Études de cas

Prince Albert Indian and Métis Friendship Centre

Justice réparatrice

* For image references, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

Author of case study: Greg Labrosse

Geopolitical location of space:
1409 1st Avenue East
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

Extant?
Yes

Architect:
Original architect unknown

Timeframe RJ/TJ process in this space:

Friendship Centres have been active in Saskatchewan since 1963 and since then the movement has grown within Saskatchewan to encompass 11 Friendship Centres that are part of the 125 member National Association of Friendship Centres.

Background information:

A Friendship Centre is a not-for-profit urban and rural Indigenous service delivery infrastructure that provides cultural-based Indigenous programs and services to an Indigenous population.

Friendship Centres offer programming in education and training, employment opportunities and counselling, health programs, children and youth programs, recreation programs and economic development. They also offer language training, skills development, computer training, work-site placements, nutrition programs, healing circles, alcohol and drug counselling, summer and winter camps, day care centres, youth peer counselling, youth drop-in centres, organised sports and leagues, wilderness training and facility rentals.

Is restorative  justice actually taking place in this site?

Yes. The service staff at the Prince Albert Indian and Métis Friendship Centre (PAIMFC) act as a liaison between offenders and the court, and offers a variety of holistic programs, such as Bringing Back Our Warriors, for men, which addresses violence, anger management, and domestic abuse, traditional counselling; and learning activities, such as the Kairos blanket exercise about Indigenous experience in Canada. The centre also hosts support circles, a weekly addictions day program, works with families of missing and murdered Indigenous people, and with survivors of the residential school system.

Is this space designed/arranged for safe listening?

The spaces where restorative justice takes place within the Centre have not been designed specifically for safe listening. They are multi-purpose rooms that are adapted according to the need.

Who is the audience/the intended participants for this space?

Although the Centre’s focus is on delivering services to the Indigenous community, it operates under a status-blind policy, which means anyone regardless of Indigenous status can make use of their services and programs.

Physical/factual description of space:

The Centre is housed in a three-storey concrete building in the heart of downtown Prince Albert. The Centre acquired and now owns the actual building from where it provides its services. It is responsible for the majority of its operating and maintenance costs (including power, utilities, and municipal taxes). It receives annual program funding from the Federal Government and the Provincial Government for the delivery of specific programs, initiatives, and services.

Analytical description of space:

The Centre has to fundraise in order to cover any costs that are not part of their initial core funding allowance. The fundraising, then enables them to provide additional services important to the community, such as healing circles, Pow-Wows, and blanket exercises.

The Centre has an Indigenous Elder who is part of the staff. The Elder serves to guide and mentor recently released inmates to help them re-acquaint themselves with traditional knowledge and culture, traditional healing, and to reconnect with their ancestral roots. The Elder also serves as a role model that can relate to the former inmates and can evaluate if the recipients of his guidance and mentorship are in fact ready to receive assistance and support.

The Centre is bound by the constraints of the funding programs that provide it with annual allocations, covering very specific expenses (not including janitorial services, renovations, or improvements). Likewise, because the Centre is a not-for-profit organisation, it has had to mobilise its own facility to deliver its services.

Additionally, as in the case of most NGOs, the provincial and federal government does not usually provide direct funding for the acquisition or restoration of the actual spaces in which NGOs deliver their programs.

Bibliographic references:
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Études de cas

Vanessa Sicotte

est auteure, conférencière, chroniqueuse et podcasteuse dans les domaines de l'architecture et des arts décoratifs. Elle termine sa maîtrise en histoire de l'art à l'Université Concordia, à Montréal, et détient un baccalauréat en commerce avec une majeure en marketing de la John Molson School of Business. Elle a étudié la psychologie industrielle à Los Angeles, en Californie. Sicotte est l'auteure de deux ouvrages publiés sur le design (2015, 2018) aux éditions Cardinal.

Marcela Torres Molano

est candidate colombienne au doctorat au Département d'histoire de l'art de l'Université Concordia. Elle a une formation en design architectural et en activisme communautaire et détient une maîtrise en bâtiment et design urbain de la Bartlett School of Architecture à Londres, en Angleterre. Ses intérêts se concentrent sur l'art socialement engagé, les mouvements sociaux, l'activisme collaboratif dans des scénarios post-conflit, l'art produit collectivement et l'art produit en relation avec le cadre bâti.

Greg Labrosse

est candidat au doctorat en sciences humaines à l'Université Concordia. Ses recherches portent sur l'agentivité spatiale, l'esthétique sociale, les récits des jeunes et les représentations graphiques de la mémoire urbaine. Il a publié sur la relation entre les enfants, le jeu et l'espace public à Carthagène, en Colombie. Il a également travaillé comme éditeur sur des projets littéraires, dont Territorio Fértil, qui a reçu le prix María Nelly Murillo Hinestroza pour la littérature afro-colombienne.

Dr Ipek Türeli

est professeure agrégé et Chaire de recherche du Canada en architectures de justice spatiale (niveau 2) à l'École d'architecture Peter Guo-hua Fu de l'Université McGill, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Ses intérêts de recherche comprennent le logement à loyer modique et le design participatif, la protestation civile et le design urbain, ainsi que les paysages des campus et la race. Ses publications incluent le livre co-édité, Orienting Istanbul (2010) et le livre (auteure unique), Istanbul Open City (2018).

Dr Cynthia Imogen Hammond

est artiste et professeure d'histoire de l'art à l'Université Concordia. Ses travaux portent sur les femmes et l'histoire du cadre bâti, les paysages urbains, la recherche-création et l'histoire orale. Elle a publié sur l'histoire spatiale du mouvement pour le suffrage des femmes, l'art public, les jardins et les politiques du changement urbain. En plus de ses recherches sur les espaces de justice réparatrice et transitionnelle, elle dirige un projet d'histoire orale sur les mémoires urbaines des montréalais et montréalaises.

Luis C. Sotelo Castro

est un ancien titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en interprétation de l'histoire orale (2016-2021). Il est professeur agrégé au Département de théâtre de l'Université Concordia et codirecteur du Centre d’histoire orale et de récits numérisés (CHORN) de Concordia. Sa subvention de la Fondation canadienne pour l'innovation en infrastructure lui a permis de créer le Laboratoire d'écoute active (ALLab) en 2018. Basé au CHORN, l'ALLab est un centre de recherche-création de premier plan pour le pouvoir transformateur de l'écoute.