David Milward's piece, titled "Sweating it Out: Facilitating Corrections and Parole in Canada through Aboriginal Spiritual Healing", provides interesting ideas that push for including methods of Aboriginal spiritual healing within correctional rehabilitation plans. I will go over the main ideas presented by Milward and discuss what they mean for Canada's corrections and rehabilitation systems. While Milward delves into many aspects of incarnation, at present my focus has mainly been on his viewpoint on the theory of Aboriginal Spiritual Healing in Prisons, his criticism towards high indigenous prison populations, the effectiveness of these programs he talks about and how reallocating these resources would benefit positively to the economy. …show more content…
The way Milward argues for including Aboriginal spiritual healing methods in correctional rehabilitation plans touches me deeply. The way he focuses on the deep cultural bonds made by these actions is very relatable. Such connections have the potential to spark significant changes in people and help them heal. The idea of internal healing, closely linked to one's cultural background, fits perfectly with my understanding of rehabilitation principles. The critique from Milward about high Indigenous imprisonment rates highlights the problems deeply rooted in corrections and parole systems. Usual methods of incarceration frequently do not consider the special cultural and social situations of Indigenous inmates. As he says, it's very important to make structural changes for better results in rehabilitating these groups who are being treated poorly by society. The part in Milward's argument about how effective Aboriginal spiritual healing programs are within correctional settings is very interesting. The idea that if correctly put into action, these initiatives can contribute to improved rehabilitation outcomes and lesser repeat offender rates finds support from many of his peers. The concept of cultural healing having a key role in the journey of rehabilitation is something I feel strongly about. Also, Milward's suggestion of shifting resources to culturally sensitive programming is practical and future oriented. If we put money into efforts that focus on spiritual healing and cultural understanding, it might pay off with economic advantages in the long run. This method of "spend now, save later" highlights the need to reconsider the present system of imprisonment. To sum up, Milward's proposal to include Aboriginal spiritual healing in prison rehabilitation programs
Inventing the Savage was an interesting look in how Native Americans are expected to assimilate into culture, and because they have no desire to assimilate in “Euro-American” culture, they are treated harshly. Though this book was published in 1998 (15 years ago), there is most likely unfair treatment for Native Americans in both regular society and prisons. By writing this book, Ross gives a great perspective on how Native Americans are treated like “cultural prisoners” and how the “Euro-Americans” do not take kindly to the behaviors of the Native Americans. Overall, this book is highly recommendable to anyone who has an interest in learning about Native American criminality, as well as the treatment of women in prison, but more importantly the treatment of Native Americans in prison even today.
Fleras, Augie. “Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Repairing the Relationship.” Chapter 7 of Unequal Relations: An Introduction to Race, Ethnic and Aboriginal Dynamics in Canada. 6th ed. Toronto: Pearson, 2010. 162-210. Print.
It would not be inconsistent with the principle of equality before the law that, where members of the Aboriginal race have special needs, those should be recognised by special rules laid down by the law. Further, the law is flexible enough to allow the courts to consider the special situation of an Aboriginal party where that is relevant. As the courts have recognised, the sentencing of Aboriginal offenders presents particular difficulties. Judges, in an attempt to do justice in discharging the difficult role of sentencing tribal and semi-tribal Aboriginal persons, have gone further. Clearly the ordinary criminal law is capable of facing these difficulties. It is neither necessary, nor desirable, to apply to the Aboriginal peoples the rules of their customary law rather than the general law. The attempt to uphold Aboriginal customary law is one aspect of the notion that the Aboriginal peoples will benefit if they continue to be treated as a class separate from the rest of the community, which must necessarily be a dependent and disadvantaged class.
Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. The Justice System and Aboriginal People: Child Welfare. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html.
LaPrairie, C. (1998). The new justice: Some implications for aboriginal communities. Canadian Journal of Criminology. 40 (1), 61-79.
The system in place is completely unsuitable and unhelpful for Native people and it shows just how indifferent Canada is to First Nations peoples’ well-being. Zimmerman explains in his article “Outcomes” that it is a well-known fact that Aboriginal people are overrepresented in the prison system (1992). There are so many reasons why this is so, and the majority of those reasons are because of the terrible way that Canada has interacted with them. They are isolated in their reserves, they are haunted by their residential school experiences, leading to alcoholism, domestic violence and neglect, and they face discrimination and a lack of social support from the government. Once an Aboriginal person finds themselves in the clutches of the prison system, the indifference begins. Canada’s criminal justice system is indifferent to an Aboriginal person’s cultural, spiritual, and individual needs that separate them from the average convicted person (Zimmerman, 1992). The criminal justice system ignores the unique idea of justice and restoration that First Nations peoples have, making it extremely irrelevant and unhelpful for them. First Nations peoples have linguistic and cultural barriers and a lack of counsel and understanding of the criminal processes and, therefore, have misguided rulings and inaccurate proceedings. Canada has not provided the cultural training and
Canada is a country where rehabilitation has been a formal part of sentencing and correctional policies for an extended period of time (Andrews & Bonta, 2010). Furthermore, a group of Canadian researchers have examined the methodology and effectiveness of rehabilitation, and are principal figures in the correctional rehabilitation field (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). However, despite rehabilitation being a central aspect of Canadian identity, there has been a shift in the justice system’s objectives. The rise of the Conservative government and their omnibus bill C-10, Safe Streets and Communities Act, has created a move towards retribution. Bill C-10 was passed on March 12, 2012 (Government of Canada, 2013) and was a proposal to make fundamental changes to almost every component of Canada’s criminal justice system. Law changes included new and increased mandatory minimum sentencin...
