Corrections Canada pleas for community help

KUUJJUAQ — Corrections Canada officials want Nunavik communities to help inmates when they’re let out of federal penitentiaries.

And they came to the Kativik Regional Government’s recent council meeting in Kuujjuaq with a plan.

But the KRG regional councilors saw many reasons not to collaborate more with Corrections Canada on the release of federal inmates — among these, a lack of community resources and a concern for confidentiality.

Offenders may be able to better adjust to life outside of jail if they receive more support from their communities, said Diane Archambault, aboriginal community development officer for Corrections Canada in Quebec.

If offenders know what their communities expect from them, she said they will “feel a need to change” when they’re serving time, she said.

“We are very far away,” Archambault told the council. “We need to know what the communities want.”

The way this can be done, she suggested, is by communities entering into a non-binding agreement.

A community willing to help would receive full information about the typical inmate she called “Bobby.” The community would then work with Corrections Canada on a plan that “Bobby” could follow when he’s on release.

In the plan, the community would say what its members expect from “Bobby” when he gets out and what support they would offer him in return.

This could encourage “Bobby” to follow programs while behind bars, and if “Bobby” feels supported, Archambault said he might avoid risky situations after release and not re-offend.

“Any kind of support is good for the inmate” she said. “What we hope is that ‘Bobby’ becomes a low-abiding citizen.”

Archambault said Inuit inmates in federal jails often refuse to follow programs when they’re serving time — although she admitted that none are provided in Inuttitut in Quebec.

The sole federal halfway house for aboriginal inmates in Quebec, Waseskun Lodge, which is located in the Laurentians, can provide services to Inuit through translators.

Corrections Canada says overall, Inuit inmates in Nunavik don’t get the help they need before release; they’re not usually released on supervised parole before the end of their sentence; and they often re-offend.

According to Corrections Canada’s presentation to the KRG regional council, community support and participation is the key to having inmates leave jail and not re-offend.

But councillors weren’t eager to promise more collaboration to Archambault and her colleague, Jean-Marc Guimont, a community resources coordinator with Corrections Canada.

Councilors told them that there is no person in any of Nunavik’s municipalities charged with the responsibility for overseeing federal inmates’ re-integration, although community re-integration officers under KRG supervise provincial inmates on their release back into communities.

Ivujivik Mayor and councilor Adamie Qalingo also said confidentiality would be hard to maintain if detailed information about an inmate was released to the community.

And Davidee Nixiaxie of Umiujaq criticized Corrections Canada’s presentation because none of the material was translated into Inuttitut. Niviaxie said it’s no wonder Inuit don’t understand the legal system.

“That’s why Inuit are always in trouble,” he said.

According to a study by Corrections Canada on Inuit in the federal corrections system in Quebec, there are 32 Inuit men and one woman in federal institutions, serving average sentences of two to three years. Three are serving life sentences and one, designated a dangerous offender, is serving an indefinite jail term.

The study shows nearly all Inuit inmates in the federal jail system have substance abuse problems, personal and emotional problems, and that two out of three would have trouble entering the work force.