Sisters Walking Together is a team of Indigenous and settler women living in the Vancouver area, committed to walking alongside incarcerated and recently-released women no matter what their situation as they transition and re-integrate.
Within our team, our members have experienced the realities of 60’s scoop, the foster care system, incarceration, substance abuse and recovery, among other things.
Our Story
During the past 2 years a small group of Indigenous & settler women began to pray, weep and dream together about a possible new work of transformational relationships with incarcerated Indigenous women as well as justice advocacy with and for incarcerated Indigenous women.
To build trust and become a team, we shared meals, listened well to each other through cultural differences and honestly addressed conflicts, and learned from wise, experienced Indigenous and other local leaders about incarceration, trauma, and the Canadian systems that work together to funnel Indigenous women into prison.
Sandra is a Cree-Métis woman from The Pas, Manitoba and a survivor of the 60s Scoop. She spent nearly nine years as a support worker at Union Gospel Mission and brings lived experience and GBV training to the team. She serves on the boards of the Aboriginal Women Action Network (AWAN), Disability Foundation Canada, Inclusion BC, and BCPF, and runs her own business, Lil’ Kokum’s Corner.
Angel Joy is Gitxsan from Gitanmaax and has lived in Vancouver since 2017. Her Gitxsan name is Tk’al wimiluxw Simoigit Lax’ha, and she carries a rare second name, Skaa laax — “one who lies in front of the den.” A mother of four, grandmother of twelve and great-grandmother, she brings her encounters and personal revelations of God, believing she is called for this season to walk with Sisters Walking Together.
Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
Martha Kahnapace's Story
Support incarcerated & recently released Indigenous women in their Creator-given cultural and spiritual identity.
1-1 relationships & monthly gatherings so women can experience renewed connection with the Creator, the land, and the nations who have stewarded these lands.
Personal and interpersonal healing:
Without societal justice to end systemic oppression, the harms will continue. The Sisters address unjust systems of incarceration as well as current societal structures which funnel Indigenous women into prison.
of the female prison population is Indigenous — despite Indigenous women accounting for less than four per cent of the female population.
50%of federal segregation placements are Indigenous women, isolated from others for months and even years on administrative grounds.
50%+of federally sentenced women have identified mental health needs, with significant histories of trauma and abuse.
We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to provide sufficient and stable funding to implement and evaluate community sanctions that will provide realistic alternatives to imprisonment for Aboriginal offenders and respond to the underlying causes of offending.
35We call upon the federal government to eliminate barriers to the creation of additional Aboriginal healing lodges within the federal correctional system.
36We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to work with Aboriginal communities to provide culturally relevant services to inmates on issues such as substance abuse, family and domestic violence, and overcoming the experience of having been sexually abused.
37We call upon the federal government to provide more supports for Aboriginal programming in halfway houses and parole services.
Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Calls to Action
"The Spirit of Creator has come to rest on me. He has chosen me to tell the good story to the ones who are poor. He has sent me to mend broken hearts, to tell prisoners they have been set free, to make the blind see again, and to lift up the ones who have been pushed down — to make known that Creator's Year of Setting Free has come at last!" Luke 4:16–19, First Nations Version
To support incarcerated & recently released Indigenous women in their Creator-given cultural and spiritual identity, and to advocate for justice in the prison system.
