History of healing lodges

Two important issues prompted the creation of healing lodges:

• the concerns from members of the Indigenous community that mainstream federal institutional programs did not work for Indigenous offenders
• the dramatic over-representation of Indigenous people in Canada's correctional system

In 1990, the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women recommended that one of the five new regional federal facilities for women should be specifically for Indigenous women. The Native Women's Association of Canada proposed the concept of a healing lodge. The result was the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge (which means "Thunder Hills" in Cree) a 29-bed facility located on 160 acres of the Nekaneet First Nation outside Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. It was opened in November 1995.

Soon, planning was underway for the first Indigenous facility for male minimum-security inmates. The Pê Sâkâstêw Centre (pronounced bay-saw-ga-stay-o) meaning "New Beginnings" opened in August of 1997. It is located near Hobbema, Alberta on the Samson Cree Nation, just south of Edmonton. It is a 60-bed, federally owned centre housing 40 inmates and 20 day parolees. The Centre was designed by architects in consideration of the values and suggestions of Samson Cree Elders and symbolizes the Indigenous worldview.

In 1992, the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) strengthened the relationship between CSC and Indigenous communities. Indigenous communities now help develop and deliver services and programs to Indigenous offenders. This creates an environment that is inclusive of Indigenous spirituality and culture.

In 1994, CSC began discussions with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice and the Prince Albert Grand Council (P.A.G.C.) for the shared accommodation of a 30-bed healing lodge facility on the Wahpeton First Nation, for Indigenous offenders. The P.A.G.C. built the facility and it opened in 1997. The lodge operates under two agreements, one with the province of Saskatchewan for 25 beds and one with CSC for five beds.

In 1999, an agreement was signed by the Native Counselling Services (NCSA) and the Solicitor General to transfer the operations of the Stan Daniels Centre from CSC to the Indigenous community. The operation has now become the Stan Daniels Healing Centre and ensures that the traditional Indigenous healing methods and teachings of the Elders become the core of the programs.

The healing lodge approach has also found its way into the halfway houses that CSC supports, including what is now called the "Waseskun Healing Centre" located in the foothills of the Laurentian mountain range, approximately an hour from Montreal. Waseskun Healing Centre has services in French and English and provides intensive residential therapy for men and women referred from Indigenous communities and from provincial and federal facilities. The Waseskun Centre officially became a "Waseskun Healing Lodge" in 1999.

The concept of the healing lodge has even gone into existing federal institutions. In 1999, the Spiritual Lodge at Stony Mountain Institution in Winnipeg, Manitoba was opened. In this particular institution, the majority of the offenders are Indigenous, and it soon became apparent as these numbers grew that specific programming and designs were required to address the needs of the Indigenous population. The lodge does not house inmates, but provides a central location for Indigenous programming, spiritual circles and ceremonies as well as office space for the Elders.

In its 2016 Fall Report of the Auditor General of Canada: Report 3 - Preparing Indigenous Offenders for Release, the Office of the Auditor General found that Indigenous offenders released from healing lodges were more likely to successfully complete their supervision (78 percent) than those released from other minimum-security institutions (63 percent).

In 2017, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released the Final Report on Canada's Residential Schools. In their Call to Action #35, they urged the Government of Canada to "eliminate barriers to the creation of additional Indigenous healing lodges within the federal correctional system." CSC continues to respond to the report by exploring new engagement opportunities to promote care and custody arrangements defined by Indigenous communities that express interest in the delivery of correctional services.

In 2017-18, CSC strengthened the Section 81 funding arrangement to better support its operations and respond to the needs of Indigenous communities/organizations managing healing lodges. CSC also renewed three existing agreements with Indigenous communities/organizations in the Quebec Region and the Prairie Region to provide ongoing access to culturally responsive environments. CSC is committed to ongoing partnership with Indigenous communities through annual engagement sessions. These discussions with Indigenous communities serve to identify barriers and options to address these barriers as CSC continues to nurture its long-standing relationship with Indigenous Peoples.