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As each department has 3 tiers of programs and services, in the Community Development Department, all tiers are delivered by the mantra of \u2018Living in Harmony with the Land\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n This department was created to address the socio-impacts on our people by mainstream society and the impacts of the infamous \u2018Oppression Period of the Mi\u2019Kmaw Identity\u2019. This term was coined by Liz LaSaga to represent the period of the 1800s into the 2000s when the Mi\u2019Kmaw identity in Newfoundland was oppressed, under forced assimilation by European influences. The generational impacts from this forced colonialism-based oppression on Indigenous people today spans issues in physical and mental health, addictions, education, employment, justice, literacy, loss of language, poverty, lateral violence, social inclusion, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n Flat Bay Band Inc. acknowledges that a full circle of lifestyle and services are essential, and we believe that each component of an individual is deeply connected and a part of all integral components of said person. As well, it is important to understand that there are elements of life and lived experiences that impact an individual and their life realities, choices, and motivations. In order to thrive in one area, our people need all areas satisfied and balanced.<\/span><\/p>\n We are not about addressing acute problems or with providing band-aid types of solutions. If an individual gets a job but their house, health, or spirit is not in order, then we realize that we need to support those individuals in other areas that matter.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2014, in partnership with Dr. Rosemary Ricciardelli, Research Chair in Safety, Security, and Wellness at the Marine Institute at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and the Bay St. George RCMP detachment, the Flat Bay Band Inc. established six (6) committees to deliver Extra-Judicial Measures for youth in these six (6) Indigenous (Mi\u2019Kmaw) communities.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Flat Bay Band, being the council of the self-governing community of Flat Bay, NL, already had a history of practising restorative justice methods to help keep their youth and band\/community members from unnecessarily getting involved with the judicial system.<\/span><\/p>\n The gross rate of incarceration of Indigenous Peoples in Canada is often much higher than sum incarceration rate of all non-Indigenous populations in federal institutions. Up to 90% of those people imprisoned in some provinces are Indigenous. The Indigenous population who are incarcerated is significantly younger than the incarcerated non-Indigenous population with a median age of 24 compared with a national median age of 45. Indigenous Peoples have a much population rate as well, therefore judicial interventions are necessary to ensure this growing population does not add to the growing incarceration statistic. It is next to impossible to address this national crisis without a fundamental understanding and awareness of the underlying factors which lead Indigenous Peoples to be in greater contact with the justice system.<\/span><\/p>\n These factors include, but are not limited to, poverty, diminished educational attainment, barriers to employment, family disintegration, homelessness, and substance abuse. These factors are the direct result of historical traumas and systemic discrimination.<\/span><\/p>\n Indigenous-related justice services in Newfoundland and Labrador tend to be community specific with no province-wide or comprehensive programming available. However, the agencies and groups who are currently working on Indigenous justice-based programs are invaluable resources and need understand the Indigenous profiles they serve and be aware of the lived experience and mindset differences between themselves and the individuals they serve.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The only funded Indigenous Justice Strategy on the island portion of NL was within the Miawpukek First Nation. The objective of the Miawpukek First Nation Healing and Sentencing Program is to strengthen the capacity of local people and promote community building with regard to justice issues. For five years Flat Bay Band Inc. was an equal delivery agent to Miawpukek First Nation, but we did not have a community-based or core budget. For 2020-2023, we were approved for multi-year funding by Youth Justice \u2013 Department of Justice Canada, named the K\u2019Taqmkuk Restorative Justice Strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n By establishing the K\u2019Taqmkuk Restorative Justice Strategy and through cultural profiling, we hope to contribute to a vision that reduces youth contact with the law and shrinks the Indigenous incarceration rate. With mental health and addictions related crimes being the highest in the province when compared to rates across the country, competent culturally appropriate education is pivotal to service delivery whereby we aim to work together to increase our awareness of how to adapt our strategies and programs and to identify solutions that:<\/span><\/p>\n At the start of the K\u2019Taqmkuk Restorative Justice Strategy, on January 25th, 2019, NL Justice Minister, Andrew Parsons announced the province would move to a restorative justice framework and follow the Nova Scotia model. It is timely and vital that the Mi\u2019Kmaw communities become better equipped to work with all levels of the justice system, to help the province follow the Nova Scotia Indigenous justice model, and to customize our Restorative Justice programming based on the NL Mi\u2019Kmaw profile and the respective intricacies of each distinct Indigenous community.<\/span><\/p>\n Up to 2024, our project will focus on youth, specifically those under the age of 18. As discussed in training model, we avoid terms such as \u201cvictim\u201d and \u201ccrime\u201d. We explore a variety of options that best suit the situation and circumstances as well as the youth and person(s) who were harmed. In addition to our Restorative Justice work, we look to refer participants to other community services of which they may be able to avail.\u00a0 Our youth do not need to identify as Indigenous \u2013 being from a Mi\u2019Kmaq community automatically enables their referral to be considered.<\/span><\/p>\n After 2024, we plan to grow our target profile to serve all of the island of Newfoundland and Labrador as well as to serve adults, not just youth. Referrals currently come from RCMP only. Our goal is to expand the referral process to Child Protection and In Care Division (CSSD) and the Department of Education through its schools.<\/span><\/p>\n Our Restorative Justice Committees are composed of individuals of varying backgrounds. We have members who have experience working with youth, corrections, social work, Indigenous groups, or who are community workers, teachers, etc. With the varying knowledge brought to the table, we work collaboratively to ensure we are providing the best support for youth that we can. Our purposes vary per referral, but the main goal remains the same \u2013 support our youth and provide the best resources we can to ensure their involvement with the criminal justice system is positive and minimal and keep the reparation of harmed relationships at the forefront.