35. We call upon the federal government to eliminate barriers to the creation of additional Aboriginal healing lodges within the federal correctional system.
“This is particularly important for women in prison. Aboriginal women are even more over-represented in prisons than men. And yet there are far fewer traditional healing opportunities available to them. Many women are being held in prisons far from their homes – this is especially true for Inuit women where there are no female prisons available closer to home. Being separated from family and especially from their children can be particularly hard for women”- Shelley Wright
With healing centers closer to aboriginal homes (especially in the north) this will help the healing process be a lot more effective. The relations Aboriginal people have with each other is so important and they always want to help each other through bad times. With healing centers being closer to Aboriginal communities this would allow for other Aboriginal people from the community to help whoever is in the healing center heal. With Aboriginal people being in prisons far away from their home they will have a hard time being supported from their friends and family during their tough time.
There are other ways to help heal people and one story I heard of an Aboriginal leader taking some kids who got in trouble out on an island and they lived off the land for a week or two and this was huge when it came to healing. As John Borrows talks about the relationship with nature is so important to Aboriginal People that you can heal people by having relationships with nature and using those relationship to improve.
In the link below you can also see how important elders are in the healing process such as traditional drumming. Aboriginal Inmates can heal better by being around their elders. However this is hard to do when the institutions are far away from their community.
Compiled By: Matthew Thibeau