Re-storying Indigenous Trauma: Considerations for Indigenous Ethics of Relational Care in Gladue Reporting

• Author / Creator

  Barlow, A. F.

• After no reduction in Indigenous incarceration rates, the initiatives set out by the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in R. v. Gladue [1999] have become a more than two-decades-long disappointment, having utterly failed in keeping their commitment to lower Indigenous incarceration rates and bring about justice to Indigenous people and their communities. This project is a preliminary review of R. v. Gladue [1999], Gladue scholarship, and grey literature to uncover ethical issues in re-storying Indigenous trauma through Gladue reports and presenting them to public courts. My analysis of Gladue materials illustrates the state’s sidestepping of responsibility for Indigenous trauma by situating settler colonialism solely in the past rather than admitting its ongoing harms. I show that Gladue reporting processes, as settler-colonial operations, can, in fact, (re)provoke felt trauma for Indigenous participants when little care and support is made available. The project challenges the existing and future Gladue programs and research to consider the benefits of implementing Indigenous trauma theory and engaging Indigenous perspectives on ethics of relationality to improve the Gladue experience and related work.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Indigenous Relationality
  • Re-Storying
  • Wâhkôhtowin
  • Native Studies
  • Trauma
  • Ethics
  • Gladue
  • Indigenous
  • Criminal Justice

• Graduation date

  Fall 2023

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-fdq9-4q61

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.