Aboriginal men in Canada are significantly over-represented within the criminal justice system. Incarcerated men often have significant idle time on their hands, and this inactivity contributes to an institutional subculture associated with substance use, violence, gambling, debt, self-harm, and depression. The paramilitary and hypermasculine structures of prison life exacerbate pre-existing mental health problems; incarceration itself is hazardous to men’s overall health and rehabilitation.

Through an initiative called Work 2 Give, Aboriginal inmates make items needed by some Tsilhqot’in communities in BC. Supported by the Movember Foundation Innovation Fund, this research project, headed by Helen Brown, focuses on how Work 2 Give impacts the inmates themselves and their rehabilitative processes, as well as the First Nations children and families receiving the needed food, clothing, furniture, and cultural items.

Submitted by Helen Brown, Associate Professor