Concurrent Sessions

Presented by members of the Métis Nation of Ontario’s Justice Team, this session will offer the opportunity to learn about who the Métis are, who they are in Ontario, Métis history and culture, restorative justice practices and important court decisions. Centered on historical and contemporary Métis experiences and within a context of Métis self-determination, the team will demonstrate concrete and innovative actions that ensure that there is equitable and culturally relevant access to justice for all Indigenous peoples within Ontario. Discussions will include programs such as their Community Diversion Program, Gladue Aftercare, Indigenous Liaison Program, and the Indigenous Court Worker Program.

The death of a loved one can be a one of life’s most difficult and painful experiences. Where the circumstances of a loss are complex, families may experience disenfranchised and traumatic grief. When a death occurs in custody, natural grief processes are often interrupted as families navigate multiple investigation processes, and the anticipation of a coroner’s inquest. Families may feel alone, and uncertain about where to turn for support or information. The Family Support Liaison program, part of the Ministry of the Solicitor General’s Correctional Services Human Rights Unit, began in March 2022. The program’s development was informed by the voices and experiences of family survivors. Shannon Palmer, Family Support Liaison, will speak about her experiences developing the Family Support Liaison program, and the work that it does to uphold the dignity and rights of grieving families.

Grey Bruce Health Services and the Supportive Outreach Services (SOS) team provide quality, accessible care to specialized populations with complex needs, including the Indigenous, unhoused, and LGBTQ+ communities, as well as those with substance use or mental health needs. SOS strives to make healthcare more accessible and inclusive for these populations by taking care to them, meeting them where they are, both physically and mentally, removing barriers in the way of accessing help. SOS travels to their patients with mobile services to encampments, the street, and drop-in centres, as well as fixed locations, providing quality care to those in need. Treatment includes on-demand access to opioid substitutions and informed harm reduction treatment options to reduce the stigma placed on individuals seeking help.

Individuals within custodial settings often have higher rates of mental illness, substance use, and complex health needs. The Ministry of the Solicitor General recognizes additional training and expertise is needed to better support this vulnerable population. The Mental Health and Addiction Unit works collaboratively with Institutional Services, Community Correctional Services, inter-ministerial and external stakeholders to effectively respond to the challenges of supporting this vulnerable population.

This presentation will follow the journey of an individual with mental health and substance use related needs in provincial custody from intake to community reintegration. This presentation will highlight supports within correctional services as well as collaboration with external service providers, including the Forensic Early Intervention Service (FEIS) and Acute Care Stabilization beds with hospital partners.

Persons experiencing homelessness, mental health and addiction are often stuck in the cycles of the Justice system. This population is denied bail at higher rates and must navigate the complicated system by attending various appointments around their communities or risk returning to custody.

Windsor Essex has an established Housing and Homelessness Help Hub that provides day services to those experiencing homelessness. This program has the following services on site: housing, medical, mental health/addictions, and income assistance. Low barrier service delivery and flexible appointment times has made this hub a one stop shop for persons getting released from custody. In 2022, John Howard Bail Verification program was added as a service, recognizing that coming to the population may result in more success and less returns to custody. Probation & Parole has joined the hub and meets with people with mental health and addiction who may forget their appointment times at the probation reporting. Later in 2023, the local jail will begin discharge planning meetings for persons at risk of homelessness and will utilize the hub to ensure a smooth connection to services. The local Community Justice Coordinator is also linked into the Hub and can provide advocacy (when appropriate) for people who will lose their housing if incarcerated.

Their model and collaboration between justice partners aims to reduce barriers, reduce breaches, and empower individuals to exit the system.

The rights of people found Not Criminally Responsible (NCR) and Unfit are difficult to achieve politically and have few champions. Rights are most often won through the Courts, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This session will provide a history of how consistent and committed legal advocacy by Szigeti Advocates and the Empowerment Council and its forerunners has been an important avenue in exposing and addressing systemic issues within the forensic system, such as excessive detention, use of restraint and seclusion, and anti-Black and anti-Indigenous practices. The presenters will look at how advocacy can advance and expand the application of established law in other criminal law areas into Review Board Law (such as the application of Gladue principles to address over-incarceration of Indigenous persons.)

