Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Our post today concerns one form of incarceration which has garnered considerable discussion and controversy since the Calls to Action were made: The implementation and operation of ‘Aboriginal healing lodges’.
Call to Action 35 is as stated:
“We call upon the federal government to eliminate barriers to the creation of additional Aboriginal healing lodges within the federal correctional system.”[1]
Healing lodges were first implemented by the Federal Government in 1995 in an attempt to address the disproportionate incarceration rates of Indigenous men and women through decreasing recidivism rates.[2] The broad principles behind Healing lodges are to move the purpose of incarceration from a punitive model to one of rehabilitation. Healing lodges implement ‘culturally-specific programming’ that are intended to address underlying individual factors that led to incarceration.[3]
Okima Ochi Healing Lodge - Corrections Canada
There are currently ten healing lodges operating across Canada, with one additional planned facility announced in 2019. [4] There are two ways in which healing lodges are operated. Four are run directly through Corrections Services Canada, while the other six are operated by Indigenous communities or partner organizations, under the oversight of Corrections Canada.[5]
While data that has been made available has suggested that healing lodges do work to reduce recidivism,[6] a prison by any other name is still a prison.[7] Implementing initiatives like healing lodges allow policymakers to distract from the deeper issues behind incarceration, many that have been outlined by this blog this week. While healing lodges do provide a “kinder, gentler narrative of reform,” they can act to obscure the dialogue from a deeper, systematic review.[8] Healing lodges, while a welcomed alternative to the harsh realities of formal incarceration, do not combat the criminalization of poverty, over-policing and destructive colonial policies that created the social conditions which lead to incarceration. The increase of Indigenous offenders has far out-paced the availability of healing lodges.
Since the implementation of healing lodges, Corrections Canada has exerted increased control over not only who staffs these lodges, but who is admitted, and how they operate.[9] This has lead to a mounting criticism from founding organizers who initially advocated for their creation.[10] While Healing lodges do offer cultural programming, this is limited to the geographical and financial restraints which are unable to reflect the diversity among Indigenous nations. For healing lodges which are community-operated, the loss of autonomy over who is admitted creates controversy when high profile non-Indigenous offenders have been transferred to healing lodges.[11] This has caused considerable dialogue in media and political spheres, sparking discussions on criminal law reform discussions that miss the nuance required for these discussions to be productive.[12]
Recidivism data by institution is rarely made available, so it is difficult to assess with certainty the effectiveness of healing lodges. However, it appears that increased programming and holistic approaches to incarceration do lead to decreased recidivism rates.[13] Since the Calls to Action, the Federal government has not done much to improve the availability of healing lodges, or worked to maximize this opportunity. One additional lodge has been announced for women in Scarborough, adding 24-beds, and some minor legislative changes were made to funding models.[14] Healing Lodges, when run through communities without stifling oversight from Corrections Canada, can be a powerful tool to combat the disproportionate outcomes of the justice system. We have not seen a marked improvement since the Calls to Action were made.
Until Tomorrow,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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1Canada, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Honouring the Truth and Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Winnipeg: The Commission, 2015 at 176.
2Correctional Service Canada, “History of Healing Lodges” (05 September 2019), online: < https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/002/003/002003-2001-en.shtml>.
3Ibid.
4Ibid.
5Ibid.
6 Leticia Gutierrez et al, “Culturally Relevant Programming Versus the Status Quo: A Meta-analytic Review of the Effectiveness of Treatment of Indigenous Offenders” (2018) 60: 3 Can J Crim
7Maya Schenwar & Victoria Law, Prison by Any Other Name (New York: The New Press, 2020).
8 Ibid.
9 Abigail BImman, “’ There’s Nothing Left there’: A Founder of Canada’s First Healing Lodge Says CSC Dismantled Vision” Global News (14 January 2019) online: < https://globalnews.ca/news/4836380/founder-canada-first-healing-lodge-csc-vision/>.
10Ibid.
11Office of the Correctional Investigator, “Spirit Matters: Aboriginal People and the Corrections And Conditional Release Act” (22 October 2012), online: https://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/cnt/rpt/oth-aut/oth-aut20121022-eng.aspx.
12 Peter Zimonjic, “Scheer to force Commons vote on transfer of Tori Stafford’s killer to healing lodge” CBC News (28 Septmber 2018), online: < https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/andrew-scheer-stafford-commons-motion-1.4843311>.
13 Leticia Gutierrez et al, "The Prediction of Recidivism with Aboriginal Offenders: A Theoretically Informed Meta-Analysis" (2013) 55:1 Can J Corr 55.
14 Crown-Ingidionus Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, "Delivering on Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action" (05 September 2019).
