Thunder Woman Healing Lodge Society
Thunder Woman Healing Lodge Society provides trauma-informed, culturally appropriate services, including housing, for First Nations, Inuit and Métis 2SLGBTQIA+ women exiting the justice system. There are currently three housing sites and another under construction in Scarborough. The Society was founded out of concern of the urgent need to break the cycle of Indigenous women’s overrepresentation in Canada’s prisons.
Launched in 2020 from rented housing, Niigaan M’Nikeng (the Way Forward) is Ontario’s first residential Healing Lodge program designed by and for Indigenous women. The program provides Indigenous women exiting probation and before the courts on bail with culturally appropriate supports including safe housing. Graduates from the program and Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ women living in community on probation can participate in a 16-week aftercare program
Indigenous women in Canada face disproportionately high rates of incarceration. According to the Final Report of the National Inquiry Into Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women And Girls, Indigenous women make up 4% of the Canadian population, yet account for roughly 40% of the federal prison population.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis 2SLGBTQIA+ women exiting the justice system
