Understanding Our Truth in Reconciliation

St. Leonard’s Society of Canada (SLSC) acknowledges that its office is located on the traditional unceded Anishinaabeg Algonquin Territory and that its member organizations are located on various traditional unceded lands across the country.

SLSC launched a new project throughout the past year, called Understanding Our Truth in Reconciliation: Applying Decolonizing and Indigenizing Strategies to Address Gaps in Community Corrections. This project helped us to better understand how to apply decolonizing and Indigenizing strategies to contribute to advancing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action to support reconciliation efforts. Part of this project research was understanding the importance of Indigenization & decolonization.

What is Indigenization?

  • Indigenization highlights the validity of Indigenous worldviews, perspectives, and knowledges.
  • Indigenization recognizes opportunities for the expression of Indigeneity.
  • Indigenization acknowledges Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing.

What is Decolonization?

  • Decolonization restores Indigenous worldviews, ways, and cultures.
  • Decolonization replaces Western perspectives of history with Indigenous interpretations of history.

To learn more about Indigenization and decolonization, you can click on the button below:

Indigenous Peoples are not only overpoliced and over-incarcerated, but they also face worse correctional outcomes in comparison to non-Indigenous individuals. Correctional outcomes include Indigenous Peoples being held for longer periods of time before accessing conditional releases or parole, and being held at higher security levels. Indigenous women represent over half of the total number of incarcerated women. All whilst being kept under stricter security measures and being needlessly transferred further and further away from cultural and community supports.

Here are some key facts and statistics about Indigenous Peoples and incarceration in Canada:

Indigenous Peoples also do not have as much access to programs as their non-Indigenous counterparts, while often being held in segregation in structured intervention units, also known as SIUs. 43.9% of Indigenous Peoples are held in SIUs. Which often leads to psychological distress, especially in communities that have faced complex trauma that was caused by colonialism.

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples states that colonialism is the primary cause of the Indigenous incarceration crisis. In order to steal land, and resources and attempt to control Indigenous populations, the government had to find ways to oppress Indigenous populations. To oppress Indigenous Peoples, the government used:

  • The Indian Act
  • Reserves
  • Residential schools
  • Systemic Discrimination 
  • Scalping bounties
  • Forced sterilization
  • The Sixties Scoop
  • And more…

To read more about the Royal Commission’s report on how Indigenous populations are being affected in Canada, click the button below:

The TRC Calls to Action, in addition to the Calls to Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG); and, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) are current drivers of change available to SLSC. SLSC has developed an action plan based on TRC recommendations #30, #35, #37, and #42.  

Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

TRC Recommendation #30

Calls upon federal, provincial, and territorial governments to commit to eliminating the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in custody over the next decade.

TRC Recommendation #35

Calls upon the federal government to eliminate barriers to the creation of additional Indigenous healing lodges within the federal correctional system.

TRC Recommendation #37

Calls upon the federal government to provide more supports for Indigenous programming in halfway houses and parole services.

TRC Recommendation #42

Calls upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to commit to the recognition and implementation of Indigenous justice systems.

SLSC will start making changes and taking action by doing the following steps:

  • Broadening engagement with community-run Healing Lodges to inform its actions
  • Broadening engagement with Indigenous communities interested in exploring S.81 and S. 84 releases
  • Starting a dialogue with Indigenous Initiatives Directorate at CSC and the Deputy Commissioner of Indigenous Corrections to consider if/how SLSCs affiliated members could combine their community supervision capacity at the halfway houses with local indigenous organizations who may be interested, albeit hesitant, to take on the full community supervision roles.
  • Decolonize and indigenize the language, processes, and approaches within SLSC and our member organizations.
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