HOW DOES LAW-MAKING WORK BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES?
WHAT IS RESTORATIVE JUSTICE First, let me tell you that is it NOT what a recent National Post article snidely said, “a group hug for offenders.” I’m not sure where such thought processes come from except from the minds and pens of those who are entrenched in the idea that incarceration actually works! Corrections Canada is one of the largest corporations in this country, and unless it has prisoners, prison does not work. What makes it worse is that Canada’s First Nations population comprises approximately 2.7% of the thirty-three million of us. Yet, Indigenous offenders comprises a little over 18% of the prison population! Something is wrong, if that number continues to remain as consistent as it does. Corrections Canada is making some reluctant moves in the direction of restorative justice issues by introducing, for example, sweatlodges and Indigenous Elders into prisons across Canada. However, the programmes are hardly consistently applied and woefully under-funded. Having worked wit
