Guidelines for Advocacy
Section IV - Areas of Advocacy

1. the woman’s cultural, language, spiritual, health related specialty needs assessed promptly so that the applicable community organization(s) may be contacted . From this organization, a funded community worker might be enlisted to provide support, guidance and assistance on a regular basis such that the assistance in maintaining family ties and the pursuit of personal goals will be enabled
2. language and content specific media and entertainment be available on a weekly basis (funding for this proposal could be cost-shared with various non-governmental organizations)
3. the appointment of the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada (or other applicable organization) as ongoing consultants in each region.
4. lesbian and gay support and community groups be utilized for specialized counseling and meetings on a weekly basis

1. a protected and separate Spiritual area within the prison grounds of every regional prison (federal and provincial) across Canada to be available so that women may have daily access to First Nations’ elders and a private meeting place for the Sisterhood Groups (Aboriginal women account for up to 85% of some provincial prison populations)
2. sweatlodge participation and pow-wows to be honoured as the spiritual observances that they are
3. guarantees under section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms - freedom of association and freedom of religion be designated a right to people in prison and that under no circumstance will attendance for spiritual guidance from an elder and/or sweatlodge participation be construed to be a “program” which can be denied by prison authorities for any reason
4. guarantees that funding for First Nation’s Spirituality and programming will be protected from administrative misappropriation or decrease, by ensuring that Trust Funds will be provided by a Ministry outside of Justice and/or Solicitor General and further that all accounting for use of these funds will be completed by the attending First Nation’s Elder or the First Nations’ community liaisons
5. a life contract with the Native Women’s Association of Canada to be mandated to monitor and report on the adherence to and/or discrepancies in the treatment and needs of all incarcerated First Nations’ Women
6. federal transfers to the Healing Lodge be based on order of application and family/community proximity
7. the right to be housed in the Healing Lodge and the order of acceptance into the Healing Lodge not be determined on the basis of performance outside of the Healing Lodge; that all women are first given the opportunity to abide by the standards as set out by the Aboriginal administrators of the Healing Lodge facility, before labeling any woman as too “dangerous” or of too high a security level to be considered for transfer
8. an unbiased response by staff and an equal opportunity for positive self-realization for federally sentenced women transferred to the Healing Lodge by insuring that any internal prison records from other prisons concerning discipline should be made available on a confidential basis only to the warden of the Healing Lodge
9. funding provisions to construct transition houses in every region of Canada to be designed, staffed and administered by First Nations’ elders and counselors for First Nations’ women who are eligible for release from any prison in Canada including the Healing Lodge

Nearly four generations of Aboriginal people were never parented. Children were taken from their parents and grandparents, from an environment that provided the groundwork for maturity and cultural identity through love, teachings, counsel and example to an agency schooling process. There, Aboriginal children endured the fanaticism of their keepers whose ethos included the erasure of all traces of cultural traditions including languages. All of the children suffered years of varying degrees of every form of abuse imaginable. Most learned only painful lessons of silence and shame. After returning to their communities many turned to alcohol and/or drugs as a way to cope with their unresolved conflicts and unacknowledged pain. They became abusers themselves. For generations much of the violence and abuse was turned against their own families and community. Suicide rates are extremely high on reserves. Many Aboriginal people relocated to urban centres where the bigotry and racism are also endemic furthering the cycle of violence.

The increasing rate of imprisonment for Aboriginal men is in epidemic proportions. In the federal system alone in the years 1992 to 1997 the numbers of Aboriginal men as a % of men imprisoned rose from 10.9% to 14.4%. The numbers (1560 to 2130) represent a 36.5% increase. For the years 1997-2007, the CSC forecasts a 38.3% increase in Aboriginal men imprisoned (+816). Numbers sentenced to provincial and territorial reformatories, jails and prisons may be assumed to be as high if not higher. Additionally, due to “high risk behaviours”, the “rate of infection of HIV/AIDS among Aboriginals is estimated at 5-6 times the national average.”³ Fetal alcohol syndrome “(FAS/FAE) is also much higher amongst some Aboriginal groups.”

Aboriginal people cannot possibly heal in a prison environment that simply mimics the conditions they have endured as children. And what of their children? Statistics support the conclusion that many family members of Aboriginal prisoners also have criminal records. It is therefore paramount that Aboriginal women in prison be granted all opportunities to break the cycle that they were born into; to find pride and dignity in their Aboriginal identities and to begin once more to pass these teachings on to their children. Those who founded the idea of the Okimaw Ochi Healing Lodge in Saskatchewan envisioned that these teachings could begin in the Healing Lodge. These Aboriginal women would then re-discover their dignity and identities and be able to teach their children so that the brutal cycle of children abused and neglected = adult abusers of children, could be broken.

Unfortunately, the Okimaw Ochi Healing Lodge appears on its way towards the predictable focus of punishment and control. The CSC are gradually replacing Aboriginal workers and elders and the path towards healing through the integration of Aboriginal spiritual teachings and cultural identity with CSC custodial staff focused upon control.

Compounding the tragedy, it is not only Aboriginal prisoners who lacked parenting with love. Many prisoners grew up on the street after running away from abuse, impoverishment or cruel foster home situations. Some had already been separated from their siblings. Many have no understanding of what it means to be within a secure family. Many of these prisoners had also turned to drugs and alcohol as a means of escape from their own memories and these people as well, are unable to parent their own children with dignity and in healthful conditions. The ongoing cycle of parents in prison = children of prisoners becoming prisoners is a statistical possibility when help is not available.

3 CSC. 2000. Report on Plans and Priorities 2000-2003. http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca
4 Monture-Angus, Patricia. 2000. “Aboriginal Women and Correctional Practice: Reflections on the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women.” In Hannah-Moffat, Kelly and Margaret Shaw. Eds. An Ideal Prison? Critical Essays on Women’s Imprisonment in Canada. Halifax: Fernwood .