Soksipaitapiisin Restorative Justice and Case Management

Provides support to Indigenous adults and youth who have matters in the court systems. The program focuses on the development and completion of a healing plan which supports individuals in collaboration with other community organizations to address their core issues which caused their criminalization. As a restorative justice program, Soksipaitapiisin assists individuals in understanding how their actions affected others as they take accountability and responsibility for their actions.

Services include:

Case Management
Healing Centered Service Support
Accountability Circles
Victim-Offender Mediation
 Family and Group Conferencing.

In 2020, the Elizabeth Fry Society of Calgary conducted an evaluation of our Soksipaitapiisin program, which partners with the Calgary Indigenous Court to support Indigenous individuals as they participate in the process of restorative justice and work to fulfill their court-ordered Healing Plans. Our findings were as follows:

Participation in Soksipaitapiisin resulted in positive changes in quality of life and reported themes such as:

• improved mental and emotional well-being
• increased financial and/or housing stability
• an increased sense of connection to relatives and/or friends
• reconnection to Indigenous culture and spirituality
• increased connection to supports and resources

Soksipaitapiisin participants expressed a significant increase in their overall confidence in the justice system due to their participation in Calgary Indigenous Court and the Soksipaitapiisin program. Participants indicated that throughout the process of program involvement they:

• felt acknowledged and listened to
• had a better understanding of the justice process as compared to previous experiences
• felt an increased sense of comfort and ease with the process
• felt supported, in particular, culturally supported
• were given a fair chance to succeed during their participation

Participants conveyed a decrease in their perception of stigmatization within the Calgary Indigenous Court and through the support they received by participating in Soksipaitapiisin. They reported increased feelings of self-worth, equitable treatment, safety and belonging, emotional agency, and validation during their participation in Soksipaitapiisin and Calgary Indigenous Court as compared to the mainstream court system.