<\/span><\/p>\n Currently eight (8) committees have been formed, that link to the federally identified Indigenous (Mi\u2019Kmaw) communities on the island portion of Newfoundland (outside of the Conne River Reserve, NL).<\/span><\/p>\n EJMs Are all measures outside the formal Criminal Justice System employed by police officers and Crown Attorneys to hold accountable persons in conflict with the law. Appropriate and effective way to address youth crime, allow for timely interventions focused on correcting the offending behavior, EJMs allow early intervention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here KRJS reps are responsible for accepting referrals from the RCMP and working with their committee, the victim, and the offender and their parents\/guardians if required to establish activities that can help the offender be accountable for and repair the damage done, so that they can avoid charges and future contact with the law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n KRJS reps process these circles with the victim, the offender, parents\/guardians and support service providers to participate in a Healing & Community Accountability Circle(s) that will encourage the offender to be accountable for and pay for and\/or repair the damage caused. The offender is also expected to demonstrate verbal accountability to the community and individuals impacted by their actions. Through the power of the circle, we work to restore balance and make our community a safe place for current and future generations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The circles stem from the Indigenous human awareness:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The circles utilize the principles that were traditionally used to deal with matters such as victimization. The traditional way was for the community:<\/span><\/p>\n There are three reasons we opt to process KRJS Healing & Accountability Circles:<\/span><\/p>\n The idea is to help communities and individuals to recognize the portion of underlying issues that contribute to mental health and addictions in Indigenous (Mi\u2019kmaw) people\/communities because of the Oppression Period.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One example is the inherited behavior pattern of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that was inadvertently passed down through generations of most Mi’kmaw\/rural parents. The modeling of reactions, beliefs and lifestyle that was an unhealthy, untreated coping mechanism for the trauma that the generations before suffered during the infamous Oppression Period. Today there is mainstream knowledge that inherited thought and behavior patterns are a major contributor to the rising rates of mental health and addictions we see today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Lived experience Reps are a vital aspect of our restorative justice strategy. Realization that one is understood and not alone in dealing with a mental health issue and addictions is often the key to initiating help.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n KRJS Lived Experience Reps can recount their lived experience(s), better relate to the individual who is suffering, and initiate the development of a support system. \u00a0Another benefit of lived experience is to help normalize mental health disorders and reduce the concern of stigma.<\/span><\/p>\n At least one of the KRJS reps in each committee has lived experience of overcoming addiction or as a family member affected by addiction. This rep is highly valuable to not just the clients struggling with the addiction but to the services providers who aim to support them through recovery. The rep serves as a support person to help motivate the addict to seek help and to guide him\/her to where that help can be sought.<\/span><\/p>\n There is a significantly high rate of underreporting crimes to RCMP in our communities. The reluctance by witnesses and\/or victims to report the crime to authorities sums to 60% of crimes that go unreported and\/or supported by witnesses. In profiling our communities, we find that factors such as victim fear, mistrust of authorities as well as actual or perceived threats of revenge is much alive in our communities, as well as non-indigenous communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But another factor is that there are understandable concerns for our people with all making a report that communicated to and absorbed by the RCMP\/Justice system for what it was intended to be. History shows much misrepresentation of reports by authorities concludes that cognitive difference between the profile of our people and mainstream society being what it is, obviously disappoints the outcome of reports by witnesses and victims.<\/span><\/p>\n We believe witnesses and victims react in relatively rational ways, despite the apparent loss of control and the strong fear engendered by the experience, yet reporting to police is often realistically viewed in our communities as ineffective and potentially detrimental.<\/span><\/p>\n KRJS Reps are trained specifically in how to support individuals when having to make a report, make a statement, provide evidence, and general contact information. KRJS Reps are also trained in what to say when they contact the police at the detachment as well as what they are allowed (or not allowed) to do and say while supporting a client.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The goal is to support the witness\/victim in developing a report that clearly dictates what THAT PERSON is intending to report, as it is read through \u201cwhite-eye seeing\u201d. And that that it is authentically absorbed, shared, and addressed as it was intended.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The KRJS committees and communities can access all the service providers and band resources accessible to clients in their community, catchment areas, the province and Indigenous nation. The KRJS Reps identify the needs of the communities\/victims\/offenders and discuss with the RJ team various interventions, services and opportunities that can help steer them to redemption, healing, and life success. Committee Reps assist in the community and\/or client action plan using internal (Flat Bay Band Inc and Band Partners) resources and services as well as the use of the referral process to ensure equal access and solutions to every barrier identified in that action plan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Community based activities and events are opportunities to bring awareness and address to ALL the factors that contribute to their own community Indigenous (Mikmaw) profile getting involved with the law. The KRJS Reps continue to be trained in all the dynamics and intricacies of the \u201cOppression of the Newfoundland Mi\u2019kmaw\u201d and in further profiling their own communities with strategies to heal the intergenerational and hereditary traumas that plague them today and our future generations.