Indigenous people in prisons focus of Canadian Museum for Human Rights restorative justice seminar on Monday

Canada’s prisons, and the disproportionate rates of Indigenous people incarcerated within those prisons will be the topic of a seminar held in Winnipeg focused on issues of restorative justice, and on ways to reform the current corrections system.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) announced Thursday that a seminar and forum will be held on Monday that will see panelists discuss issues around “what’s broken” in Canada’s correctional system, and how we might “reimagine” a system based less on punishment and more on restorative justice.

Panelists next week who will speak include Tania Ross, an Opaskwayak Cree Nation woman who was convicted of second-degree murder at the age of 19 and spent 20 years in prison, which included what she said in a media release were “dark days that included long stretches in segregation.”

Ross says she will speak at Monday’s seminar about how she saw abusive and discriminatory treatment “normalized” in prison in the two decades she was behind bars.

“What I needed while inside was people with lived experiences showing me where hope is,” Ross said “We need hope, someone to motivate us.”

Ross said she will also speak about how she benefited in prison from interaction with Indigenous Elders, and about how she has turned her life around, and now works to counsel at-risk youth.

Also speaking at the seminar will be long-time prison reform advocate Senator Kim Pate, a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights that examined human rights violations in Canada’s prisons.

Pate said in a media release that more than half of the women in Canadian prisons are Indigenous, and that a disproportionate number end up in maximum security without access to programming and supports, which can set up a “vicious cycle.”

“Inside and outside of prison, Indigenous women experience the intersection of racism and misogyny,” Pate said. “We need to invest more in community supports, not invest in more prisons.”

CMHR CEO Isha Khan, a human rights lawyer who was previously appointed by the Minister of Public Safety to review conditions for people incarcerated in federal penitentiaries, will moderate the seminar and invite participation from the audience, according to CMHR.

“This is a system that we created, but unfortunately we choose to ignore what goes on within it because most of us don’t think it impacts us,” Khan said. “It does, and we have a responsibility to our fellow human beings to change it.”

At Monday’s event, CMHR Elder-in-Residence Elder Robert Greene, who has provided support to inmates, will also speak

Currently in Manitoba it is estimated that 70 to 80% of adults currently in custody are Indigenous.

Indigenous people in Manitoba also face high recidivism rates, as there is an approximately 30% recidivism rate for Indigenous offenders in Manitoba who receive a jail sentence as part of their criminal conviction, meaning about 30% of Indigenous people are charged with a new offense and returned to custody within two years of release from jail or prison.

The seminar will take place at the CMHR at The Forks on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. and the free event is open for all to attend.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Dave Baxter, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Sun