More support needed for law used to reintegrate Indigenous offenders into communities: advocates

Law360 Canada (November 7, 2025, 5:10 PM EST) -- Criminal lawyers acting for Indigenous offenders in the federal prison system must stay mindful of legislation giving their clients the opportunity to reintegrate into their communities upon release, says an advocate.

Montreal-based prison lawyer Nora Demnati said defence counsel should bring up s. 84 of Canada’s Corrections and Conditional Release Act at sentencing so that it is a known option for when the offender is up for parole.

While parole officers with Correctional Service Canada (CSC) are primarily responsible for telling Indigenous inmates and their communities about s. 84, Demnati says defence lawyers would be wise to know about it and keep it on their radar.

“My answer for a criminal defence lawyer would be to bring it up at the sentencing level, if it can be a consideration for a lesser sentence or a more appropriate sentence; if it is taken into consideration in the sense of, okay, after X amount of time, the person will be able to apply for parole. But parole is back into the community where people have the resources and the knowledge to actually help the person heal from their trauma,” said Demnati.

The employ of s. 84, she said, is akin to that of a Gladue report being factored into determining an Indigenous offender’s sentencing.

(Gladue reports, born out of the Supreme Court of Canada’s R. v. Gladue, [1999] 1 S.C.R. 688, are used during sentencing to balance adversities faced by Indigenous offenders with the justice system’s traditional goals of denunciation and deterrence.)

Keeping s. 84 in sight could have an impact when it comes to parole, said Demnati.

“I think it’s major because, first of all, as a lawyer, if you’re not aware that it exists — which is, unfortunately, often the case because it’s not something that is being advertised that much by CSC — you won’t be able to guide your client in that direction.”

Section 84 states that if an inmate is interested in being released into an Indigenous community, the CSC will give that community “adequate notice of the inmate’s parole review or their statutory release date” and “an opportunity to propose a plan for the inmate’s release and integration into that community.”

According to the Act, the s. 84 “release planning process involves the teamwork” of numerous players — both inside and outside CSC. However, it is the parole officer who is the “primary individual” responsible for the offender’s case prior to release. Among other things, they must ensure that the offender is aware of s. 84’s existence and inform the Indigenous liaison officer and the Indigenous community development officer of the offender’s “first eligible release date.”

The Act and s. 84 will be the subject of an upcoming conference in Vancouver. Hosted by the Circle of Eagles Lodge Society, it will run Nov. 13-14 and involve Indigenous elders, justice partners, former inmates and “allies” of Indigenous-based restorative justice.

Circle of Eagles CEO Merv Thomas said the conference will look at challenges related to s. 84.

“I think there’s been a lack of support for Indigenous communities to be able to really become involved in section 84,” said Thomas. “It looks good on paper, but in practice it’s very difficult. One of the reasons we’re trying to do this conference is we’re inviting Indigenous communities; we’re going to tell [them] about section 84. … We want them to become more engaged and become more knowledgeable about section 84 because a lot of the folks that are in the institutions are from their region, so this is one way for Indigenous people to become involved.”

Thomas said s. 84 releases boast “very low numbers.”

“We want to look at this as, how do we move forward so that everybody is clear on what … section 84 [is]? And secondly, how do we increase community involvement? I think that is the main reason we’re trying to do this gathering, is to really get Indigenous communities more ready to be involved in section 84.”

When asked to comment, the CSC provided a statement. Contrary to what Thomas said, CSC claimed there has been an increase in s. 84 release plans.

“Since 2022-2023, we have seen annual increases in the number of Indigenous offenders who had an established section 84 release plan prior to their first release. To support these agreements, CSC has implemented several reintegration initiatives through the Community Reintegration Fund (CRF) to support Indigenous offenders transitioning to life in community and urban settings.”

Section 84 “provides a legal framework for CSC to engage with Indigenous communities in the release planning process for offenders who express an interest in serving their eventual conditional or statutory release in an Indigenous community, or in an urban area with the support and direction of an Indigenous organization,” CSC states.

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