Aboriginal spirituality and symbolic healing at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre

Abstract

This thesis undertakes an ethnographic examination of Aboriginal spirituality at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre (SCC). While definite therapeutic effects are documented for Aboriginal inmates participating in Aboriginal spiritual services, these therapeutic effects are not synonymous with symbolic healing as it is academically and anthropologically defined. The theoretical postulates of symbolic healing are expanded to include the need for a cultural educational component when symbolic healing is attempted within a multicultural Aboriginal population. Policy recommendations are offered to improve the overall level of Aboriginal spirituality services at SCC and, thereby, encourage the realization of symbolic healing for segments of the Aboriginal inmate population.