by Andrea Frydl, Courtesy of the NS Health Authority
Aboriginal court liaison Barry Paul Bernard. Photo by Barry Bernard.
Barry Paul Bernard did not seek out his current position as Aboriginal court liaison for the Nova Scotia Court System and Mi’kmaw Legal Support Network.
He actually started out as a communications officer with the court system, but when his colleague passed away, Bernard was tapped to temporarily fill in. Ten years later, he’s a veteran court liaison, primarily working at the Wagmatcook First Nation Wellness Court, but also at the courts in Sydney and Port Hawkesbury.
Bernard works with more than 400 clients every year who go through court-mandated wellness programs that aim to reduce harms from drug use and the punitive aspects of the criminal justice system.
The wellness court model is such that clients who have had a history of criminal problems, and are found to be living with addiction, get reviewed by ...
