New healing lodge opens for offenders

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Harry Michael sees the process of healing as a life-long journey. And it's a journey he will soon be helping others to begin.

Michael is executive director of the Willow Cree Healing Lodge, located on Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation. The lodge, a 40-bed minimum-security facility for male Aboriginal offenders, had it's official opening June 25, although the first residents won't be arriving until September.

The healing lodge was created through a partnership between the First Nation and Correctional Services Canada as part of the department's efforts to provide Aboriginal offenders serving federal sentences with culturally appropriate facilities and programs.

The goal of the healing lodge is to meet the needs of Aboriginal offenders in ways that mainstream facilities haven't been able to, Michael said.

"It's the programs really that we'll be implementing, and the fact that they'll be in the Aboriginal environment, so they'll be in a community that they're familiar with ... I think they can identify more with this community than in another setting. And really the healing lodge is established right in the heart of the community. They're not isolated." he said.

"We'll have healing circles, an orientation kind of thing, some basic living skills. We'll have some adult upgrading, vocational skills. Some of the programs will focus on cultural and spiritual awareness. And they'll address specific issues as well, like substance abuse, anger management, sexual offending, family violence, parenting issues."

While offenders incarcerated anywhere in Canada can apply to be transferred to the healing lodge, the majority of the offenders that will be housed there will be from the Prairie provinces. And only those offenders who don't pose a threat to the community will be considered.

"Basically the three criteria we look at is they have to be a low risk to abscond, a low risk to escape. They have to be a low risk as far as what we call institutional adjustment-whether or not they are willing participants in their healing, participating in programs, their attitudes towards authority, whether or not they'll abide by the rules and regulations of the healing lodge, whether or not they'll work with the Elders and staff here-all those kinds of things are institutional adjustment kind of issues. And the other factor is public safety concerns. It's really their life history, particularly their criminal history. Are there any issues of sexual deviancy or violence, and that sort of thing, that would be a concern to us, that would jeopardize the safety of the community or society in general," he said.

"We're basically establishing a blueprint on what a healing facility can be like, and I think we're up to the challenge. And I think we will prove over time that we will be successful in helping others to make changes in their lives so that they become productive members of their own communities. Really, by and large, that's what it is. Because healing is the lifelong journey. We may initiative their healing here, but that doesn't mean it's going to stop here, and I think we will have a number of people that will come, that will have success stories, and will turn around and help others heal and do some preventive work. And overall, I think it helps the Aboriginal community as a result."