A northwestern MPP is hopeful the province’s pre-budget consultations will help not only the jails in our region, but the whole corrections system.
NDP member for Kiiwetinoong Sol Mamakwa is part of the panel of opposition MPPs who listen to presentations at the pre-budget consultations committee.
One of the topics at the Thunder Bay session was the state of the region’s jails. Mamakwa spoke with Renu Mandhane, the Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
During her presentation she said she visited the Kenora Jail, where she was told all of the inmates are Indigenous and nine out of ten report mental health issues or addictions. She also made a stop at the Thunder Bay District Jail where three-quarters of inmates are Indigenous.
Mamakwa heard the Commissioner’s recommendation to establish “non-institutional” facilities for people awaiting trial, and specialized treatment and support for people with addictions and mental health issues. He echoes those concerns, claiming there is more to do than just fixing overcrowding and other issues within the jails.
“These are colonial systems, these are built that way. They’re not broken, they’re doing exactly what they’re intended to do, which is to keep them in jail and take away the rights of our people to the land and resources,” Mamakwa says.
He says the government needs to “look upstream” and make “significant changes to the way [the corrections system] is looked at.”
“Especially for children and youth, how minimal access to these services are–at worst, they’re non-existent. And that’s why we’re trying to work with this government and try to have an impact [on] the people in government, to make them understand what role they have in respect to these services,” he explains.
He notes says the people deciding how money will be spent need to understand issues like mental health. Mamakwa feels it was a good step to hold a consultation in Sioux Lookout for the first time.
“The issues they heard were very real at a very human level, and all the committee members were very touched, but I think we need action,” Mamakwa notes, “We need some investment and some resources going up into our area.”
