Advocating with and for Indigenous women
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.
regarding the realities inside for incarcerated women
who can advocate together for women inside
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.
"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
