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Prince Albert Daily Herald Cory Cardinal, right, and Sherri Maier demonstrated outside Pine Grove on April 13 to appeal for better conditions for the inmates inside. (Peter Lozinski/Daily Herald) Advocates travelled to Pine Grove Institution in Prince Albert Tuesday to show solidarity with a group of women prisoners on a hunger strike calling for better conditions. Pine Grove is Saskatchewan’s only women’s prison. Women at the institution began a hunger strike over a week ago and said they wanted changes to address concerns about reduced access to medical care and inadequate rehabilitative programs. According to the province, some of the participating inmates have “expressed complaints on a number of issues,” including court delays caused by the pandemic, COVID restrictions within the jail, gang placements and canteen selection. ....
Thursday | 22 Wild & Scenic Film Festival To celebrate Earth Day 2021, we will have a virtual live screening of the Wild and Scenic Film Festival which is a premiere event that tells extraordinary stories of local and global frontline communities fighting for environmental justice and restoration. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival kicks off on Earth Day. Twenty films about nature, activism, conservation, climate change, wildlife, environmental justice and agriculture shown virtually. Two of the films being shown are: The Pangolin Man - Moses Arineitwe strives to save the most illegally traded mammal in the world; and This Land - runner and advocate Faith E. Briggs used to run through the streets of Brooklyn every morning. Now she’s running 150 miles through three national monuments. ....
PRINCE ALBERT A small group gathered outside of Pine Grove Correctional Centre on Tuesday to show support for inmates on hunger strike. Pine Grove, located in Prince Albert, is the only correctional facility for women in Saskatchewan. The demonstration was organized by Cory Cardinal, who founded the advocacy group Inmates 4 Humane Conditions, and Sherri Maier of Beyond Prison Walls Canada. Cardinal has continued to advocate for inmates behind bars at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre. He was released last week. “We’re tired of getting swept under the rug. We’re tired of suffering. We’re tired of being labelled. We’re tired of just being dehumanized,” he said. ....
Posted: Apr 09, 2021 4:00 AM CT | Last Updated: April 9 Cory Cardinal poses with a piece of art he did while incarcerated at the Saskatoon Provincial Correctional Centre shortly after his release.(Morgan Modjeski/CBC) Cory Cardinal has been fighting for inmate rights in Saskatchewan for years. During the pandemic, when the fight has intensified, he s been doing the work from inside the Saskatoon Provincial Correctional Centre. This week, he got out. My mind and my heart are with my people in there, he said shortly after leaving the facility. He held a clear plastic bag filled with notes and documents from his time on the inside. There were letters from inmates he s helped express concerns to the provincial government, newspaper clippings and online stories highlighting the work he s done, and communications between him and support groups like the John Howard Society, CLASSIC Law and Beyond Prison Walls Canada. ....
. A group of distraught inmates looked at me, their faces full of confusion. What do we do now? One of the nursing staff just announced to the room that someone on our unit at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre had COVID-19. This revelation further added to the tension, stress and fear on an already overcrowded unit. I was admitted to the Saskatoon Correctional Centre mid-August. I first went through the overcrowded quarantine unit, where I slept for 14 days in a cell with another depressed inmate on a makeshift bed on the floor. There are six dorms large rooms filled with bunk beds about five feet apart. Thirty of us share three toilets and two sinks. The responsibility of cleaning fell on us, but the cleaning products were given out at the discretion of the guards. ....