenacity of
the court's in-house housing worker.)

- - Twenty-four people assessed for forensic services -- again, by
referral of the court's triage team -- and seven assessed by a
psychiatrist.

- - A total of 118 victims contacted. (A remarkable number, Gove said,
compared to other courts, and important in an area with high addiction
and AIDS/HIV rates.)

Is it making a difference?

Way too early to tell, Gove said, though the enormity of the problems,
and the court's limits to what it can do about those problems, have
quickly become apparent to him.

"Even though I've been sitting in criminal court in Vancouver for the
last six years before this, I did not appreciate the number of
addicted and mentally ill people there are down here. It's
astounding."

There is, Gove said, nowhere near enough social housing. There is a
sad lack of detox centres. And there is, he said, a troubling
concentration of social services for the poor and addicted in the
Downtown Eastside that draws and keeps them here. Gove would like to
see those services -- some 600 social agencies, he believes --
dispersed throughout the Lower Mainland.

This isn't a new message. It is important, though, that a man like
Gove is saying it. He's respected, smart, committed -- all the good
things -- and sufficiently disconnected from the ever-warring
turf-jealous social agencies in the Downtown Eastside that the
government will find a credible sounding board in him.

Progress, he said, will be incremental. But he hands me a sheet of
"good news stories." One of them: A crack addict who tried to hang
himself in custody, who, because he had no record and needed
employment, Gove released on bail with the suggestion that he
volunteer to do 20 hours of community service. It might help him in
sentencing, Gove told him. A month later, he came back, had moved out
of the city to a new community, had done more than 20 hours of
community service and was undergoing counselling.

The charges were stayed. There was one less body in the revolving
door.