We're very aware of those numbers. We see them play out in our facilities and community parole offices on a day-to-day basis.
There is no question in my mind that just trying to deal with the overrepresentation of indigenous people in correctional facilities is an inadequate solution. If you really want to tackle this issue, we have to go back to some of the systemic societal issues. We need to look at issues in relation to education, employment, and housing. We need to talk about the engagement of my colleague Bob Paulson and his colleagues across the country. We need to talk about how the courts look at this situation differently before sentencing. Then we can talk about corrections.
We are unfortunately at the back end of this system, and we're expected to resolve all the problems that relate to indigenous people. In our legislation, we have a section that requires us to provide the spiritual and cultural programs and activities to support aboriginal people who want to pursue those paths, and we offer everything from elder services to sweat lodge ceremonies to aboriginally designed programs. We have, for example, aboriginal substance abuse programs and aboriginal violence prevention programs. We offer all these activities.
One of the challenges for us is how the gains that those offenders make while they're in our care get supported when they're released into the community. When individuals go back to the aboriginal communities, they often find that their communities don't have the support services or networks needed to carry on the good work that offenders commit to do. We need to look at how we bolster aboriginal communities to provide the support that returning individuals need.