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Indigenous communities in Canada continue to feel the ongoing impacts of colonialism, including socio‐economic disadvantage, high rates of violent victimization, systemic racism and discrimination, overrepresentation in the criminal justice system, and intergenerational trauma. Based on in‐depth interviews with 10 gang‐involved Indigenous young adults, using attachment theory as a guiding framework, we explore how colonialism continues to negatively impact the attachment these young people have to their families, communities, and social institutions, and leads to their gang involvement which perpetuates violence and trauma. Yet, they exhibit hope for a better future. Drawing on participant experiences we suggest key points at which provision of supports and resources can assist with increasing attachments and facilitating gang desistance. We share these insights while acknowledging the continued structural, embedded violence many Indigenous youth experience today that necessitates a commitment to decolonization at all levels of Canadian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the world in ways never imagined. Post-secondary education was no exception. When post-secondary educational institutions switched to online teaching almost overnight, experiential learning programs scrambled to adjust. Research conducted during the pandemic reports on the importance of contingency plans for crises, flexibility, and creativity to ensure students completed their experiential learning terms. Drawing on interviews with 9 students, reflective journals from 20 students, and online surveys completed by 13 community partners, this study explores the impact of the pandemic on field placements that are part of an undergraduate Criminology program at a Canadian university. Findings indicate that the pandemic presented unique challenges to students working in criminal justice system and related agencies and that communication, ongoing support, and flexibility helped mitigate some of the stress these students experienced. Unexpected benefits are also discussed. We offer recommendations for experiential learning in Criminology programs based on these experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hobbema, Alberta, Canada is a community comprised of four First Nations. As with many of Canada's Aboriginal communities, Hobbema's population is young. High rates of socio-economic disadvantage, violence, family dysfunction, and substance abuse are linked to colonization, residential school policies, and discrimination. Crime rates, including gang-related crime in the area, are disproportionately high. In 2005 two police officers created the Hobbema Community Cadet Corps, a program which offers youth a pro-social alternative to criminal activity and gang involvement. The program provides youth with the opportunity to learn the value of group identity, discipline, and camaraderie. It also provides opportunities for recreational activities and travel otherwise unavailable to many in this impoverished area. This paper provides a description of the HCCCP, an overview of its activities and structure, and situates it within the crime prevention through social development framework which emphasizes the importance of building protective factors and reducing risk factors surrounding youth. Finally, a preliminary evaluation which highlights some of the challenges faced by program instructors is offered. The authors caution against relying solely on individualizing imperatives in attempts to deal with social structural issues of the types faced by citizens in Hobbema. (Contains 6 notes.)

Until relatively recently many Albertans knew little about a dark chapter in the province's history: the 44-year existence of the province's sexual sterilization program. Over the years, 4,785 Albertans appeared [...]

Alberta, Canada, passed a Sexual Sterilization Act in 1928 and up until its repeal in 1972, over 2,800 people were sterilized. Women were overrepresented in the number of sterilizations performed. This paper explores how changing understandings of eugenics led to a subtle transformation which resulted in a 'two-pronged' system that targeted mentally defective men, often a danger to society, and mentally normal but morally abnormal women who consented to sterilization. The end result was success for the movement in terms of the types and numbers of people sterilized, and in the longevity of the program. En 1928, la province canadienne de l'Alberta a adopte une loi sur la sterilisation sexuelle et, jusqu'a son abrogation en 1972, plus de 2,800 personnes ont ete sterilisees. De ce nombre, les femmes ont ete surrepresentees. Cet article examine comment des regards changeants portes sur l'eugenique ont conduit a une transformation subtile d'o- a emerge un systeme a deux volets qui a cible des hommes ayant une deficience mentale, souvent un danger pour la societe, et des femmes normales du point de vue mental mais anormales moralement qui ont accepte la sterilisation. Le geste s'est avere un succes en ce qui concerne le type et le nombre de personnes sterilisees, et la perennite du programme., IN 1883 FRANCIS GALTON COINED THE term 'eugenics' to refer to 'good breeding' (McLaren 1990; Paul 1995). Genetic theory at the rime suggested that 'like begets like'; social reformers aimed [...]

The conditions under which Canadian students would help their peers and the extent of that help were investigated. Four variables - relationship, amount of contact, method of grading, and examination material - were manipulated to create hypothetical high-cost and low-cost situations. The results indicate that the respondents were most likely to help when the other students were friends, when there was frequent contact, and when the test was not graded on a curve (absence of competition)., Studies on helping have indicated that more help is offered in low-cost conditions than in high-cost conditions (Batson, 1987; Dovidio, 1984; Gross, Wallston, & Piliavin, 1975; Holahan, 1977; Shotland & [...]

Twenty sociology graduate students attending a research- intensive university were asked, during semi-structured interviews, to reflect on their teaching assistant experiences and comment on the ways in which those experiences affected their firsttime teaching. It was clear teaching assistantships could be used more effectively as opportunities for teaching and professional development. Specifically, participants indicated the value of teaching practice, seeing the 'nuts and bolts' of decisions in teaching, mentorship, constructive and meaningful evaluation, and assistantships aligned with research interests as ways to improve both teaching assistantships and first-time teaching experiences. The graduate students recognized the importance of pedagogical training to their professional development and yearn for opportunities to practice teaching and, importantly, to talk about teaching, formally and informally, in a safe, supportive community comprised of faculty and students alike. For them, teaching required a similar level of focus and professional development as research. Although the study was based on the experiences of sociology students, the findings may also be transferable and relevant to other disciplines and departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on gang activity in Canada indicates a proliferation of Aboriginal youth gangs, and the research tells us that child welfare involvement is a significant risk factor for gang participation. This article examines the child welfare and youth gang literature, and analyzes the complex interaction of structural factors facing Aboriginal youth in Canada in order to contextualize youth gang involvement within the larger system of social distress facing Aboriginal people. This paper scrutinizes the veracity of youth gang statistics and interrogates the Aboriginal youth gang discourse to discover that, although a problem clearly exists, the scope and substance of the situation in Canada needs to be more thoroughly researched in order to be accurately portrayed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hobbema, Alberta, Canada is a community comprised of four First Nations. As with many of Canada's Aboriginal communities, Hobbema's population is young. High rates of socio-economic disadvantage, violence, family dysfunction, and substance abuse are linked to colonization, residential school policies, and discrimination. Crime rates, including gang-related crime in the area, are disproportionately high. In 2005 two police officers created the Hobbema Community Cadet Corps, a program which offers youth a pro-social alternative to criminal activity and gang involvement. The program provides youth with the opportunity to learn the value of group identity, discipline, and camaraderie. It also provides opportunities for recreational activities and travel otherwise unavailable to many in this impoverished area. This paper provides a description of the HCCCP, an overview of its activities and structure, and situates it within the crime prevention through social development framework which emphasizes the importance of building protective factors and reducing risk factors surrounding youth. Finally, a preliminary evaluation which highlights some of the challenges faced by program instructors is offered. The authors caution against relying solely on individualizing imperatives in attempts to deal with social structural issues of the types faced by citizens in Hobbema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]