Public Safety committee  I think there's a difference between the pre-sentence reports and the Gladue. A lot of people don't know the distinction between the two. I do these reports and I think people have to be trained in how to do them. I think sometimes that's a problem.

Public Safety committee  Yes, I believe that's what it was intended for. As far as risk, you'd have to ask somebody who does the pre-sentence reports, but I believe the Gladue reports would be a bridge among corrections, the people who are being sentenced and the criminal justice system. As I said, trai

Public Safety committee  Here it's warmer.

Public Safety committee  I think a concern is the terminology. I had some concerns about the “indigenous governing body”, which gives more authority to band councils rather than the grassroots or other organizations, because a lot of these people who are being released have to go through them. That exclu

Public Safety committee  It was previously “aboriginal community”. I don't know why that changed to “governing body”. I think it's because of the political correctness that the government tries to have, not to offend band chiefs and councils, but sometimes that's where the problems begin.

Public Safety committee  I think to have to go there...and the courts oftentimes will not make decisions for individual first nations people because of that notion. The other thing is the definition of health. Who's going to provide these services? What is restorative justice? Define it, because we have

Public Safety committee  A lot of our band councils are not representing the people in our communities. We see that the native people only represent 4% of the population. There have been many studies done. The overrepresentation is 50% to 70% in the justice system. There's something wrong. To try to crea

Public Safety committee  Thank you for inviting me here. I'm a Gladue writer, I'm an educator, and I live on a reserve. I could read my presentation, but I've made copies for you. One of the things I'm doing currently is working with the neuroscience people at the University of Lethbridge. Because I've

Public Safety committee  Today in government, half of the people who are in power are women, so I think that could be a start to having the voices. Most times in our community, there's only one woman on council, and sometimes there are no women on council. That would be something that we could use as a

Public Safety committee  You can look at Rupert Ross. He categorized it. It's not just urban-rural. There are people who are what he termed new traditionalists, as well as traditionalists, bicultural.... It's much broader than just reserves and off reserve.

Public Safety committee  Could I address that? With this murdered and missing women issue and the inquiries, they talk about the experiences of first nations people and how women are really at risk. That's why I believe grandmothers would be useful in helping. These education programs would be useful

Public Safety committee  Perhaps I could answer, because I feel very strongly about this point. When we talk about role models, we look outside. I think there needs to be more accountability of our tribal leaders. They should be involved in things like what is happening here. Oftentimes they're off doi

Public Safety committee  Perhaps I could answer that, because I teach criminal justice. I think there's a disconnect between police, the courts, and corrections. It needs to be more coordinated. Kids are being carded when they're walking down the streets. One of the things I keep hearing is that the p

Public Safety committee  May I address that?

Public Safety committee  I deal with a lot of these young offenders. They're not serial killers. They're demonized when they're in the system, but a lot of them are in there for breaches. They couldn't pay a fine or they couldn't get to court, or things like that, so they're recirculated in the system.