ABSTRACT
Former provincial court assistant chief judge Carl Rolf, who is retired, was the judicial spark plug to get counselling for natives. The board of Native Counselling Services is self-appointed, and Indian Association president Mel H. Buffalo says only an elected board would be accountable. At the time, nearly 60 per cent of provincial inmates were Native, but within five years of the introduction of Native counselling, that number had fallen to 28 per cent. Some Natives would assume they were guilty merely because they had been arrested, while others looked at the clerks, judge, guards and other court workers and felt they would automatically lose because they were outnumbered. Rolf's view from the bench was that a lot of Natives were pleading guilty to alcohol-related charges, going to jail for short spells and not getting any help with their problems.
