Merci.
I was using it as a way to talk about concerns about aboriginal women. And I like those concepts of belonging and mastery and independence and generosity as concepts that are key in the aboriginal community. I think for women coming out of prison, which is the area I know best, these are key things we could build recommendations around.
We need to do the community piece better. And I say that not because I am necessarily in support or not in support of prisons but because prisons are a reality of our world. So coming back out is a reality of our world, and we need to do that better. We need to give women not only a chance for belonging, which I spoke to, but a chance for mastery. Mastery is in comparison not with others and standards and inflexible rules, but in comparison with their own past performance, so we have the flexibility to work with women in ways that work for them.
In the case of the woman I've been journeying with for the last year, she may have relapsed, but she is doing better than she was a year ago. So the system has to be able to find ways of acknowledging that, rather than re-victimizing her and putting her back in places where she can't recover and where she is further away from her child, and find ways of working towards acknowledging achievements that have been made, even if they've been small and incremental. That's one.