When I started my journey for my sentencing, I was on the Gladue report. I didn't really know anything about that. When I was in a facility, the elder at the time really didn't explain to me what a Gladue report was, and then later I found out what a Gladue actually is, that it's supposed to help me get time off my sentencing, but my Gladue report was.... There was supposed to be an aboriginal taking my Gladue report and there wasn't, and I feel it didn't help me one bit because my Gladue report wasn't what I said. There were mixed words in it.
I think that with Gladue reports, maybe people should take more time and look at them more seriously than they do. At the end of my sentence, I did a section 84 for aboriginal people, so people in my community are supposed to support me. Like I said in my statement, I've been three years out and I've never really seen anybody or what the section 84 had to offer me.
I just feel that for other people, if they get section 84, is that how it's going to look for them too? I wouldn't want another woman to go through what I went through, feeling like a failure and getting dropped. Where do I go for those? If I don't have an elder coming to see me weekly, or an aboriginal liaison at that point in time, I feel that when I'm asking for help, it's not getting to me.
It's hard for a person like me to even ask for help in the first place.