To be meaningful in the lives of people in the forensic system, case law rights have needed to be translated into institutional practices, and the Empowerment Council has sought to do so for 25 years. Institutional advancement of rights has required constant advocacy, and a strong, independent peer voice, informed by forensic patient experience. This voice can then inform legal advocacy. In this way, we incrementally advance, sometimes lose ground, and then advance again.

Based on a proprietary learning platform – “Restorying Your Story” provides a healing program that can be used by any organization in and out of Indigenous communities. Managing Partner Michael Gauthier did his PhD cultural studies work in this area. The teachings balance recognition of historical facts with today’s realities with an emphasis on creating a positive collaborative future. The programming includes innovative, culturally sensitive communication tools that encourages dialogue to start the journey to a positive and healthy lifestyle.

It is a community-based research project in which participants/clients who have experienced past trauma participate in “restorying circles.” A restorying circle is a group exercise that allows participants to reflect on the thoughts playing on repeat in their minds about identity and shame, and recreate the narrative. They also engaged in the use of the Medicine Wheel and Tipi Model to regain a sense of dignity and hope for the future.

Through data and storytelling, this presentation will showcase the results of a research project that reviewed the Hamilton Peer Support Team. Serving working-age and emerging adults living with mental illness and/or substance misuse who may be experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness, and/or involvement with the criminal justice system, the team visits encampments and shelters, and offers a wide range of services and supports. This presentation will discuss the services offered, how they impacted the lives of service recipients, what the Peer Support Workers found helpful in their work, as well as the value of Peer Support, and the challenges, barriers, and what the next steps might be to embed Peer Support as a valued and integral part of CMHA Hamilton.

This presentation will provide an overview of the Community Reintegration Planning Tables (CRPT) Project, a partnership between the Ministry of the Solicitor General and the Provincial Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee. CRPTs are intended to support a person-centered, collaborative, multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral approach to reintegration planning and support for high needs individuals being released from correctional institutions across Ontario. Using a phased approach, CRPTs are underway ten sites across province (Toronto South Detention Centre, Maplehurst Correctional Complex, Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, Thunder Bay Correctional Centre, Kenora Jail, Brockville Jail, Sarnia Jail, Vanier Centre for Women, Toronto East Detention Centre, Quinte Detention Centre). The presentation will provide an overview of the development, implementation, and operationalization of the sites, and highlight successes and best practices, key lessons learned and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

Restorative justice and restorative practices are seeing an ever-increasing popularity by practitioners working in the criminal justice field. While restorative practices exist on a continuum from informal to formal practices, the vast majority of practices employed in the criminal justice system lie within the formal end of the spectrum. The question this raises, is what alternative means can be employed to practice restorative justice in a more informal manner. One solution to this problem that the presenters will propose in this presentation is to integrate art in restorative practices to 1) engage individuals’ personal creativity; 2) render restorative practices more accessible; 3) embed restorative justice in everyday life goals; and 4) enhance self-actualization and psychological safety for individuals. This presentation will draw on action-based research based out of London, Ontario, making use of experiences gathered in a variety of supportive environments.

The High Priority Community Strategy provides innovative, culturally relevant, community-based healthcare delivery in the communities of Peel Region that were most disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Employing a peer-led model of Community Health Ambassadors for education, awareness, health promotion, and community capacity building, numerous initiatives were started including Community Health & Wellness Fairs in residential buildings; intentional creation of culturally and linguistically appropriate resources to address community questions, concerns, and barriers; in-person and virtual townhalls and workshops; incentivized social media campaigns targeting youth; and, community-based drop-in clinics at libraries and community centres, offering support in accessing mental health and addiction resources.

Over the last five years, provincial and federal governments have announced their commitments to ensuring the criminal justice system keeps all Canadians, their families, and communities safe.

Recent provincial, national, and international events, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic have further highlighted the systemic discrimination and disproportionate representation of Indigenous peoples, Black Canadians and members of other racialized communities in the criminal justice system.

The HSJCC Network has long acknowledged that one of the negative impacts of slavery, colonization and oppression is an overrepresentation of Black, Indigenous and racialized populations within the mental health and criminal justice systems. Following high profile incidents of racism both provincially and internationally, as well as feedback received from our Regional HSJCCs, the Provincial HSJCC has committed to identifying ways the HSJCC Network can participate in the dismantling of structural and systemic racism.