\u00a0 This makes community activities and events to be especially broad in subjects that are covered.<\/span><\/p>\n The KRJS Reps choose activity\/event subjects that match the community profile and related current affairs. The reps continue to accept continued training in related topics themselves. They pay attention to needs and opportunities in the community to develop ideas and plan opportunities, that:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Through this project we have developed a training program for Service Providers entitled \u201cOppression of the Newfoundland Mi\u2019kmaw.\u201d The training program also includes a documentary that we developed beforehand on people of the communities who express the impacts of the oppression on their lives and how it affects their ability to have meaningful and collaborative relationships with service providers today, especially those in the Justice system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n By providing this training to justice, social, and mental health service providers, we aim to share information, community history, community profiling, cultural influences, and cognitive differences between our Indigenous (Mi\u2019kmaw) people; victims\/offenders and mainstream society. Together more community-intimate and customized methods and approaches are and will continue to be developed, to help deter or better service the offenders in their involvement with the justice system and afterward. The idea is to help communities and service providers be more collaborative in recognizing and especially better addressing the underlying issues that contribute to crime by our Indigenous (Mi\u2019kmaw) people and in our communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The idea is to help offenders, victims, and their Mi’kmaw communities understand the generational profiling that has contributed to their issues and that relates to their criminal and criminal-like actions. Accountability and reparation are far more effective once the offender realizes and understands the offense and its source.<\/span><\/p>\n No fee is required. We are non-profit and seek grants and funding to operate so that we can deliver our services in an economically blind nature – free to all clients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Extra Judicial Measures & RCMP Partnerships \u2013 Erica McDonnell<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Program Coordinator\u00a0 \u2013 Sarah Nash<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Email Sarah Nash at <\/span>sarahflatbayband@gmail.com<\/span><\/a><\/span> or leave a phone message at 709-647-1370.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Restorative Justice Report – August 2022- July 2023.docx<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Restorative Justice & Violence Prevention<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Poverty Reduction & Housing<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
Equity & Social Inclusion<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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<\/p>\nKtaqmukuk Restorative Justice Strategy\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Who do we Serve?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Youth Clientele\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Future Clientele\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
All-island Indigenous (Mi\u2019Kmaw) Committees<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Where are the Committees?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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\n RJ Committee<\/span><\/td>\n Supported by Flat Bay Band Inc. and Partner Band Councils<\/span><\/td>\n Partnering RCMP Detachment<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Flat Bay<\/span><\/td>\n Lead community-<\/span>Flat Bay Band Inc.<\/span><\/td>\n BSG RCMP Detachment, Stephenville, NL<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 St. Georges<\/span><\/td>\n Partnered with St. George\u2019s Indian Band Inc.<\/span><\/td>\n BSG RCMP Detachment, Stephenville, NL<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 BSG South and Surrounding Areas<\/span><\/td>\n Partnered with Three Rivers Mi\u2019Kmaw Band Inc.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n BSG RCMP Detachment, Stephenville, NL<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Burgeo and\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Surrounding Areas<\/span><\/td>\n Partnered with Burgeo Mi\u2019Kmaw band Inc.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n BSG RCMP Detachment, Stephenville, NL<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Port au Port West<\/span><\/td>\n Partnered with Benoit’s First Nation Inc.<\/span><\/td>\n BSG RCMP Detachment, Stephenville, NL<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 6.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Stephenville and Stephenville Crossing<\/span><\/td>\n No band partnerships, supported only by Flat Bay Band Inc.<\/span><\/td>\n BSG RCMP Detachment, Stephenville, NL<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 7.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Central (Gander, Glenwood, and Grand Falls)<\/span><\/td>\n No band partnerships, supported only by Flat Bay Band Inc<\/span><\/td>\n Grand Falls and Gander RCMP Detachments<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 8.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Benoit\u2019s Cove and Corner Brook<\/span><\/td>\n Partnered with Benoit\u2019s Cove Indian Band Inc.<\/span><\/td>\n Corner Brook and Deer Lake RCMP Detachments<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Restorative Justice Committee Services<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Extra Judicial Measures<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
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Healing\/Sentencing and Community Accountability Circles<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
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Mental Health and Addictions, Lived Experience Support<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Supportive Reporting<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Referrals to Accessible Service Providers (Wrap-around Services)\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Community Based Activities<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
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Profile of the Newfoundland Mi\u2019Kmaw, Training for Service Providers\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
What is the Cost?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
RCMP Liaison\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nProject Coordination<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nFor More Information<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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