Good morning. My name is Hugo Foss. I've worked as a psychologist on the front lines of the Correctional Service of Canada for 22 years. I've worked in all levels of security--maximum, medium, and minimum--and currently I'm in the community. I have always worked in the capacity of an intervention treatment provider and risk assessor.
My clients have been federal inmates and parolees. For the better part of the last 12 years of my career, I have worked with offenders who belonged to organized crime groups and/or street gangs.
In the prairie region, the predominant population of concern within our institutions and communities is made up of offenders who belong to street gangs. The number is greatest in the prairie region with respect to aboriginal street gangs.
The focus and goal of my work have always been enhanced public safety. To that end, the intervention with gang offenders complements the pillars of suppression and prevention, both with respect to decreasing incidents and levels of violence and with respect to recruitment. I would like to share with the committee some of the most important lessons learned with respect to intervention with this population of offenders--again, predominantly aboriginal street gangs.
The first lesson comes from one of the largest gang research projects reported in the literature, a comparative analysis of 3,500 gangsters from 17 different U.S. states. The research project found that a majority of gang members, 79.3%, stated that they would drop their flag--in other words, get out of the gang--if they had a true second chance in life. The second lesson is that the levels of hostility and violence that we as a community witness and experience are matched by the degree to which they, the street gangsters, have experienced it in their own lives.
The aforementioned informs us on the absolute need for intervention on two very important levels. First, at a rate of almost 80%, the majority of offenders belonging to gangs report that they are dissatisfied with their lives and would rather live a life apart from the dictates of the gang subculture. Second, intervention with this population will be difficult, arduous, and painstaking in terms of duration, with the potential for future hostility and violence needing to be assessed and carefully managed while the offenders are incarcerated and reintegrated into the community.
In recognition of the value of and need for coordinated intervention with the aboriginal gang population of offenders, the Correctional Service of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations have entered into an interchange agreement whereby my services will be utilized by both agencies as an adviser to the national chief, Shawn Atleo, of the Assembly of First Nations. A working group, including me, is engaged in a number of activities to enhance support for aboriginal communities across the nation that are experiencing issues pertaining to gangs.
First, we will be attempting to determine the scope of the problem across aboriginal communities by taking a census survey of communities. Second, we will be compiling a compendium of existing human resources in aboriginal communities that have the potential to assist in integrating persons requiring assistance, and we will make this compendium available to agencies, organizations, and citizens. Third, we will be providing training pertinent to intervention with persons who are gang-affiliated and support to those who are providing the intervention and living with gang violence in their communities.
Concomitantly, my responsibilities to the Correctional Service of Canada have resulted in a working alliance with the sociology and criminology department of the University of Alberta. In conjunction with the head of the undergraduate department, we will be conducting research, for the very first time, with gang-involved offenders, both in federal custody and in the community. The research should serve to inform on the scope of the problems and issues pertaining to the genesis of gangs and the process for intervention and disaffiliation.
My responsibilities also extend to Native Counselling Services of Alberta, in partnership with the Correctional Service of Canada. We will continue to share knowledge, best practices, staff training, and expertise in managing the risk of federally sentenced aboriginal gang offenders.
Also important, given the unique dynamics related to the management of gang-affiliated offenders, is that the Correctional Service of Canada is focusing on enhanced training of front line staff in gang dynamics awareness, risk management, and safety-related issues.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today.