Status of Women committee  The Pathways program is something that CSC has been doing for a while.

Status of Women committee  Certainly, you're right that Gladue reports are not universally available . They are not available at all, frankly, in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. One of the issues is that the federal government does not want to be involved in the funding of Gladue reports. While the federal government in their aboriginal justice programming is very involved in many areas, they have not touched the area of Gladue reports.

Status of Women committee  The federal government already does cost-share agreements with indigenous organizations that provide services in restorative justice areas, and we have funding for that. There are all sorts of areas where the aboriginal justice division in the ministry of justice or the Department of Justice has relationships.

Status of Women committee  There are two problems. One is whether that would be funded, because currently our funding is to provide Gladue reports to the courts, not to parole. The second issue is how you get the information about how someone has worked through the prison system. Where is that information going to come from?

Status of Women committee  Certainly, it could be. The difficulty is that the person, if they're in the federal system, will have had at least two, three, four, five, six, or seven years in the institution. What becomes so important at the parole process is what the person has done while they've been inside and also what their plans are when they get released.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I want to thank the committee for the invitation to be here. I do work for Aboriginal Legal Services, but I want to mention our Ojibway name. We asked Elder Jackie Lavalley for our name. We gave her tobacco and asked for our name. The name we received was Gaa Kina Gwai Wabaama Debwewin, which will be impossible for the translators to translate.