The purpose of this paper is to examine why the justice system fails for First Nations persons and alternative rehabilitation methods used by Aboriginal people, comprised of Aboriginal people, for Aboriginal people, in hopes to rehabilitate offenders and prevent criminal behavior in the Aboriginal community from precontact to today. Through the attempts of Aboriginal people to take control of their own destiny’s in the ever going struggle to attain self-government I will examine the aims and structure of one of these alternative rehabilitation methods, the Sentencing Circle used today to address the need to return to community based “Restorative Justice Programs” in the Aboriginal community
This also becomes a challenge to correctional personnel since there is a prominent culture barrier between the inmate and staff. The correctional staff may also have their preconceived judgment towards Aboriginal women. Moreover, it is vital for the staff to understand and acknowledge the past of the Aboriginal women (Dell & Kilty, 2012). This creates challenge in corrections since Indigenous women have disparities with the rest of the prison population; with their unique circumstances, they should have programs tailored towards their reintegration (Dell & Kilty,
Self-determination and the freedom to address specific mental health issues in the way communities best deem fit would be an effective step in reconciliation. However, the level of funding each community would receive might be unequal. The quality of mental health care due to the lack of national regulation could differ from community to community, depending on mental wellness knowledge and resource availability. Ethical Questions and Implications: Is it healthier for reconciliation to have Indigenous communities decide individually and independently how to approach the issue or will federally backed, formulated plans be more effective in treating mental health long term, especially because the issue is so critical and urgent? Should Indigenous communities be forced to rely on a governmental system that has broken promises and caused the intergenerational trauma that so heavily affects mental health in the same
Bopp and Bopp (2007: 45) argue that the tendency of making use of uniform strategies in restorative justice loses values and often overlooks the heterogeneity of identities as well as the experience of the native people. This means that it is important to acknowledge the differences amongst the aboriginal people. It is evident that the use of retributive model of justice has been used in many of the corrections in Canada. Despite that, this method has not been effective in reducing crime amongst the aboriginal people.
The gross over representation of indigenous people in the Australian criminal justice system (CJS) is so disturbingly evident that it is never the source of debate. Rather it is the starting point of discussions centring on the source and solutions to this prominent social, cultural and political issue. Discourse surrounds not only the economic and social disadvantage of indigenous communities, but also the systemic racism and continuing intergenerational trauma resulting for the unjust colonisation of a nation which has profited whites at the detriment to indigenous people throughout history. In respect to the currently CJS, trepidations are raised by indigenous communities around the lack of culturally diverse laws and punishments within the system. The overtly western system does not provide a viable space for indigenous
No community in Canada comes into conflict with criminal justice system officials more disproportionately than Aboriginals (Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.77). Indeed, Aboriginal Canadians are often subject to both overt and unintended discrimination from Canadian law enforcement due in large part to institutionalized reputations as chronic substance abusers who are incapable of reform (Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.77-78). One of the more startling contemporary examples of this is the case of Frank Paul; a Mi’kmaq Canadian who was left to die in a Vancouver alley by officers of the Vancouver Police Department after being denied refuge in a police “drunk tank”. Not surprisingly, this event garnered significant controversy and public outcry amongst Canada’s Aboriginal population who have long been subject to over-policing and persistent overrepresentation as offenders in the Canadian criminal justice system (Jiwani & Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.43 & 81).
This essay intends to address the role that state agencies, both within the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and more broadly the institutions of education, employment and health, play in supporting and implementing diversionary programs for offenders with mental health problems. Mental health is clearly one of the most critical issues facing the Australian and New South Wales (NSW) CJS with research indicating that offenders with mental health problems constitute the majority of those within the prison system. The current strategies for diversion will be critically evaluated in order to determine their effectiveness with regard to the delivery and production of justice, cultural sensitivity for Indigenous Australians will also be considered. The social construction of mental illness and the associated process of stigmatisation of this particular group will be explored in conjunction to explain why society still fails to prevent the mass entry of people with mental health issues into the traditional CJS.
Sung, L. G.-e. (2011). Rethinking Corrections: Rehabilitation, Reentry, and Reintegration. Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications.