Strategic Plan for Indigenous Corrections

Contact Us:
Indigenous Initiatives Directorate
Correctional Service Canada
340 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0P9
Telephone : 613-995-5465
E-mail : gen-nhqai-da@csc-scc.gc.ca

Senior Deputy Commissioner’s Message

Much has been accomplished in the last five years, as CSC has developed and implemented new approaches to Indigenous corrections. I am proud of the innovation that has occurred. The dedication and commitment of Elders, Indigenous Liaison Officers, community representatives and Indigenous organizations in contributing to this work has been invaluable.

There were certainly risks in trying new approaches, but initial results from evaluations and research support further development and implementation. What Indigenous peoples have long sought in the justice system – an approach that integrates Indigenous views of justice and reconciliation – is having a positive impact for Indigenous communities as well as for individual offenders.

We now know what needs to change and why. But just as important, we know what should not be changed. The Indigenous corrections continuum of care adopted in 2003 is consistent with the four key components of CSC’s overall correctional strategy – baseline risk and needs assessment at intake, research-based interventions that respond to those risks and needs, reassessment for decision-making, and community reintegration.

This strategic plan articulates a vision for Indigenous corrections that will take us beyond development and implementation of correctional interventions, to enhancing capacities to provide interventions for Indigenous offenders within a continuum of care model that respects the diversity of First Nations, Métis and Inuit offenders and their communities. It calls for greater integration of Indigenous initiatives and considerations throughout our organization, with other levels of government and with Indigenous peoples.

Section 84 of the CCRA legislates community notification and engagement when an Indigenous offender wants to be released to an Indigenous community. In practice, we know that community acceptance and capacity to support an offender after release is essential in every case. Not all Indigenous communities are ready to participate. Immediate needs in the areas of health, housing and infrastructure take priority. As Indigenous communities define their needs and aspirations in relation to community safety and crime prevention, we need to work with our partners to respond to those needs in a cohesive way. A wholistic approach to community healing and development means working from the community’s perspective to identify what we can bring to the process.

Ultimately, our results will be measured in terms of public safety – the contribution that Indigenous-specific interventions make to reducing the rate of violent re-offending while individuals are under CSC jurisdiction and the contribution that those interventions make to helping offenders sustain progress beyond the end of their sentence.

Don Head

Senior Deputy Commissioner

Director General’s Message

This strategic plan articulates our vision for Indigenous corrections – to ensure a federalcorrectional system that is responsive to the needs of Indigenous offenders and that contributes to safe and healthy communities.

For over 20 years, Elders have provided services in institutions during some very challenging circumstances. Beginning with the introduction of Indigenous Liaison Officers and of healing lodges over the past 10 years, Elders have become integral to every part of CSC's business. More recently, the first phase of the Indigenous Effective Corrections Initiative gave CSC funding for research to better understand the diverse needs of Indigenous offenders and to develop and pilot new approaches that incorporate Indigenous values, cultures and traditions in our correctional operations. CSC now has a continuum of care model that has, at its core, spiritual and cultural interventions provided by Elders and core national correctional programs based their teachings and guidance. The initial results from implementation of interventions within this model are demonstrating positive results. We are making progress, but it takes time.

This strategy builds on the learning of the last 10 years, with three key areas of focus:

• Fully developing and implementing the continuum of care and services for Indigenous meand women offenders, from intake through warrant expiry, in all regions
• Enhancing horizontal collaboration with other levels of government, with Indigenous
• communities and with stakeholders; and,
• Identifying systemic barriers for Indigenous offenders and increasing CSC cultural
• competence to address those barriers.

Our priority in these three areas is to enhance capacities to provide effective interventions for First Nations, Métis and Inuit offenders.

However, we cannot forget that correctional interventions alone will not make a difference. Correctional results are important, but these results, are about people. We cannot impact the over-representation of Indigenous people, or recidivism rates, without community involvement, support, and capacity. At the end of the day, it will be Indigenous and Canadian communities which will have the power to change these results. For CSC, this means working to ensure a strong network of support after release, to help Indigenous offenders sustain the progress made during their sentence. And it means respecting that communities, whether on-reserve or off, rural or urban, remote or Northern, have different capacities to support correctional initiatives.

