Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Access to justice

Recommendation 165: The Federation of Law Societies of Canada, law schools in Canada, and the Canadian Judicial Council must provide mandatory training to all law students, lawyers, and judges on the legacy of residential schools, Canada’s obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous legal traditions, Gladue principles, and the systemic failure of colonial legal systems to uphold justice for Indigenous people.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Access to justice

Recommendation 166: Implement existing recommendations of the Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Access to justice

Recommendation 167: Implement existing recommendations in Justice Reform for British Columbia by Community Legal Assistance Society, Pivot Legal Society, West Coast LEAF, and B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 168: Full decarceration of Indigenous women in the federal and provincial corrections system. No Indigenous woman should ever be sentenced into a colonial system.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 169: Increased resourcing, capacity, and funding for section 81 Healing Lodges. Indigenous nations and urban Indigenous organizations must be able to operate Healing Lodges on a long-term basis and with full wrap-around supports. Change the policy of not allowing women with maximum-security classifications to be at CSC-operated healing lodges and increase access to all healing lodges.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 170: Increased resources, capacity, and funding for section 84 agreements so that Indigenous nations are compensated and can provide full support for Indigenous women seeking section 84 releases. Indigenous communities and organizations should exercise control and self-determination in the development and implementation of reintegration plans.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 171: Start all Indigenous women prisoners at a minimum-security level and remove the requirement to automatically incarcerate Indigenous women in a maximum security facility for the first two years of a murder sentence.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 172: End the current classification scale and reassess all Indigenous women currently classified at the maximum-security level using a gender and culturally-responsive classification tool.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 173: The test for security classification under s. 18 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations should be amended to eliminate institutional adjustment as criteria for a higher classification level.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 174: End the placement of Indigenous women in solitary confinement in all prisons, and establish an independent external review of all Indigenous women in segregation placements.