Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS) has added its voice to the chorus of opposition to the B.C. government's decision to close the jail unit for girls in Prince George.
Centralizing the service in Burnaby, 700 kilometres to the south, contradicts the government's "family first" agenda, CSFS director of child and family services Mary Teegee said in a statement issued Tuesday.
"Why doesn't their agenda include Aboriginal girls' rights to maintain important ties to their families and communities?,"
Teegee said.
CSFS will be asking B.C. children and youth representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond to review the decision to move teenage offenders in the north to Burnaby.
"We hope she'll advocate for the rights of the Aboriginal girls
impacted by this decision."
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association, West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund and Justice for Girls have also called for a review of the plan, which will also shut down the unit in Victoria.
"We have a situation where Aboriginal girls are the most victimized sector of our society - this is well documented by groups like Amnesty International and Justice For Girls," Teegee said.
"Now we're going to take these girls away from the support of their families and communities and have the RCMP transport them hundreds of kilometers away in shackles?"
"That's reminiscent of the tactics used to impose the residential school system on Aboriginal
families."
Last week the province announced that, starting the second week of Februrary, Burnaby will be the only location in the province housing female offenders
under age 18.
The new plan will free up about $2.5 million, which will be focused instead on other elements of youth justice and special-needs youth. But six jobs will be cut in Prince George and 17 in Victoria, according to the B.C. Government Employees' Union.
