I'm from Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, and I worked in the correctional system for three years. I worked with the policy adviser group there, and then I worked in the institution with these aboriginal men and women we're talking about today.
The root causes are the reasons why these people are going to jail. There are reasons of unemployment, lack of education, and lack of resources in the communities. Many of these communities are isolated, and many of these aboriginal people coming from these communities are lacking access to families and their culture.
So when they go to these institutions and they're sitting in jail, it puts a damper...again in showing the overrepresentation of aboriginal people in these institutions. Root causes are the reason why aboriginal people are in prison.