In the fourth episode of the Creating Communities of Care Podcast, we take a step away from the busy streets of Halifax to investigate the Justice System and the troubling overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous women in provincial and federal prison admissions.
The Elizabeth Fry Society advocates for women involved in the Justice System. This advocacy looks different for each woman they work with, but what remains consistent is the organization’s commitment to their clients and to doing what’s right. In this episode we will hear how the Correctional Service of Canada treats women facing gender-based violence as equal participants in their partner’s abuse, often leading to their criminalization and eventual incarceration. But, we will also hear from the women who are working against these systems, and about the importance of hope when fighting a seemingly impossible fight.
RESOURCES:
If you heard parts of your own story in this podcast, and are interested in learning more about the organizations mentioned in this episode, please refer to the following:
More about Creating Communities of Care
Association of Black Social Workers:
- Contact or intake number/email: ccc@nsabsw.ca OR 902-407-8809
- Link to online intake portal: https://www.nsabsw.ca/contactus/
Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia:
Mi’kmaw Legal Support Network:
- Contact or intake number/email: 902-379-2042 OR 902-895-1141
- Link to online intake portal: www.MLSN.ca
Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre:
What is Creating Communities of Care?
In an effort to address the barriers and gaps in care experienced by African Nova Scotian and Urban Indigenous women in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia), four organizations banded together to provide culturally-specific programming to address the issue of gender-based violence as it appears in these two communities.
Inspired by Indigenous customary law and Afrocentricity, these programs aim to address the failures of our inherited colonial systems by connecting women with other members of their community in spaces where their culture is integrated into the care they receive. Although this project has seen huge successes so far, but there is still much to learn, and much more work to do.