Sask. government, Saskatoon Tribal Council team up to improve offender reintegration

Saskatchewan wants to help offenders reintegrate better when they get released from jail.

On Friday the province and the Saskatoon Tribal Council signed an agreement to better support First Nations inmates of Saskatchewan corrections facilities as they transition back into their home communities.

Indigenous people continue to be over-represented in the provincial correctional system. 

According to the province, the goals of the agreement, known as the Offender Reintegration Partnership Agreement,  are to implement employment programming, and enhance education and training opportunities.

The project will also create high quality cultural services in the Saskatoon Correctional Centre. These services are to be delivered exclusively by First Nations people.

The partnership also will develop a reintegration program for the province that "best supports individuals leaving incarceration."

"The promotion of healing practices and cultural supports will help address past and present trauma. And employment., education and other skill based training will help Indigenous persons successfully reintegrate into their communities and reduce their likelihood of offending," said Christine Tell, minister of corrections, policing and public safety, at a press event in Saskatoon on Friday.

"All of the supports and services will align with each individual's Indigenous language, traditions, customs and practices. Through the holistic approach, we hope to bring lasting change, reduce incarceration rates and help address the underlying causes of overrepresentation of Indigenous persons in our province's correctional facilities."

Supporting offenders

Mark Arcand, chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council, called Friday an important day in history. He said the agreement will help many offenders who are currently behind bars.

"We see a lot of our Indigenous people, what I call 'graduating' to the federal penitentiary system, which is unacceptable," said Arcand. 

"We want to see our people providing for their families. We want to see people being great fathers, uncles, brothers, sons. And the way we do that is by working together to eliminate some of the challenges that they're dealing with."

One of those challenges is education. Arcand said that basic education classes such as grades 10,11 and 12 will be enhanced for the people that need them. That way, when they leave the institution, they can continue their education in select programs offered by Saskatchewan Polytechnic and the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies.

"What we've noticed is when people leave the facility, it's not the the corrections fault, it's the systems that are not in place to support those individuals. So they become homeless or they go back to negativity. And we're trying to resolve that issue," Arcand said.

He said increasing focus on employment will also help a great deal. 

"We talk about the impacts of residential schools, intergenerational trauma. This is an opportunity to try to correct some of those negative impacts that have affected Indigenous people's lives and really show positive outcomes."

The province said that a provincial correctional services innovation committee will be established as part of the agreement. It will aim to improve outcomes for First Nations people over time.