FEWO Committee Report

Supplementary Report of the Conservative Party of Canada

Indigenous Women in the Federal Justice and Correctional Systems

In June 2018 the Status of Women Committee completed a study on Indigenous Women in the Federal Justice and Correctional Systems. During this study, the committee heard compelling testimony from 51 witnesses and received 11 written briefs from various organizations and individuals.

Throughout this study, self-determination was one of the key themes brought up by multiple witnesses. Although the Liberal members pay tribute to these witnesses in the body of the main report, the Conservative members of the committee feel that the principle of self-determination deserved more attention. Freedom and personal responsibility are fundamental principles to conservativism. Unlike the Liberals, Conservatives believe in and fight for the fundamental right to liberty and the ability to govern one’s self.

While the Conservative members of the Committee are generally in agreement with the findings of the majority report, we believe two items, in particular, deserved greater attention: 1) the positive effect of social impact bonds and 2) the importance of focusing on crime prevention. Based on witness testimony that spoke to the effectiveness of using social impact bonds as a preventative measure, these two items can be considered hand-in-hand.

Throughout the study, the committee heard testimony from a number of witnesses about the effectiveness of social impact bonds, an innovative approach to funding social projects.

The committee heard from witnesses about what a social impact bond is, and how it can be used to implement prevention programs that help Indigenous women break the cycles of violence in which many of them are caught.

Mr. Adam Jagelewski, the director for the Center for Impact Investing at MaRS Discovery District), explained social impact bonds this way:

“A social impact bond is a new partnership agreement between government and a non-profit organization, and this agreement is based on the covenant that the organization will deliver on an outcome that government seeks to achieve. It's a way in which we can start to shift our thinking towards results, or what I'm calling an outcome, versus the activities or the inputs/outputs of a social intervention.

Because non-profit organizations do not want to take the risk of potentially failing and because they don't want to take the operational risk of delivering that program without that funding, they seek out investors to provide that working capital. The social impact bond is just a unique way to classify this new partnership agreement, whereby private investors put up upfront money to deliver a social program that is intended to generate better outcomes.”[1]

Essentially, a social impact bond is a contract formed between a not-for-profit organization and the government, whereby the not-for-profit organization initially uses money from private investors to deliver a much-needed social service. Once the outcome is proven, the organization is granted money from the government for the outcome achieved. This type of funding model rewards organizations for achieving results. It has been proven that with a results-based approach, better outcomes are achieved.

Mr. Jagelewski said this about social impact bonds:

“The core principle of a social impact bond is to actually wrap support around individuals and give them the support they need in order to achieve a better life, or to advance them in some way, shape, or form.”[2]

Donald Meikle is the executive director of Saskatoon Downtown Youth Centre Inc., the first organization in Canada to complete a social impact bond project. He offered strong testimony as to why it’s important to focus on prevention in order to address the issues surrounding indigenous women in the Justice System:

“Investment in indigenous women creates hope for the future and will go a long way in helping keep women out of our institutions. We need to begin to create prevention programs that start at birth and work hard to keep family units together.”[3]

Many witnesses commented on the need to involve communities in the creation of solutions and urged the committee to focus on preventative measures over post-incarceration measures.

When asked whether prevention techniques were best accomplished through big government programs, or by empowering community members and organizations to do the work on the ground, Ms. Marie-Claude Landry (Chief Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission) made the following statement:

“In my opinion, it's to empower the community, for sure, and to raise awareness and give them the resources and the help they need to be informed and to address the different challenges they have to face. It's certainly one part of addressing the systemic discrimination. We need to address the systemic discrimination that those women face.”[4]

Mr. Donald Meikle vividly illustrated the need for prevention when he offered this illustration:

“It often reminds me of the story of the two people pulling dead bodies from a river. They stood strong, pulling bodies day after day, until an elder happened to walk by and asked them what they were doing. They explained what they were doing and how hard they were working. The elder looked at them and asked, “Has anyone gone upstream to find out why all these bodies are coming down in the first place?” When we're looking at indigenous women issues, we still continually look downstream.”[5]

As Conservatives, we believe that the best way to address the problems in our society is to resolve the underlying causes at the root of the issue and that the government needs to  strongly support individuals and organizations who find innovative approaches to doing so. For this reason, we urge the government to use social impact bonds to support local community organizations to deliver services to indigenous women as a direct and effective mode of crime prevention. Based on witness testimony, we further recommend that these programs focus on services that will empower indigenous women to live their lives free from acts that may lead to incarceration. 

Our two recommendations are summarized as follows:

1.   That the Government of Canada expand the use of social impact bonds to prevent the leading causes of incarceration for indigenous women.
2.   That the government of Canada examine the use of social impact bonds to reduce costs and increase outcomes for programs delivered within the federal justice system, with an emphasis on the delivery of mental health services and alternative programs such as healing lodges and community courts.