MACLEOD GAZETTE EDITOR
The Blood Tribe Police Peace Makers Program will have 10 elders work with victims and offenders to resolve issues and foster healing. “The elders are very well respected in the community,” Peace Makers program co-ordinator Lois Frank said. “That’s a strength we have.” Livingstone-Macleod MLA Evan Berger delivered a $47,400 grant for the program Friday from the Alberta Solicitor General.
Blood Tribe Police Chief Bob Byers is excited about the potential of the Peace Markers program.
“This brings it back to the community,” Byers said. “It’s community justice.”
The idea of the Peace Makers program began to develop during the three years Frank was chair of the Blood Tribe Police Commission.
“I would go on ride-alongs with the police on a regular basis, just to see the conditions in the community,” Frank explained. “When I first joined the police commission there were a lot of concerns about violence in the community. We took it on ourselves to develop something unique.” It became clear that many of the crimes committed in the Blood Tribe community were the result of disputes between people living there. “There was a need for dispute resolution,” Frank said. “We felt we would like to bring back the customary way we used to do it, through the elders.” Byers, who worked with a similar program while policing in the Yukon, agreed a different approach is needed for the Blood Tribe. “We’re trying to use the court system to deal with the social issues, and that’s not healthy,” Byers said, noting matters start out small and then escalate because the underlying dispute is not resolved. “This way we can bring them together, resolve their issues, make peace, and move on.” What also became clear as the situation was studied was that the legal system, while doling out punishment for crimes, was not solving the underlying issues.
“Once they go to jail they often are influenced by gangs,” Frank said.
“People are not being rehabilitated going through this system.” Frank said it made sense for the Blood Tribe to turn to its past for a solution.
“In the past it was the clan leaders, the chiefs, the heads of the societies who handled things,” Frank explained. “The head of the families, those were the people who dealt with people who got out of line.” Frank said that system of justice worked. “The Indian people had their own way of dealing with offenders,” she said. “In the Blackfoot way justice was internalized at an early age. People believed that what you did came back to you.”
Byers said the offenders, whose cases involving minor crimes will be diverted by the police to the Peace Makers program, will not get off easy or escape justice.
“These elders have known these people since they were children, so there is some accountability there,” Byers said. “There are some very powerful things that can happen. It is very powerful when a victim can say to the offender, ‘This is what effect your actions had on my life’.” Frank agreed, saying the simple act of having an offender face his or her victim is important.
“For the victims, sometimes just to be heard is justice for them,” Frank said.
The elders asked to join the Peace Makers program were well-versed in the Blackfoot ways. They studied existing programs, even travelling to Arizona to discuss a program used by the Navajo.
In Arizona they witnessed a healing circle in which a family dispute was resolved. Everyone involved had the chance to speak, and everyone listened. “They came up with a resolution, a healing plan,” Frank said. “At the end, people who were feuding were hugging again.”
The elders also received extensive instruction on the Canadian justice system and the courts.
“We’re proud of them,” Frank said. “They’re a very cohesive group of people.”
Lois Frank is optimistic the Peace Makers program will work well for the Blood Tribe.
“I think the traditions of the Blackfoot are really enhanced in the process,” she said. “It will be successful because they are respected people in the community.”
