Hello. My name is Darlene Shackelly. I'm the Executive Director of the Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of British Columbia.
Our organization was formed in 1973 because of the high numbers of indigenous people who were pleading guilty as they were going through the criminal justice system. We have 30 workers throughout the province of British Columbia
When we were asked to give a presentation to this committee, it was on the understanding that we are not workers within the federal corrections system, but rather the group that actually deals with the people who are coming into the criminal justice system charged with a criminal offence. It is our responsibility to ensure that they fully understand what they've been charged with and that they obtain the referrals necessary on the charge they're facing within the system.
We're on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people: the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations. That is where I'm streaming from.
I would also like to thank our board of directors for allowing me to come today to give a presentation.
I want to give some background, and you've probably heard it many times, of the residential school trauma as it affects indigenous women who are in the institutions. We know that high numbers of women who are in the centres are women who have children and women who are facing trauma-related health issues. It is our opinion that once you're disconnected from your culture, the chance of staying within the system is a likelihood.
What we're concerned about is the actual parenting of children. Since 2006, the aboriginal population has grown 42.5%. That's more than four times the growth rate of the non-indigenous population for the same period. I would point out that these are not the children who attended residential school; these are the next generation of children. Our caseload shows that indigenous women are actually being charged with more violent cases than occurred before. It is this generation that we need to focus on.
We also know that most of the women who are in the institutions ended up in systems of foster care, in group homes, or were adopted. It is our belief that it's time to take a look at supporting the women who are in the institutions, especially the ones who have children, around technology feeds.
In the community of Bella Bella-Bella Coola, we have technology for video court streaming into Vancouver, from a very isolated community. It's about time the federal government looked at streaming to support families and the children the inmate has and looked at how we can make sure that indigenous women have a connection to their families and their children.
The support system for children of parents who are incarcerated has been studied quite intensively, but we actually have to look more at the women who are in federal institutions and be able to stream in isolated communities where a lot of indigenous women are from and be able to access technology so that they have visits from their communities by their children and their family members. That would go a long way to keeping the connection in place, so that once they're released, the connection is there already.
Our final recommendation is to invest in an indigenous women's justice panel to develop a five-year plan and a federal investment strategy to address the issues that I have just mentioned.
Thank you for your time.