First off, I want to give thanks for the ancestor's territory we are on—the Coast Salish, Musqueam, and Squamish—for allowing us to speak in their territory and to the committee.
My name is Mary Fayant. I was born Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. My Indian name is [Inaudible--Editor]. I'm Métis-Cree from the Métis-Cree Nation. I've worked with the provincial and the federal women for the last 17 years. While I was inside, the one thing I observed—this is only my opinion—is that the women came in very bankrupt. They didn't know their language. They didn't know their culture. They didn't know their teaching. Many of them were missing their families, their children, and their loved ones. When the women were inside, the programs that they took and the education they got was very important.
They need the programs to help them get back and be grounded. They also need the education they can take so that when they get out in the community, they can continue their education and can get decent jobs.
I also witnessed, when I was inside both provincial and federal, our women having their children with them, which is very important. Not only does the mother become a mother to the child, but the whole inside, all the women, become a community. They mother the child also, and they're aunties to that child.
It is important to our women and our men that we partner with the communities, which we are doing at this time in our pre-pathways program. We bring in elders from the community who can help our brothers and sisters who are inside. It's a small thing for some people, but just to sit with an elder to talk with them, sing with them, drum with them, or hear their stories is very important to our women and men. We do circles, pipe ceremonies, and sweats. It's imperative that they have their ceremonies. They need to have their ceremonies to get grounded again—mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. It's also imperative that they go and deal with their trauma. They have a lot of trauma in their lives, and they have to deal with the trauma first. You can quit drinking and doing drugs, but you have to stay quit. To stay quit, you need to heal inside. There's a lot more I'd like to say, but I'm going to pass it on to Chas so that I don't take up all the time.
Thank you for listening, all my relations.