Location: Kelowna, BC
Opened: May 6, 2021
Contact to participate: Talk to your lawyer or Duty Counsel about whether you qualify for Kelowna Integrated Court. They can speak to the prosecutor for you.
Specialized work
- Kelowna Integrated Court (KIC) deals primarily with offenders struggling with addiction, living with mental health issues including brain injuries, and/or experiencing homelessness.
- KIC is not a trial court. It conducts bail and sentencing hearings with follow-up support and enforcement for people charged with criminal offences who:
- wish to plead guilty;
- are connected to an agency working with KIC or qualify to be connected; and
- have the prosecutor’s agreement to their participation in KIC.
- The bail and sentencing orders often require offenders (called “clients” in KIC) to engage with community services. The Court monitors their progress in follow-up court appearances.
- People who plead not guilty have their trials in the regular court system.
Operation
- Whenever possible, the same judge, prosecutor, probation officer, and care agency staff work in KIC to provide consistency and follow-up.
- The agencies with knowledge of an offender meet with the prosecutor, defence lawyer, and a probation officer before court to share information about the client’s needs and the resources available to address them.
- The prosecutor ('Crown Counsel') and defence lawyer present this information to the judge at a sentencing hearing to help the judge impose an appropriate sentence. Sentences including support and supervision in the community are often imposed, but jail sentences are possible.
- Attending for “progress hearings” is often part of a sentence. At these hearings, a probation officer reports the client’s progress to the judge. The judge can change the sentence order to reflect the client's progress or additional needs.
Development
- Groups and individuals in Kelowna wanted to address the root causes of crime and improve public safety by integrating health and social services with the justice system. They formed an Integrated Court Steering Committee with this goal.
- In 2018 the Committee reported that homelessness, drug overdose deaths, and crime were increasing in Kelowna, while access to affordable housing was decreasing.
- After making a strong case for establishment of an Integrated Court, the Committee began working with the Court, the provincial government, the John Howard Society, the City of Kelowna, and other stakeholders on the details.
Goals
KIC’s goals include:
- improving access to health, social, and economic services for the offenders it deals with
- improving public safety by helping offenders avoid criminal behaviour in the future
- holding offenders accountable for their actions in a timely manner.
Community partners and support
A variety of government and community organizations provide support and supervision for clients bound by KIC’s bail or sentencing orders to help them lead healthier, more stable lives.
The services integrated with KIC:
- support sentenced offenders to make rehabilitation more likely
- closely monitor offenders’ compliance with community supervision orders
- ensure community supervision orders continue to address an offender’s circumstances as they change
More Information