WomenSpeak Series – Calgary – September 18, 2003
Prisons: The Latest Solution to Homelessness, Poverty and Mental Illness

Presented by
Kim Pate, B.A., B.Ed. (P.D.P.P.), LL.B.
Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies
Past President of the National Associations Active in Criminal Justice
A feminist lawyer and teacher by training, Kim is an advocate, activist and
ally of women and girls in prison in Canada. She has worked with and on
behalf of criminalized youth, men and women for the past two decades.

Thanks you for inviting me here this evening to help launch your WomenSpeak series of fundraisers for very important and valuable women’s organizations in Calgary. Before I begin my comments, I want to acknowledge the traditional First Nations people of this area; it is a privilege to be on your land.

I also want to honour and especially thank the women in and from prison, some of whom are with us here today, these women have the lived experience about which we presume to speak. I urge you to unite and together to challenge and hold us accountable for all we say and do, not just here, but in our daily work and lives, especially when we try to describe or represent your realities.

I also want to thank their families, friends and other supporters, and all of the front-line workers who advocate - you know who you are. Your courage, strength and brilliance inspire and encourage me. Thank you for being my mentors, my guides and my conscience. I also want to acknowledge the important work done by our local Elizabeth Fry and many other women's, Aboriginal and social justice equality-seeking groups here in Calgary. We all must work together to ensure that we welcome the women in and from prison to have the courage to stay in the community and we need to have the strength and integrity to walk with them as they emerge and continue to strive to provide concrete supports and opportunities where and whenever we can in the community.

What did I mean when I gave Jane this title for tonight? If you came thinking I really see prisons as a solution to anything, and you hoped to hear about how we can put more people inside, quickly, get up and demand a refund. I’ll reimburse the organizers for your ticket if you feel you were misled by the title…

For those of you who choose to stay, I want to explore a little the current trajectory that this sinking ship is on and suggest some ways that we not only shift course, not merely re-arrange the proverbial deck chairs on the sinking Titanic that is our criminal justice system, but how we might fundamentally jump ship and choose a more advanced, responsive and people-friendly approach to navigating the rough waters we currently find ourselves drowning in.

Given the urgency we all feel, or should feel, about the increased criminalization of women and girls worldwide, my hope is that we will truly engage and work to correct what is fundamentally flawed and wrong about current attempts to reform and correct or change individual and/or groups of women, when it is increasingly the laws and policies within which we all work that are increasingly coming in to conflict with people, especially poor, racialized, and disabled women.