In response to requests from HSJCC members across the network looking for additional guidance and support in improving anti-racism policies and strategies, the Provincial HSJCC approved the establishment of a Standing Advisory Committee to oversee and guide the development of this work in November 2020.

Since then, the Anti-racism Advisory Committee has conducted a survey across the HSJCC Network and identified three priority areas of work in support of the P-HSJCC’s efforts to address anti-racism within the human services and justice systems. The Committee’s first priority is the development of a provincial framework/strategy that will guide Local, Regional and Provincials HSJCCs, as well as other professionals working in the human services and justice systems in their commitment to improve anti-racism efforts as part of their work.

Black and racialized people are overrepresented at every level and every stage of the criminal legal system in Ontario. Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) is funding Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs), reports that will help sentencing judges consider the impact of systemic racism on Black and racialized individuals facing charges.

IRCAs provide detailed, culturally relevant information to sentencing judges regarding the impact of systemic racism and other socio-economic barriers on Black and other racialized accused. These reports provide important social context to assist the court in crafting a fit sentence that includes culturally appropriate supports.

This presentation will discuss the intersection of race, mental health and the criminal justice system. It will examine the structural barriers faced by Black and racialized persons when accessing mental health services, how it impacts criminal law proceedings, and how IRCAs are being used to improve justice outcomes for Black and racialized accused.

There is no sustained civil society or government body keeping track of police-involved deaths and deaths during incarceration, across Canada. Independent academics have attempted to keep track of deaths in custody, families and friends of victims of police killings have tracked deaths in their communities, and journalists have reported on police-involved deaths, and occasionally relevant statistics are released in reports from various oversight bodies. But it remains that there is no publicly available, verified, sustained, and comprehensive source for this information. The lack of data prevents researchers, policymakers, advocates, and communities most impacted by police violence from answering basic questions about police use of force and police-involved deaths. Building on past initiatives, the Tracking (In)Justice Project created this database to track information and fill this gap so that others could use it for analysis, policy work and to effect change.

This presentation will identify the numbers, analysis, and highlight how our research is moving beyond the numbers into social action. The Lived Experience and Family Committee that acts as the oversight of our research will also be featured.

This presentation will focus on an adapted Dialectical Behaviour Therapy group for clients with developmental disabilities (DD), which was implemented due to a recognized service gap in mental health supports for justice involved clients. The group ran for 12 weeks; each group member had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a clinician on a weekly basis to get support with homework, as well as problem solving related to skills development. Five participants were recruited from the Downtown East Justice Centre diversion court, as well as from the Community Network of Specialized Care Toronto Region. The presenters will give data on the implementation of this pilot emotion regulation group, as well as outcome data from pre- and post-measures. They will discuss feasibility of implementing group-based mental health supports for this population and will discuss recommendations regarding emotion regulation supports to reduce recidivism for justice involved adults with DD.

Next year will mark 25 years since the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R. v. Gladue. Many restorative justice practices have been put in place since then for Indigenous people in conflict with the law, yet Indigenous peoples in Canada are still overrepresented in prison populations. This presentation will look at societal factors that can lead to such over representation. It will also look at the restorative justice practices being used in Canada, including sentencing circles post-Gladue and more recently. The purpose of a Gladue Report and the work of a Gladue Writer will be discussed. The conclusion will be a discussion of Indigenous People’s Courts in Ontario.

Historically, services for individuals with multiple co-morbidities have operated within the silos of their respective service streams. This left gaps in care that stemmed largely from a lack of awareness and understanding. Through the use of education, Provincial Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Navigators have forged a way towards integration and a more holistic view of care, by providing a means for professionals working outside the field of ABI, to build their confidence to work with survivors of ABI. As an introductory tool across various platforms and geographic boundaries, such work builds towards a future that bridges the gaps between care needs.

Participants will learn how education increases service provision for individuals who struggle with complex needs. A variety of successful examples within the justice system will be provided to participants, encouraging them to consider and implement adaptations within their own Agencies.

The Mental Health of Commission of Canada (MHCC) is leading the development of an action plan to support the mental health and well-being of people who interact with the criminal justice system in Canada. This initiative builds on the MHCC’s previous work in this area and was inspired by continuous calls to take action on decades-old efforts to produce meaningful change.

This will be an opportunity to provide input to ensure a variety of perspectives, including people with lived and/or living experience and individuals who work within the criminal justice system, are reflected in the action plan, as the MHCC looks to create a draft action plan for 2024.

