New program to house, help Indigenous women who are released from jail opens in Saskatoon

The doors are officially open on a new housing unit in Saskatoon built to help women transition back into the community after leaving jail.

Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) is in charge of Īkwēskīcik iskwēwak, which is Cree for women turning their lives around. The initiative is financially supported by all levels of government. 

The facility, located in Pleasant Hill Village, will be for women who were in custody for minor offences. It's a voluntary, referral-based program where women can live for up to 18 months after they leave a correctional facility.

Women will have access to elders and traditional teachings, counselling, health care, educational and employment opportunities, and help with tasks like obtaining a driver's licence.

"Whether they stay the full 18 months or just partial, it'll have a good positive effect on rehabilitation," said STC chief Mark Arcand on Friday at the facility's ribbon cutting event.

"We will be here to support them 110 per cent, because without those supports they don't have hope, and we want them to have hope and we want them to have a good quality of life, whatever they choose to do."

Politicians of all levels gathered with community members at the housing unit on Friday to celebrate the program's launch and tour the space.

Women will have private suites equipped with their own kitchen and bathroom at the brand new facility. It will be staffed 24/7. Arcand said the women are welcome to have their children and relatives come by, noting its important they understand people love and care for them regardless of where they're at in their journey.

The goal is to make sure women can be healthy and safe when they leave jail, because they often aren't equipped with a solid plan, support or resources when released.

Multiple people who spoke at the grand opening referenced Kimberly Squirrel, a 34-year-old mother of six who died in 2021 just three days after being released from the provincial jail for women.

Squirrel's body was found frozen outside in January.

"It is absolutely appalling to me that a woman would die when she's released from prison because we didn't care enough to to provide her with the supports that she needed, and unfortunately her case is not unique across this country," said federal MP Pam Damoff, who became emotional speaking at the grand opening on Friday.

"Without housing, without employment, without healing — which is going to be part of the journey that the women will be receiving here — we're setting these women for failure."

She said that Indigenous women are the fastest growing prison population in Canada, and that incarcerated women from the Prairies are being held in custody in Ontario because there isn't room for them here. 

"That doesn't mean that we need to build more prisons here, it means that we need to be supporting women to prevent them from going into the criminal justice system in the first place, but also supporting them when they're released from prison."

Arcand said this program is a positive step forward, but that it only supports 18 women at a time and there are already 100 on the wait list. 

Mayor Charlie Clark agreed with Arcand that more programs like this are needed as the city faces crises of homelessness and addictions. 

"A big part of that is people being released from incarceration and not having housing, not having plans in place to help them be able to land in the community and be stabilized," Clark said at the ribbon cutting.

He said finding solutions to tackle these crises is a priority for the city.

Arcand noted Īkwēskīcik iskwēwak is the result of extensive collaboration and partnerships. 

The building was designed and built by 3twenty Modular in Saskatoon. The provincial government is putting up $3.6 million for the program over three years. The STC was awarded $3.8 million from the federal government's rapid housing initiative to construct the 18-unit affordable housing building. The Saskatchewan Housing Corporation also provided $486,000 toward the construction of the suites.

​"The significant investment made here from all levels of government shows true treaty relationships," Arcand said. 

The first group of women are expected to move into the facility on Monday.