I am confident that the objectives and initiatives identified in this strategic plan will make a difference in the longer-term. It is essential that we decrease the gap in correctional results between Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders throughout the sentence. Our contribution, through this strategy, will provide offenders with the tools to make better choices to contribute to their community in a more traditional Indigenous manner. What this means for Indigenous communities is that their members will return healthier than when they left. Their families and communities will be safer because of these efforts and Canada will be safer.

Lisa Allgaier

Director General, Indigenous Initiatives

Context

In their 1996 report, the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples brought to the attention of governments and the public the severity of problems for Indigenous peoples in Canada. The Commission concluded that “the justice system has failed Indigenous peoples” and the key indicator of this failure was the steadily increasing over-representation in Canadian penitentiaries and prisons. Other research had demonstrated persistent over-representation at all levels of Canada’s justice system. Greater recognition and understanding of Indigenous community issues and Indigenous cultures and traditions were identified as crucial to address these problems. While issues of over-representation presented serious challenges, there was also extensive interest in Indigenous self-government, a separate justice system, and strategies for supporting the development of Indigenous communities. Revised legal frameworks and jurisdictional arrangements were central to Indigenous proposals for legislative reform. Amendments to the Criminal Code followed, introducing provisions for alternative measures and diversion programs. Section 718.2(e) specifically required that sentencing judges take into consideration all available sanctions other than imprisonment for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of Indigenous offenders. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada decision R. v. Gladue provided further direction on how to apply Section 718.2(e). In this case, the original decision of the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that this Section did not apply, as the accused was living off reserve. While the British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld the original decision, Justice Rowles wrote a strong dissenting opinion on the extent of systemic discrimination in the criminal justice system. The Supreme Court ruled that Section 718.2(e) did apply. The Court further required sentencing judges to use a two-part test for considering the circumstances of all Indigenous offenders:

• The unique systemic or background factors which may have played a part in bringing the particular Indigenous offender before the courts, and
• Types of sentencing procedures and sanctions which may be appropriate in the circumstances because of his or her Indigenous heritage or connection.

The Court further identified the specific background factors to apply in analyzing individual situations. The decision acknowledged the place in the criminal justice system of Indigenous beliefs on justice and reconciliation and on the interconnectedness between individuals, families and communities (be it urban, rural or reserve).

Our Relationship with Indigenous Peoples

The Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) 1992 was one piece in a series of legislative reforms to the criminal justice system. The CCRA targeted offenders at highest risk to public safety for the most restrictive provisions of the legislation while providing legislative options for managing lower risk offenders. It made public safety the paramount consideration for all decision-making about an offender. It also responded to some of the most significant issues raised by the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples about the corrections and conditional release system.

The CCRA fundamentally redefined the relationship between CSC and Indigenous peoples when it came into effect on November 1, 1992. For the first time, the law gave Indigenous peoples a place in the development and delivery of federal correctional policies, programs and services and a place for Indigenous spirituality and culture in the correctional environment. And it gave CSC an obligation to consider offender health status in all decision-making about offenders – an obligation that is consistent with Indigenous belief in the inter-connectedness of all aspects of life. Annex A identifies the Indigenous-specific provisions in the CCRA.

CSC’s first priority was to develop a policy to accommodate the practice of Indigenous spirituality and culture within federal penitentiaries. Commissioner’s Directive 702 on Indigenous Programming was issued in 1995, following consultation with Elders and Indigenous Liaison Officers working in institutions. Inmates belonging to Native Brotherhood and Native Sisterhood groups and working on behalf of Indigenous offenders participated in this consultation. The policy provided a framework of definitions, considerations and guidelines for implementation. What was still lacking, however, were ways to integrate culturally appropriate operations, programs and services throughout the system and to engage Indigenous communities in doing so. The concept of an Indigenous healing lodge integrating Indigenous beliefs on justice and reconciliation first emerged from the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women in 1990.

The concept was a collaborative effort with CSC, the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and the Native Women’s Association of Canada. Annex B provides a description of the concept presented in the Task Force’s final report.

As the Task Force continued development of an operational plan for implementation, a subsequent incident at the Prison for Women in April 1994 provided further impetus for action. It focused public attention on the plight of Indigenous women offenders, their disconnect from their families and communities and their need for healing. Working with the Nekaneet First Nation in Saskatchewan, the first healing lodge for Indigenous women, Okimaw Ohci, opened in 1995. The first healing lodge for Indigenous men followed in 1997.

