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Negotiating Successful Transitions: "Criminalized" Indigenous Women in Saskatchewan A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts In the Department of Indigenous Studies University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By Danielle Bird © Copyright Danielle Bird, December 2020. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted, copyright of the material in this thesis belongs to the author Permission To Use In presenting this thesis/dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis/dissertation in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis/dissertation work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis/dissertation or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis/dissertation. Requests for permission to copy or to make other uses of materials in this thesis/dissertation in whole or part should be addressed to: Head of the Department of Indigenous Studies 142 Kirk Hall, 117 Science Place University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5C8 Canada OR Dean College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies University of Saskatchewan 116 Thorvaldson Building, 110 Science Place Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5C9 Canada i Abstract Indigenous women are over-incarcerated in settler colonial Canadian prisons and are now considered the fastest growing federal inmate population within the country. While such trends are not new and have been the subject of much scholarly debate, the growing severity of this reality has had lethal implications for many Indigenous women, inside and outside of prisons. This thesis examines five Indigenous women’s personal histories with the criminal justice system, their views on the effectiveness of mainstream and Indigenous based prison programs, and their post-release transitions back into urban spaces in Saskatchewan. This research is a qualitative study that sought a deeper understanding of the issues that formerly incarcerated Indigenous women in Saskatchewan faced as they negotiated their transitions from prisons to their respective urban communities. I conducted five open-ended interviews with formerly incarcerated Indigenous women and drew insights from their perceptions and responses to the Government of Canada’s continued emphasis on “Indigenizing” the criminal justice system, with an examination of their own views on “successful reintegration”. The findings from interviews with my research partners suggest that the primary focus on Indigenizing the carceral system by incorporating Indigenous cultures and traditions throughout its structure is not only flawed in its conception, but also in its execution. I argue that the scholarship examining the experiences of criminalized Indigenous women must move past constructing them as culturally deficient individuals that require healing, while proposing the Indigenization of prisons and the criminal justice system as the primary solution. In the context of settler colonialism, discourses of healing through culture (inside prisons) becomes an extension of settler colonial modes of social control because the myriad of social, political, and economic issues that contribute to Indigenous women’s criminalized statuses are constructed simply as Indigenous “problems,” requiring “cultural” solutions, rather than a result of the ongoing failure to provide Indigenous women in Saskatchewan with the social, economic, and cultural supports they require outside of prison. Recommendations from this research also suggest that supports for formerly incarcerated Indigenous women must be provided without the criminal justice system’s control, influence, and ongoing surveillance. ii Acknowledgements First, and foremost, I would like to thank my research partners, (the Indigenous women I worked with) for their insights and for trusting me with their personal histories. This research would not exist if it was not for them. I would like to thank my MA supervisor, Dr. Sarah Nickel for her unwavering support, guidance, and feedback throughout the entirety of this project. Thank you to my advisory committee, Dr. Julie Kaye and Dr. Emily Snyder for providing advice, feedback, and for sharing their expertise and knowledge with me. Thank you to my children, my family, and my friends for the love and support. Thank you to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the College of Arts and Science, University of Saskatchewan, the Department of Indigenous Studies, University of Saskatchewan, and St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan for providing funding for this project. Kinanâskomitin! iii Dedication For all the Indigenous women who have been, and continue to be, affected by settler colonial injustice. iv Table of Contents Permission To Use ........................................................................................................................... i Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Scholarly Interventions ............................................................................................................... 5 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 11 Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 1: Indigenous Women and Settler Colonial Carceral Logics .......................................... 20 1.1: Historical Context of Indigenous Women’s Issues in Prisons ........................................... 26 1.2: Healing, Tradition, and Culture in Prison .......................................................................... 33 Chapter 2: “Indigenizing” Settler Colonial Carceral Systems? .................................................... 42 2.1: “Indigenous Prisons” and Indigenous Women’s Healing .................................................. 47 Chapter 3: Indigenous Women’s Negotiation of Successes ......................................................... 65 3.1: Who Gets to Decide “What Works”? ................................................................................. 68 3.2: Challenging and Renegotiating Post-Prison “Successes” .................................................. 73 3.3: Indigenous Women’s Views on their Post-Release Successes .......................................... 75 3.4: What Indigenous Women Say Works ................................................................................ 80 3.5: What Indigenous Women Say is Needed in Saskatchewan Communities ........................ 84 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 90 Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 93 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 95 Appendix A: Consent Form .................................................................................................... 115 v Introduction Indigenous people are starkly over-represented within settler colonial Canada’s legal systems. Indigenous people are three times more likely to be victims of violent crime (which includes robbery, assault, and sexual assault) and are incarcerated at higher rates than their non- Indigenous counterparts.1 This trend is not new. In a review of Saskatchewan’s incarceration rates for 1976-1977, John Hylton revealed significant over-representations of Indigenous people in prisons; wherein Indigenous men were thirty-seven times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous men and Indigenous women were 131 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous women.2 Hylton projected that the number of Indigenous people in prisons would only continue to rise with Saskatchewan’s growing Indigenous population. He also suggested that correctional institutions were highly ineffective, “especially for persons of Indian ancestry.”3 Since then, federally funded commissions, inquiries, and ombudsmen have argued that while the overall crime rate in Canada has declined, the number of Indigenous people confined within the criminal justice system continues to increase. 4 During the release of

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