Culturally sensitive residential programmes for Aboriginal women in contact with the law
(Rules 45 and 55, Chapter 7 and 9)
Buffalo Sage Wellness House (BSWH) in Alberta, Canada is a 28-bed Community Residential Facility that houses conditionally–released and federally– sentenced Indigenous female offenders. Buffalo Sage has a home-like atmosphere with kitchenette and laundry facilities where personal development, life skills, and healing are practiced daily. Native Counselling Services of Alberta’s vision for BSWH includes a daily routine for the residents that would consist of household chores, programmes and employment training.
The operation of BSWH relies on the belief that Aboriginal women and non-Aboriginal women following the Aboriginal culture who are in contact with the law require specific programmes to address their social, educational, emotional, physical and spiritual needs in a culturally–sensitive approach in order to recognise their full potential for reintegration back into the community.
The foundational programme at BSWH is the Spirit of a Warrior Program. Guided by Elders, this circle-based group programme explores the effects of personal and historical trauma and provides opportunities for spiritual exploration and healing. BSWH also has a relationships programme, a grief and loss programme, a mother child programme, and a wellbriety programme.
For more information see:
Native Counselling Services of Alberta, ‘Buffalo Sage Wellness House’.
The Star, ‘Inside Canada’s one-of-a-kind Indigenous prison for women’.
Circle sentencing as an alternative to imprisonment
(Rule 58, Chapter 1)
In Canada, circle sentencing is used as an alternative to imprisonment. Participants include the judge; defence counsel; prosecutor; police officer; the victim, offender, and their respective families; and community residents. Participants sit facing one another in a circle and discuss the case. Discussions are designed to reach a consensus about the best way to resolve the conflict and resolve the case.
A fundamental principle of circle sentencing is that the sentence is itself less important than the process used to arrive at an outcome or a sentence. Sentencing circles have been used in much of the country, mostly at the provincial/territorial court level, in minor criminal cases involving Aboriginal people in contact with the law and their victims.
For more information see:
Department of Justice, ‘Alternative Approaches’,
California Courts, ‘Sentencing Circles’.