The Quest for Correctional Change

The increasingly disproportionate representation of Indigenous peoples in the federal offender population led to establishment of an Indigenous Issues Branch as part of the Correctional Operations and Programs Sector at National Headquarters in the early 1990’s. The first task for the Director General, following completion of Commissioner’s Directive 702 in 1995, was to lead development of a national strategy for Indigenous corrections. In 1997, CSC’s Executive Committee approved the strategy, with five major objectives:

1. to strengthen Indigenous offender programming
2. to enhance the role for Indigenous communities in corrections
3. to increase Indigenous human resources
4. to enhance partnerships and relations, and
5. to ensure adequate resourcing

Key initiatives included:

• Creation of a National Indigenous Advisory Committee and Regional Indigenous Advisory Committees to support development and implementation of Indigenous initiatives
• A National Recruitment Strategy to attract and retain Indigenous staff, to support implementation of Indigenous initiatives, and
• Development of a framework for enhancing the role of Indigenous communities in corrections, including specific initiatives and resources for implementation.

Engaging Indigenous Communities – 2000 to 2005

A Framework for Enhancing the Role of Indigenous Communities was completed in 1999. It formed the basis for development of an “Effective Corrections Initiative” in partnership with the then Department of the Solicitor General and the National Parole Board. In July 2000, the federal Treasury Board approved funding for this initiative. CSC received $18.6 million over five years (2000-01 to 2004-05). The bulk of the funding ($11.9 million) was initially dedicated to developing additional Indigenous healing lodges with Indigenous communities. Emerging research evidence was demonstrating that reconnection with families and communities improved outcomes and reduced recidivism. But by the end of 2002, several failed attempts to establish and sustain new healing lodges identified two key barriers to progress. First, while some Indigenous communities were interested in developing healing lodges, many lacked the capacity and/or expertise to engage in the planning, development and implementation of community-based alternatives. Priorities for rural and remote communities, including the North, were focused on more immediate needs such as health, housing, and economic development. Priorities in urban centres were targeting the same needs, as well as issues related to social marginalization for Indigenous peoples. Secondly, an examination in 2002 of outcomes for offenders who had been released from healing lodges, found higher rates of recidivism than for Indigenous offenders released from CSC minimum security institutions (19% versus 13%). CSC lacked Indigenous-specific programs in institutions to help offenders prepare for the healing lodge environment. An audit of access to spiritual and cultural services in 2000 had indicated only 3% of Indigenous offenders identified affiliation with Indigenous spirituality on admission, suggesting the need for a continuum of interventions that would begin on admission. As a result of these findings, CSC refocused efforts on adjusting operational approaches throughout the sentence, to help Indigenous offenders reconnect with their culture and communities, and to better understand the diverse needs of First Nations, Métis and Inuit offenders and their communities. At the end of this five-year initiative, CSC had developed and implemented a number of initiatives within a Continuum of Care model created with the guidance of Elders and the participation of national Indigenous organizations.

These included:

• Seven national Indigenous correctional programs targeting basic healing, violence prevention, family violence prevention, substance abuse and prevention of sexual reoffending by Inuit offenders.
• A Pathways Indigenous population management strategy that was being piloted in three medium security institutions, to better prepare offenders for transfer to lower security and for conditional release.
• Indigenous Community Development Officers who had initiated community engagement on release planning for almost 400 offenders.
• Key research studies, published in 2004, that identified the diverse profiles and needs of First Nations, Métis, Inuit and Indigenous women offenders. Indigenous research reports are available on CSC’s Internet site.

Ongoing Initiatives

Preliminary results from the Effective Corrections Initiative were encouraging. Enhanced programs and correctional interventions within a Continuum of Care were having a positive impact on public safety – reducing the severity of re-offending and the potential for reincarceration. While much has been accomplished, the preliminary results also suggested the need for further development and evaluation of specific initiatives. Based on these results, the federal Treasury Board approved $3.7 million annually in ongoing funding to:

• Expand Pathways healing units to the Atlantic, Ontario and Pacific Regions and to one women offender facility
• Continue the work of existing Indigenous Community Development Officers to actively engage Indigenous communities in release planning for Indigenous offenders.

As a condition of this approval, CSC must provide Treasury Board with an evaluation by June 30, 2009, of how these initiatives contribute to the broader CSC reintegration results.