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Focus on Effective Interventions for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Offenders

BY G. Chartier and Bill Rankin, Communications Officers, Communications and Citizen Engagement

Photo: Martin Bélanger

In recent years, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has made it a priority to find alternatives to traditional incarceration for Aboriginal offenders. The impetus behind this effort comes from within the Service, from various judicial inquiries and from the 1991 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which concluded that “the justice system has failed Aboriginal people” — the key indicator of which was their steadily increasing disproportionate representation in Canadian institutions.

The current Canadian Aboriginal adult population is approximately 2.7 percent of the total Canadian population, yet 16.7 percent of current federal offenders are of First Nations, Métis or Inuit descent. And in the Prairie Region, where Aboriginal people comprise a larger proportion of the general population, they account for a staggering 60 percent of federal offenders.

As alternatives to traditional incarceration evolve, CSC remains in a unique position as the federal agency responsible for the day-to-day lives of a significant segment of the Aboriginal population. This responsibility encompasses a wide range of services, including health, education, employment and those meeting diverse cultural needs. CSC is supported in its efforts by special provisions laid out in the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA).

The Corrections and Conditional Release Act

“The CCRA fundamentally redefined the relationship between CSC and Aboriginal peoples when it came into effect in 1992,” explains Diane Zilkowsky, Aboriginal Initiatives Branch. Sections 80 and 81 of the CCRA require that CSC provides programs designed to address the needs of Aboriginal offenders and gives CSC the authority to enter into agreements with Aboriginal communities for the provision of correctional services.

“The challenge facing us,” says Zilkowsky, “is to bridge the gaps between traditional correctional approaches and Aboriginal methods of justice and reconciliation.”

Steady Progress

Just how is CSC accomplishing this? CSC’s Aboriginal Continuum of Care model embodies research findings that culture, teachings and ceremony — core aspects of Aboriginal identity — appear to be critical to the healing process. Across the country, since the inception of the CCRA, there has been a steady development of directives, policies, programs and institutions specific to the Aboriginal offender population and many agreements signed between Aboriginal communities and the Service. Over time, these initiatives have been adjusted and assessed as their results and long-term effects on public safety become clearer.

Equally important, sections 82 and 83 of the CCRA recognize Aboriginal spirituality as having the same status as other religions. As a result, Aboriginal spirituality has become an increasingly powerful factor in the day-to-day lives of both men and women offenders. Many have been introduced, often for the first time, to the beliefs of their ancestors, and through this way of life they have established a sense of self-worth and identity. Their new sense of self and community is based not on criminal pursuits but on the shared ceremonies of the sacred pipe and the sweat lodge and on the teachings of Elders who are accorded the same status as other faith leaders.

Healing Lodges

In no setting is this more apparent than in the eight healing lodges that CSC has established since the concept first emerged from the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women in 1990. A collaborative effort between the Service, the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and the Native Women’s Association of Canada, these healing lodges integrate Aboriginal beliefs on justice and reconciliation into the federal correctional system. Recent research shows that healing lodges and other CSC initiatives for Aboriginal inmates, such as Pathways, have had a positive effect on public safety.

The following articles will give readers insights and understanding into how CSC works with Aboriginal communities to reach this goal, which ultimately leads to successful reintegration. ♦