I'm glad they finally came to their senses and are sending this murderer back to prison where she belongs. She is not aboriginal and had no right to serve out her sentence in a 'healing lodge' or anywhere else but a prison cell. She helped a pedophile rape an 8 year old girl, and then helped beat that little girl to death and then disposed of her body. She deserves a blanket, a cot and 3 meals a day. That's it. I hope that these changes will prevent other murderers from taking advantage of the system by pretending to be aboriginal to get moved out of prison to 'healing lodges'.
We live in a world where anyone can identify however they choose. If a man says that he is a woman, then he is a woman. If someone identifies as indigenous, that's who he or she is.
What this change means is that violent offenders, regardless of how they identify, will no longer be eligible for transfer to a healing lodge. Is that consistent with the original intent of the healing lodge?
What I means is - my understanding of the healing lodge concept is that it is premised on the belief that aboriginal people are disadvantaged from early childhood onward, and that exposure to traditional teachings in a healing lodge will set them on a better path. Those who suffered most in childhood may be the same people who are more inclined towards violent offences, so aren't they most in need of the healing lodge?
"In speaking to the FSW, we find that the profile of an Aboriginal FSW is generally: a young woman under 30, single, a good percentage have children, come from non-supportive backgrounds, have fragmented families, fostering situations, physically/sexually abusive backgrounds. When looking at what would make this woman function without getting into conflict with the law, you look at a different standard. If you look at educational background and job preparation, they still have all the other baggage that goes along with what they grew up with -- their alienation from who they are as Aboriginal women.
What can we do to bring these women to a point where they can function without the conflict? One of the main ingredients to do so is teaching them that being an Aboriginal woman is okay, in fact darn good. To do that they have to be immersed in something they have never had. The Aboriginal traditions include very special processes for women, and if you have pride in how special it is to be an Aboriginal woman and have the traditional teachings, you do not run into the abuses -- drug abuse, selling your bodies, etc."
Proceedings - National Workshop to Develop a Community Strategy for Federally Sentenced Women