Attorney General eager to get to work on new Indigenous Women's Justice Plan

B.C.'s Attorney General says her office is eager to meet with the First Nations Justice Council to go over its recently released Indigenous Women's Justice Plan and collaborate on ways to implement it.

Niki Sharma made the remarks at the First Nations Justice Forum in Vancouver where she highlighted the expansion of Indigenous Justice Centres in smaller communities.

"Those centres are really the front line for serving people that are facing the justice system and in a culturally appropriate way to help break the cycle, give them the supports they need in the justice system and also build up that support in community to hold them,” Sharma said.

The original five IJCs are in Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Surrey and Kelowna, but the province has committed to opening a total of 15 in-person centres and one virtual centre by the end of next year.

Many of them will be in less-populated areas so people in need of the services can access them closer to home.

The total investment will be $44 million.

The Indigenous Women’s Justice Plan calls on the provincial and federal governments to make significant changes to policing, the courts, corrections and the child welfare system in an effort to improve the lives of Indigenous women and girls who are drastically over-represented in the criminal justice system compared to the province’s non-Indigenous female population.

Kory Wilson, chair of the BCFNJC says changing the status quo will take a massive effort and investment across a number of government agencies.

"We need help from mental health, we need help from social services, we need help from the K to 12 system, we need to support children in care, we need help from all of these different groups,” Wilson said.