"This might be cliché, but it was a sense of family": Gang involvement among Indigenous young adults and their search for attachment, community, and hope.

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.

Les communautés autochtones du Canada continuent de ressentir les effets persistants du colonialisme, notamment les désavantages socio­économiques, les taux élevés de victimisation violente, le racisme et la discrimination systémiques, la surreprésentation dans le système de justice pénale et les traumatismes intergénérationnels. À partir d'entretiens approfondis avec dix jeunes adultes autochtones impliqués dans des gangs, et en utilisant la théorie de l'attachement comme cadre d'orientation, nous explorons comment le colonialisme continue d'avoir un impact négatif sur l'attachement de ces jeunes à leurs familles, à leurs communautés et aux institutions sociales, et conduit à leurs implication dans des gangs qui perpétuent la violence et les traumatismes. Pourtant, ils gardent l'espoir d'un avenir meilleur. En nous appuyant sur les expériences des participants, nous suggérons des points clés où l'apport de soutien et de ressources peut contribuer à renforcer l'attachement et à faciliter la désistance des gangs. Nous partageons ces idées tout en reconnaissant la persistance de la violence structurelle et enracinée que subissent aujourd'hui de nombreux jeunes autochtones et qui nécessite un engagement en faveur de la décolonisation à tous les niveaux de la société canadienne.

Sterilization in Alberta, 1928 to 1972: gender matters.

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.