Restorative Justice Practices of Native American, First Nation and ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Restorative PracticesE FORUMMay 26 2004www.restorativepractices.orgreached there, my mother being one ofthe younger children, they cried andcried because they didn’t know what theywere being sent there for and why, andthe nuns and priests that were runningthis place said, ‘Oh, be quiet. You weresent here and you’re going to stay here.Your parents don’t want you no more.Your parents are dead. Your parents arenothing but drunks, and you don’t wantto be Native people like them—dumb,stupid and drunk. You’re going to stayhere with us and get an education.’“The majority of the time you werein a slave camp. You had to grow crops,tend to animals, run an industrial producecenter, and maybe once a week theygave them lessons in school. People diedthere without proper medical attention;people were raped and sexually abused,and they were punished for speaking theirlanguage. People tried to run away andgot caught and were punished or diedfrom exposure.“Some of the survivors have blockedout these traumatic events. And whenthey blocked it out, they also blockedout their culture and their language.”Victims of the schools come to ask herfor help, said Thompson. “A gentleman70 years old told me that he was sexuallyabused in residential school when hewas seven. I’ve had three or four peoplecome to me like that. With one of theseindividuals—I tracked his record—he wasconvicted of a sexual abuse offense himself.He learned it.”The Akwesasne have many rehabilitativeservices, including the Men’s WellnessProgram, which includes culturally-basedmen’s wellness camps. “Fora long time we only had programs thatdealt with assistance to women and theirneeds,” said Thompson. “We recentlyfound that we were neglecting our men.They need counseling on how to be betterhusbands and fathers, or mental healthcounseling. Sometimes they need protectionfrom their wivesin physical abuse.”Akwesasne healthand social-servicefacilities address thecommunity’s physical,emotional and socialneeds and providewelfare and drugand-alcoholservicesfor both adults andyouth, including aresidence for youthwho are having problemsat home. ConcludedThompson,“You seldom need togo off our territoryfor services.”Another First Nationcommunity, the Mnjikaning, locatedin Ontario, has developed a communityhealing model and restorative justiceprogram. Biidaaban (Ojibwe or Anishinaabefor “new beginning” or “newday”) works with individuals who havecommitted wrongdoing or been hurt bywrongdoing. Biidaaban coordinator LeanneDouglas said that they try to avoid theterms “offender” and “victim” so as not tolabel people, but rather address their behavior.“Bii means the future, daa meansthe present and ban means the past. We’reincorporating all of that: looking at thepast, living in the present and lookingtowards the future,” said Douglas.The goal of Biidaaban is for peoplewho have harmed to take responsibilityfor the harm they have caused, beaccountable to the community and topeople they have hurt, publicly apologizeand make amends and restitution. Workingwith people who have been harmedinvolves trying to help them through theprocess, validating their experience andhaving them be a part of the process ofcoming together with the person whohas caused the harm. “We work withMnjikaning First Nation Social Services StaffBack Row, left to right: Stephanie Sandy,Lorraine McRae, Leanne Douglas, Byron StilesFront Row: Christine Douglas and Susan Lahaytheir families and ultimately the wholecommunity,” said Douglas.Biidaaban serves both adults andyouth. Other Mnjikaning social servicesprograms, all of which work closely withBiidaaban, include addictions and welfareprograms and a child welfare programthat works with the Children’s AidSociety in the town of Orillia.The principal problems in the communityare addiction and domesticviolence stemming from addiction, saidDouglas. Biidaaban handles cases concerningsuch matters as assault, domesticviolence, breaking and entering, sexualabuse, armed robbery and impaireddriving, most of which involve the courtsystem.“We look at alternative sentencing,such as stays of charges, diversions, conditionaldischarges, reduced sentencingor mitigation if they’ve done really well inthe program but it’s been a very seriouscrime,” said Douglas. “We may meet aperson in court and tell them about ourprogram; we may have referral by police,by family members, by the individualthemselves.© 2004 INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR RESTORATIVE PRACTICES 43⁄4
