The Soksipaitapiisin program is an Indigenous lead program that embraces ideas of traditional Indigenous justice. (Ryan Mouck, CMRU.CA)
Soksipaitapiisin
Soksipaitapiisin (Sooksibatabeesin) is the Blackfoot word for the good life. It is a program offered by the Elizabeth Fry Society (Efry) of Calgary in cooperation with the Calgary Indigenous Court. The program works on rehabilitation through connecting people to their culture and heritage. They get to connect with elders, traditional knowledge keepers and other members of their community to learn about their heritage and people. Efry understands the struggles of Indigenous people who are often unfairly or harshly persecuted in western courts and instead works to create a better life for everyone in the community.
“The other courts say we’re just going to give you a sentence and then that’s it. You know, there’s no work being done”
Roderick Eashappie
Restorative Justice Case Manager at the Elizabeth Fry Society
Indigenous Courthouse of Calgary
Efry is centered around the idea of Indigenous justice. Justice doesn’t only have to be from a Western perspective. Sometimes something new can bring a lot of good. A careful balance between both the Western and Indigenous justice has proven to be an effective alternative to the Western courts. The Indigenous courthouse of Calgary embraces traditional Indigenous justice and works closely with Efry to provide a better alternative to the Western court for Indigenous people. Efry is Indigenous lead and embraces a fresh perspective and idea of what should be done to help individuals who have offended.
Efry has had a lot of success in their alternative form of justice. By helping people change and with them through their traumas and reasons they are offended they have drastically lower recidivism rates than the traditional western courts.
“We’re undoing traumas that this country has caused Indigenous people through this court because a lot of those traumas roots are instilled in this country’s roots.”
Roderick Eashappie
Inequality and colonialism
“I grew up in a time when we were very strongly encouraged not to speak our language, a part of colonialism. We were forced, you know, forced education and forced inculcation of our people, you know, to assimilate us.”
Rod Scout
Blackfoot Traditional Knowledge Keeper
Until very recently Indigenous people in Canada have started to be given the same rights as other Canadians. Rod Scout recalled Indigenous rights disparities that have changed within his lifetime.
- Illegal to leave the reserve without a pass
- Right to vote in 1960
- Illegal to consume and possess liquor
- Got Canadian citizenship
- Illegal to go to post-secondary school
“I always tell people reconciliation is just a word, you know a catch phrase, unless we actually exercise and practice it, daily, every day, until it becomes habit.”
Rod Scout
Author’s Reflection
Working with The Elizabeth Fry Society in this project was a really interesting and exciting experience. I learned a lot about the Calgary Indigenous Court and how Ffry is working to provide a better alternative to western courts. When I started this project I didn’t even know Calgary had an Indigenous court and I don’t believe that I’m the only one. This project effectively spreads knowledge and educators about the Indigenous court and provides important information about Canada’s colonial past. Being able to talk to so many people about their personal experiences has provided me with a much better understanding of Indigenous issues and perspectives. Having been able to talk to and be told about personal experiences regarding Indigenous issues has made me much more aware of them.
Roderick was such a great partner to work with throughout this entire project. He was accommodating and easy to coordinate with. His personal experience of working within the courts made for a very interesting perspective and one that was invaluable to this story.
Riel is always very open about his personal thoughts and experiences about going through the Soksipaitapiisin program. His perspectives and thoughts provided an important other side to the story about Efry and one that couldn’t be told by anyone but someone who personally experienced it. His experiences have provided me and the story with an important details and perspectives of someone who actually lived it. Something that must be included when telling an accurate story.
Talking to Rod was an amazing experience and I learned so much from his knowledge. Being told about the Indigenous rights issues that he can remember experiencing brought into perspective how recent all of this change is. It was shocking to actually talk to someone who lived through so many important events. It’s so much different than just reading about them or being told about them from a second hand perspective.
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