RELEVANT FOCUSED READY Integrating Healing Lodges into Canada's Correctional System to Mitigate Recidivism Saksham Deep Wadhwa Introduction Discussion Systemic injustices lead to the overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in Canadian prisons despite their population composition being 28% compared to 4% in the general population (Hamilton, 2019). From a cultural approach, correctional programs fail to incorporate essential rebuilding elements, which leads Indigenous offenders to re-offend more frequently (Nwaeke, 2024). Healing lodges have been established to circumvent the traditional punitive facilities and foster rehabilitation with an intent to inculcate Indigenous traditions and reduce recidivism amongst Indigenous Peoples. Despite their potential, healing lodges experience limited implementation due to the concentration of policies, lack of resources and self-governance by Indigenous People (Cameron, Khalifa, Bickle, Safdar, and Hassan, 2020; Nwaeke, 2024). Healing lodges improve rehabilitation through their direct approach to addressing Indigenous offenders’ cultural and spiritual requirements. Those who receive Indigenous treatment show better rehabilitation and have reduced chances to return to criminal activities (Hanby et al., 2022). Systemic barriers prevent healing lodges from reaching their maximum potential and achieving complete integration into the justice system. Crime rehabilitation programs encounter limitations because they admit only minimum-security offenders, yet medium and highsecurity inmates remain excluded despite requiring cultural programs due to their higher trauma levels (Cameron et al., 2020). Underfunding causes significant operational problems because healing lodges receive substantially less funding than federal facilities, restricting their ability to scale programs and staffing (Hamilton, 2019). Background The paper employs secondary research to consider the cultural relevance of Healing lodges in Indigenous rehabilitation. The exclusive use of secondary data coupled with time constraints prevents this study from considering primary data, which limits its ability to examine lived experiences and long-term reintegration results. The existent federal operational framework limits Indigenous governance since it enforces rules that differ from Indigenous principles of healing (Nwaeke, 2024). Indigenous communities with autonomous administration will raise the effectiveness of lodges based on Indigenous cultural standards (Cameron et al., 2020). Indigenous male participation levels remain lower while their rate of recidivism maintains higher levels beyond Healing Lodges (Hanby et al., 2022). The quantitative data highlight the role of healing lodges in providing culturally suitable rehabilitation services. The combination of systemic marginalization practices, colonial historical trauma events and economic inequality has greatly increased the number of Indigenous Peoples being incarcerated in Canadian prisons (Hamilton, 2019). Traditionally used punitive methods fail to solve the core origins of Indigenous offending patterns while simultaneously producing more recidivists. Healing lodges were incorporated for Indigenous populations by offering community-based options for rehabilitation that use Indigenous cultural practices to help inmates restore themselves and reintegrate with society. Reduction of Indigenous recidivism with culturally sensitive rehabilitation programs depends on resolving institutional barriers which inhibit true reconciliation (Legault and Bleau, 2025). Methods The study adopted secondary research techniques through a comprehensive examination of the literature followed by a thematic analysis. The research uses academic databases, which include Google Scholar, JSTOR, PRISM Repository, and JIBC Library, to retrieve peer-reviewed publications from 2019 to 2025. Search keywords included “Healing Lodges,” “Recidivism,” “Indigenous rehabilitation” and “Canada.” A diligent search of 15,000 results yielded 22 research articles that fulfilled the established requirements for inclusion, consisting of relevant studies about Indigenous recidivism. The research focused on studies reflecting the implementation of Indigenous-centered pragmatic principles that led to the development of cultural rehabilitation solutions addressing justice reforms. Another dimension regarding the efficacy and loopholes of Healing lodges was considered through the critical lens of relevant policy analyses (Nwaeke, 2024). Results/Findings Offenders at Healing Lodges showed lower recidivism results than institutional prisoners. Hanby, Ridha, Sullivan, & MacDonald (2022) mentioned a significant 29% decrease in repeat offences, which aligns with the role of introducing culturally relevant programs to mitigate recidivism (Cameron et al., 2020). Hanby et al. (2022) observed a distinction between Indigenous men and women attending the Healing Lodges vis-à-vis different parameters, which are illustrated below: Women 55% 54% 65% Men 12% 21% 15% A B C D A: FEDERAL INCARCERATION B: COMPLETION OF INDIGENOUS PROGRAM AT HEALING LODGES C: LOWER RISK OF RETURN TO CUSTODY D: READMITTED TO CUSTODY FOR A NEW OFFENCE PBDLES Healing lodges have been successful in mitigating recidivism amongst Indigenous people in Canada. The success of healing lodges depends on enlarging eligibility standards to include Indigenous inmates from medium and high-security facilities (Cameron et al., 2020). However, sustainable funding elevation must be expanded to include cultural programs and basic infrastructure for healing lodges (Hamilton, 2019). Healing lodges must incorporate Indigenous autonomy to implement culturally relevant techniques. Healing Lodges must develop genderresponsive initiatives since current programming between Indigenous men and women shows significant divergence (Hanby et.al, 2022). Longitudinal research focused on rehabilitation must be conducted to enhance the effectiveness of healing lodges. References Cameron, C., Khalifa, N., Bickle, A., Safdar, H., & Hassan, T. (2020). Psychiatry in the federal correctional system in Canada. BJPsych International, 18(2), 42–46. https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2020.56 Hamilton, T. (2019). Healing Lodges: A Strong Predictor Of Success In Canada & Recommendations Moving Forward (Honours Project, Mount Royal University). https://mru.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/mru%3A377/datastream/PDF/vi ew Hanby, L., Ridha, T., Sullivan, R., & MacDonald, S. (2022). Indigenous Healing Lodges: Impacts on offender reintegration and community outcomes. Correctional Service Canada. https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2022/scc-csc/PS84181-2021-eng.pdf 40% 27% COMPARISON BETWEEN INDIGENOUS MEN & WOMEN Recommendations and Conclusions Legault, G., & Bleau, D. (2025). Indigenizing or appropriating? Navigating the boundaries of institutional decolonization. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2024.2445586 Nwaeke, G. I. (2024). Integrating Indigenous cultural values and sustainable architecture for healing and empowerment [Master’s Thesis, University of Calgary]. PRISM Repository. https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/46710 Justice Institute of British Columbia March 2025