Webinar event date: 
mar 21, 2018 1:00 pm EDT
Webinar Presenters: 

MARK MARSOLAIS-NAHWEGAHBOW
Presenter
 

Mark is a proud Ojibway and member of the Whitefish First Nations of Manitoulin Island. He has over 25 years’ experience working in Social Services. He has held several positions within Indigenous organizations helping to develop and oversee First Nation’s justice programs and to ensure the courts and Indigenous people understand the programming available whether on bail, incarcerated, diverted or reintegrated back into the community.

Mark has over 17 years as a Case Manager with youth and adult offenders in open and secure facilities. He has over 9 years with adolescents legislated to a Secure Intensive treatment facility with mental illness. He is the Founder of IndiGenius & Associates and responsible for the daily activities of the company. He liaises with organizations and the courts on judicial matters pertaining to writing Gladue reports.

 

He offers a wide range of Indigenous justice services, including research on community needs within the justice system, development and monitoring of restorative justice programs, Peacemaking and Sentencing Circles, and Gladue Training and Gladue Report Writing Services. Mark is an IRSS Residential School Crisis Line Counsellor with Donna Cona, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (Resolution Individual Affairs Sector). Mark has also partnered with Vancouver Community College and is a contracted Teaching Instructor for the Gladue Writing Training Program Pilot Project. Mark has designed the first intensive training curriculum for Gladue Writing in Canada.

 

Soon to be launched is his First Nations owed Birch Bark Coffee Company whose goal is to fix the "Boiled Water Advisory's" on all reserves in Ontario and then across Canada. Portions of proceeds from the coffee sales will go to purchase custom home water purifiers that will give clean drinking water to every home for free. "Coffee Making a Difference.

 

Most recently Mark has been asked to sit on the Government of Ontario’s Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) on Health Care Transformation in Corrections.

 

Description

Learning Objectives:

  • What is a Gladue report and how does the Sacred Story fit in?

  • What are Gladue factors and what role do they play in an Individual’s life and in the courts?

  • Discuss intergenerational trauma and systemic trauma.

  • Where is Gladue now? As a professional what can I do to help my client?

First Nations, Inuit, and Metis cultures have long passed on knowledge from generation to generation through oral traditions, including storytelling. Storytelling is a traditional method used to teach about cultural beliefs, values, customs, rituals, history, practices, relationships, and ways of life. First Nations storytelling is a foundation for holistic learning, relationship building, and experiential learning.

Now story telling is brought into the westernized justice system to explain an Indigenous person’s life continuum through the Supreme Court ruling 718.2(e).

A coined phrase called a “Gladue Report.”

“Patience and trust are essential for preparing to listen to stories. Listening involves more than just using the auditory sense. Listening encompasses visualizing the characters and their actions and letting the emotions surface. Some say we should listen with three ears: two on our head and one in our heart.” (Archibald, 1997, p. 10).