This session will include an overview of the development of the action plan, the foundational elements, and the key issues and themes identified to date. Participants will be asked to provide input on a few engagement questions related to the plan.

This presentation will share experiences and evaluation findings from South Riverdale Community Health Centre’s innovative Peer Training & Apprenticeship Program for Harm Reduction workers. The goal of this project is to provide comprehensive and supportive training for people who use drugs to become harm reduction workers at health and social service agencies. The 16-week training program covers a wide range of training needs from overdose prevention and response to community advocacy and drug users’ liberation, followed by a paid six-month apprenticeship placement at a community agency. People with complex health and social needs are encouraged to apply for the program which strives to be ‘no-barrier’ and client-centered.

This presentation will provide an overview of the training model and share outcomes, key components and lessons learned from four recent training cohorts. The presentation will be facilitated by the project coordinators and will include a recent program graduate.

Following the Feather Program is a 12-step addiction support program based on indigenous cultural knowledge and traditional healing. The focus of the program is to support people experiencing addiction, recovery and sobriety while building a healthy community. This program was developed to assist with the ongoing indigenous addiction issues in the community and justice system. It models a healthy, traditional, and cultural way of living.

The Following the Feather Program demonstrates a two-eyed seeing approach.

Through an Indigenous lens with one eye, this approach focuses on the connection between inquiry and solutions in which people come together to view the world, while the other eye sees through a Western lens. This approach centers around community, making it a very important part of recovery and aftercare. This program validates the need for indigenous addiction support within the justice system and community.

The prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among justice-involved populations is high, ranging from 35.7% to 88.0%. TBI is associated with a range of cognitive, behavioural, emotional, and communication challenges that complicate compliance with standard conditions of probation, parole, and pretrial supervision, such as orders to maintain reporting requirements, avoid particular people or places, abide by a curfew, abstain from substance use, attend treatment, find employment, and more generally, “obey all laws and be good.” Violations can perpetuate entanglement in the criminal justice system, including re-arrest and reincarceration. This presentation describes the preliminary findings of the Catch-22 study, the first qualitative study of the everyday challenges of complying with court-mandated supervision conditions among people with a history of TBI. A panel of community partners, including persons with lived expertise and community service providers, will discuss the implications of these findings in the context of their own experience and work.

The Clinical Justice Program (CJP), established in 2018, is a collaboration between Centre for Behaviour Health Sciences (Mackenzie Health) and Community Networks of Specialized Care-Central East (CLH Developmental Support Services). This solution-focused Clinical Justice Program supports individuals with a dual diagnosis who are involved in the criminal justice system as a victim, witness or accused to ensure they experience the justice system in an inclusive manner. The CJP encompasses five separate pillars of clinical support. To date qualitative and quantitative data supports the success of this program’s hybrid service delivery.

The participants will learn a collaborative best practice service delivery model of support using case studies and interactive engagement throughout the session. The participants will also be offered the opportunity to download the CNSC-CE Justice App 2.0 and a printable resource sheet that will enhance inclusive access to the justice system for individuals with complex needs.

A discussion of the core concepts of life promotion and how it is taught in Feather Carriers trainings. “Life promotion” is an approach to suicidal ideation in contrast to “suicide prevention,” emphasizing developing personal meaning and connection to life. “Life promotion” also incorporates a de-colonial approach for all people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

As therapeutic courts and specifically Drug Treatment Courts (DTC) continue to be stood up around the country, the Canadian Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals (CADTCP) seeks to share their research, experiences and 13 key principles with these courts. The presentation will discuss these principles and how they can apply to new and current courts alike.

Are you looking to establish a DTC at your courthouse? Do you know that the CADTCP is there to support you in doing so? Learn from their experiences, bring your questions and begin the work of starting up your own therapeutic court!

The findings from a community-based research study to explore how cannabis use by clients of Drug Treatment Court (DTC) programs in Ontario impacts their participation in the program will be presented. Ontario DTCs are currently not unified in their approach to cannabis consumption during program participation. This means that some clients may consume cannabis while in a DTC, while others are not permitted to do so, depending on the court’s program conditions. The research findings are complemented by findings from a policy workshop and knowledge exchange forum on DTC program and cannabis use. Based on the key themes identified during the policy workshop, recommendations to improve DTC programs will be discussed.