Public Safety committee  I will. Thank you. First, I'd like to acknowledge that I am on the unceded territory of the Algonquin people. It's an honour to be here to speak to this bill. I am the CEO of Native Counselling Services of Alberta. I have been involved in this business since being a parole off

Public Safety committee  I come from the Beaver Lake first nation in northern Alberta. We have a woman as chief, and she has been chief for a number of terms now. The issue for us is that it's up to the community to hold leadership accountable. I'll speak about the 87 elders who were just at a gatherin

Public Safety committee  I think there are a couple of things. One is that we need to be able to be clear that the diversity exists, as our friend mentioned, and, within that diversity, to try to develop strategies that meet those needs. For example, the mayor and council of the City of Edmonton have c

Public Safety committee  The aboriginal women population, as we know, is growing faster than any other population in the justice system. There are a couple of key things we'd like to address. One is that we believe it's the responsibility of the men in our communities to start taking responsibility for t

Public Safety committee  It is a fair assessment. When you move a young offender, especially a newer one, into maximum security, where they're victimized and where they're going to be forced into more gang and criminal activity, is more a harm to society than it is a safety measure.

Public Safety committee  Foster care, education, and youth justice are the three areas that have the biggest impact on our communities. We've seen a number of reviews of the education system. In Alberta a lot of effort is being put into a new relationship between indigenous education and mainstream edu

Public Safety committee  The risk assessment tool has been a question for a lot of years. The late Dr. Joe Couture, who was a psychologist, a former brother with the Catholic Church, and an aboriginal elder, and who worked in corrections for a lot of years, argued that we missed the boat when it came to

Public Safety committee  The youth in corrections issue is a real challenge, and yes, it should be a priority. Correction Service of Canada did an evaluation a number of years ago on the “in search of your warrior” program that addressed healing, and 87% of those offenders have not reoffended violently.

Public Safety committee  It's difficult to separate, because of the transient population. In a centre like Edmonton, we have a lot of movement from isolated northern communities in and out of the city. We do have a large urban population that's born, raised, and situated in Edmonton. In those situations,

Public Safety committee  May I address that question as well?

Public Safety committee  An agency has been doing court work since the beginning of time in Canada. I think it's really important to address that, because it's the responsibility of all courts to act equally in the administration of justice. We don't believe that the separation of a court should exist.

Public Safety committee  First of all, thank you for the opportunity. My name is Allen Benson. I'm a member of the Beaver Lake First Nations on Treaty 6 territory. I want to acknowledge the traditional territory that I'm on, the Algonquin nation. I am here representing Native Counselling Services of Al