Harold Gatensby, Yukon Indigenous restorative justice advocate, remembered

The Carcross/Tagish First Nation is marking the passing of a well-known advocate for Tlingit culture, who played an important role in reviving traditional restorative justice practices in the territory.

Harold Gatensby's life was marked by hardship and healing. He was forced to go to the Chooulta residential school as a child, not long after he left the school he ended up behind bars. His time there informed the restorative justice work he did for much of the rest of his life.

Colleen James, his wife, said her husband started his work in restorative justice "as a result of his own traumas in life."

"Going from home right to residential school, going right from residential school into prison," James said in an interview on Yukon Morning. "That's what shaped it right there."

Colleen James, Harold Gatensby's wife, described her late husband as "a strong man." James is pictured standing at the Conrad historic site near Carcross, Yukon. (Marissa Meilleur/CBC)

Much of his life afterward focused on finding ways to bring traditional cultural healing practices to inmates and the justice system.

"He was consistent, you know, about bringing in the culture and getting back to the land and giving ceremony," James said.

"He really believed and did those consistently his whole life."

Gatensby worked with Barry Stuart, a now-retired Territorial Court judge. James said the two men had been working together for some time before one day in the Carcross courtroom came around.

James said Stuart asked Gatensby what he would change about the court process.

James said Gatensby replied that he'd "take all the tables away, I'd put us all in a circle and we start there."

James said the court agreed for future cases, but Gatensby insisted on implementing the changes immediately.

"Harold said 'No, how about right now?' and they actually did that right [away], and that was the beginning of a very calm time in Carcross."

James said at one point, there were about five years in Carcross where "no young offenders were charged with anything" in the community.

'It grows … good work does that'

Mike Cozens served for 17 years as a Yukon Territorial Court judge, and is currently deputy judge in the Yukon. He moved to the territory in 1994 to work as a criminal defence lawyer.

"It wasn't very long before I became aware of what Harold was doing in the area of justice and innovative concepts of justice in the Carcross community," Cozens said in an interview on Yukon Morning.

Cozens described Harold Gatensby and his brother Phil as "builders."

"They took their life experiences, they took who they were and they decided to build something that lasted," Cozens said.

He said the practice of circle sentencing put the Yukon on the map in the realm of restorative justice.

"Circle sentencing is a lot of hard work for a lot of people … but it went beyond that because the concepts that they helped develop of restorative justice, of trying to get deeper and trying to solve the root of the problem."

Meanwhile, his wife, James, said the response to news of her husband's death "has been overwhelming." She said they were "prepared" for Gatensby's death, he had been diagnosed with cancer in May.

"We're holding up ok," James said. "Harold was a very strong man, he laid a good foundation with his family, we were very strong together."

A celebration of life will be held Sunday, August 2 at the Haa Shagóon Hídi Cultural Centre in Carcross at at 2 p.m. Family and friends are invited to join for soup, sandwiches and stories.