Restorative PracticesE FORUM“In the work with the court systemwe’ve developed an informal protocol,although we’re working on a formal one,where we ask for an adjournment of fourmonths, and we present an interim treatmentplan at that time. It’s a time for usto assess whether the person is actuallycommitted to a healing process and forthe person to see if this is the path theywant to take. The interim treatment planinvolves assessment, therapy and counselingand is unique to each person.”The healing process consists of teamcounseling with the individuals thatare involved—those that have harmedand been harmed—in preparation for acircle that includes family and the widercommunity. Individuals invite their supportersto the circle, but anyone in thecommunity who wants to participate canattend. “We send a flier to every home inthe community,” said Christine Douglas,clinical manager for Mnjikaning Communityand Family Services, of whichBiidaaban is a component. (Christineand Leanne Douglas are not related; theirhusbands are distant cousins.) Attendanceat circles is generally 20 to 25 people.At the community gathering, everyoneintroduces themselves and sayswhy they’re there. Next, the people whocommitted the wrong talk about what theydid and take responsibility for it. Theneveryone has a chance to talk about whatthe impact of the wrongdoing has beenon them. The person then apologizesand everyone talks about what needs to bedone to make things right and to restoreharmony and balance. A communityhealing plan is developed and a contractis signed by the person who has harmedand the Biidaaban team. The gatheringends with a ceremony. Regular meetingsbetween the Biidaaban team and thosewho were involved monitor whether thecontract is being fulfilled. A ceremonialcelebration follows successful completionof the Biidaaban process.May 26 2004“When you go to the courtsystem, people in thecommunity really don’t knowwhat’s going on there. Butwhen it’s public and in thecommunity then everybodyknows and it can act like acommunity watch program.”—Leanne DouglasOut of over 80 people who have participatedin the process, only four havereoffended and only one has committedthe same crime: an assault. The otherthree were recharged with breaches ofprobation due to drinking. “It’s a lotbetter than what the justice system’s statisticsare,” said Leanne Douglas. “Whenyou go to the court system, people in thecommunity really don’t know what’s goingon there. But when it’s public and inthe community then everybody knows andit can act like a community watch program.So people know that people arewatching them and that they need to behaveproperly.” Said Christine Douglas,“Our probation officer said that whenshe first started to come here, close to thebeginning of this program, she had 26probationers. Today she has six.”The court system has received theprogram very well. “We’ve developed awonderful working relationship over thelast several years,” said Leanne Douglas.“It was very difficult at first. It took alot of education and discussions aboutwhat we were doing, and probably inthe beginning they were very reluctant,but I think we’ve proven our credibilityto them. We’ve had cases where peoplehaven’t done very well and we’ve turnedthem back to the court system. I thinkdoing that has boosted our credibility,www.restorativepractices.orgbecause they know that we’re not goingto say that people are doing well if they’rereally not. But we always have to do ongoingeducation, because every year a newCrown Attorney [government prosecutor]is appointed.”It took several years to develop theBiidaaban model, said Stephanie Sandy,Mnjikaning First Nation social servicesworker. First, a core group of communitymembers researched their people’s history,then received restorative justice trainingfrom Dr. Ed Connors, a psychologistof Mohawk and Irish descent. They alsovisited Hollow Water, Manitoba, Canada,which had successfully used healing circlesto cope with a legacy of child sexual abuseand alcohol addiction. The Mnjikaningdecided to base Biidaaban on HollowWater’s healing model. (To read aboutthe Hollow Water Community HolisticCircle Healing Project, in a paper by oneof its initiators, Berma Bushie, pleasego to: http://www.iirp.org/library/vt/vt_bushie.html.)The core of the Biidaaban model is thesame as Hollow Water’s, said ChristineDouglas, but they adapted it. HollowWater is a small, isolated community innorthern Manitoba, while Mnjikaning,she said, is “very much part of southernOntario, which is a very populatedarea.”Since 1996, Mnjikaning has been thesite of Casino Rama, one of the biggestcasinos in Canada, and the largest employerof Native people in the countryin a single venue. With 12,000 peoplefrequenting it daily, the casino has completelytransformed the community.“Our unemployment rate before thecasino was 65 percent and that was aftera lot of hard work to get it down to 65percent. Now it’s about 10 percent,” saidChristine Douglas. A land lease and directpayments from the casino provide forinfrastructure such as water and waste watertreatment and police and fire fighting© 2004 INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR RESTORATIVE PRACTICES 53⁄4
Page 1 and 2: May 26 2004www.restorativepractices
Page 6 and 7: Restorative PracticesE FORUMservice

Restorative Justice Practices of Native American, First Nation and ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?