OUR ACTIONS FOR JUSTICE
The Regroupement des centres d’amitié autochtones du Québec (RCAAQ) coordinates the justice strategy by supporting and helping each Native Friendship Centre develop and strengthen its services. Working at the provincial level during consultations or in committees, the RCAAQ improves access to public services and facilitates its Centres’ involvement in creating a fair and equitable society, free of discrimination.
Through various integrated and interrelated services, including justice services, the Centres are a safety net of prevention, promoting a higher quality of life and fostering wellness for Indigenous people at every stage of their lives.
Justice services in the Centres
Native Friendship Centres offer a variety of justice services across the province according to the resources they have available, their clientele, and the realities and the issues they face. Some of the justice services offered by the RCAAQ’s member Centres include:
- Helping individuals understand the justice system
- Providing outreach/street work
- Offering violence- and crime-prevention activities
- Supervising and following up on compensatory and/or community work
- Helping individuals know and exercise their rights
- Providing support to victims
- Preserving the cultural identity of children and teens under youth protection
- Offering a variety of adaptability and restorative justice programs (PMRG-AU, PAJIC, etc.)
COMMUNITY JUSTICE IN NATIVE FRIENDSHIP CENTRES
Community justice programs and services aim to better meet individuals’ and communities’ justice needs through an outreach approach that builds individual and group empowerment.
Justice services offer alternative solutions to litigation, giving individuals opportunities for conflict resolution outside the justice system. These services give individuals the chance to start the process of healing and social reintegration, while being supported by their loved ones and community.
The impact of the Centres’ actions
- Indigenous participation, involvement and empowerment in exercising their rights
- Increased empowerment, skills and knowledge of individual and collective rights and justice services
- Reappropriation of identity through healing, intergenerational transmission and awareness activities
- Recognition of Indigenous values and customs by providing support as well as alternative and remedial actions based on the individual’s culture and traditions
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