"A lot more than painting!": [Re]Membering, [Re]Storying, and [Re]Claiming First Nations Women's Healing, Health, and Well-Being Post-Incarceration by Connecting the Mind, Body, and Heart through Body Mapping

Abstract

Despite Canada's ongoing commitment to truth-telling and reconciliation, Indigenous women represent the fastest-growing demographic in Canadian prisons, even as overall incarceration rates decline. This dissertation, guided by an Indigenous research paradigm rooted in relational accountability, explored the impact of Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge (OOHL), a state-run cultural prison in southern Saskatchewan, on the healing, health, and well-being of First Nations women from the Prairies. Conducted in partnership with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan, a non-profit organization serving women and gender-diverse adults who are criminalized or at risk of criminalization, the study employed a community arts-based method called body mapping. Through two 4-day workshops, eight First Nations women created life-sized body maps to communicate and process their experiences of colonialism, incarceration, and healing. Using inductive thematic analysis, these visual maps illuminated how Correctional Service Canada's cultural healing lodge influences healing, health, and well-being. The findings highlight collective themes of severed connections, somatic impacts, culture as healing, and the importance of relationships. Participants also offered recommendations that exposed gaps in programming, post-release supports, and tensions between OOHL's healing mission and its continued carceral regime. These insights reveal how correctional policy can either be an enabler or a barrier to First Nations women's healing. This dissertation contributes to critical criminology and Indigenous studies by demonstrating the value of body mapping as a research method and an evaluative tool to inform distinctions-based, culturally responsive approaches to carceral policy.