Aboriginal and Girls' Advocates call on MCFD Minister to stop racist shackling during Sacred Sweat Lodge Ceremony at Youth Prison
February 17th, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Four organizations are demanding an immediate stop to the shackling of youth during the Sacred Sweat Lodge Ceremony at the Burnaby Youth Secure Custody Center (BYSCC).   The groups—United Native Nations, Urban Native Youth Association, Justice for Girls, and Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Association--are calling on Stan Hagen, Minister of Children & Family Development, to change the policy that they say is racist and reminiscent of abuses carried out in residential schools.

Seis^lom (Glen Williams), Urban Native Youth Association, a Spiritual Leader who spent 12 years working in Federal and Provincial adult prisons, explains the importance of the Sweat Lodge Ceremony within prisons:   “Our intent was to provide a healing path for the Native Brotherhoods and later the Native Sisterhoods, to become fully self-sufficient with help from Elders and Native organizations to ensure sustainability and sovereignty.”  He says that in the 12 years of working in adult prisons he has never seen a breach of security during the Sacred Ceremony:   “The Brothers were always mindful of the deep respect for the Elders/Spiritual Leaders who had come in to help get them back on a road to healing in a society that had basically given up on them.”

Angela Sterritt, Gitxsan woman and Justice for Girls advocate, says that the shackling of youth prisoners during the Sweat Lodge Ceremony is unjustified, abusive, and clearly racist.  She says that the policy violates Constitutional and International human rights, rights under the Child Family & Community Services Act and can only be seen as part of a long history of colonial criminalization of Indigenous cultural and spiritual practices.  Sterritt says:  “This policy has to be understood in the context of a long and shameful history of treating Indigenous spiritual and cultural practices as criminal.  The racism of the justice system has led to a gross over-representation of Indigenous girls in prison, most of whom are there for petty crimes related to conditions of poverty and male violence.  To subject girls to this kind of abuse during a Sacred Ceremony is nothing less than cruel and unusual punishment.”

Vice President of the United Native Nations, David Dennis says the use of mechanical restraints during the Sacred Sweat Lodge Ceremony is “an assault upon the dignity, spirit, and culture of Indigenous youth”.  He says that the Sacred Sweat Lodge is an important ceremony that is not only an inherent Aboriginal right but also an attempt to remedy some of the effects of colonization including cultural genocide.

The prison policy (Section H 13.03 (1), BYSCC Operations Manual) explicitly mandates the use of leg restraints on every youth during the Sweat Lodge program despite the fact that under the same policy youth must be screened prior to participation in the ceremony. 

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