Audio tour Why We Are in Prison

According to sociologist Vicki Chartrand, Indigenous people are much more likely to be “criminalized and imprisoned for acts that are related to poverty, lack of educational and employment opportunities, lifestyles of substance abuse, mental health concerns and histories of sexual abuse, violence and trauma – in other words, colonialism.”  

After decades spent as a criminal prosecutor in northern Saskatchewan, Harold Johnson described alcohol as “the elephant in the room”: “[a]lcohol is very good at ameliorating the symptoms of PTSD. The problem is the side effects.” Johnson points out that the community members charged with offences related to alcohol intoxication are generally truly good people; it is the alcohol that changes them.  

In his scholarship on the Native Brotherhood, Seth Adema found that the original Native Brotherhood from the “mostly Cree-speaking Métis men in Prince Albert Penitentiary. . . were able to present a near unified voice for their distinct challenges, needs, and opportunities for healing.” The Native Brotherhood was able to open the door for more inclusive policies that recognized culture as a means of rehabilitation.

Their broader sentiments about the failures of mandatory supervision resonate with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action #42: “We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to commit to the recognition and implementation of Aboriginal justice systems in a manner consistent with the Treaty and Aboriginal rights of Aboriginal peoples, the Constitution Act, 1982, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [UNDRIP], endorsed by Canada in November 2012.”  In June 2021, UNDRIP received royal assent in Canada, forging a path for Indigenous self-determination. 

Read by Arron Naytowhow