Monday: View From The Top

I have spent the day accompanying some senior visitors from London around town. We have spent the day focussing on how the criminal system here deals with indigenous people. Aboriginals constitute about 3% of the population yet, for men, account for 24% of the prison population and, for women, it's 36%. There are parallels with the over representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in prisons in the UK and that's what we were looking at today.

Within that context, there is some interesting work going on here, for example with healing lodges, where aboriginal culture and traditions form part of the redemption process. They are very successful but, interestingly enough, when we were speaking to representatives from the lodges, including First Nation elders, they didn't feel that there should be more of them as it would make them too accessible whereas, currently, you have to really prove yourself worthy of being taken into a lodge. It was fascinating.........

This photo has nothing to do with that - it was from one of our meeting venues.......