05/28/2026
In this week's episode Lisa recalls her first moments at a Healing Lodge. It was all so different from prison. No fences or cells. A house where she lived with other women, each with her own room.
But more than anything, it was the EMOTIONAL safety that felt so different and refreshing. Staff asked her how she was doing. Elders accepted her and where there for her. Every conversation was in some way about healing, not about trying to make her feel worse. For the first time since she was a teen, Lisa felt safe enough to be herself.
This is a proven and cost-effective alternative to expensive prisons that don't help people to reform but often just make matters worse.
Each week we're sharing a new video of Lisa tells us about her honest experiences in prison compared with an Indigenous Healing Lodge.
Take action at https://QuakerService.ca/Unshackled
Thanks to:
Lisa Dawn Bowden
Aria Klassen (filming and editing)
Christine Fellows (intro and outro)
Daryl Neustaedter Barg and the Canadian Mennonite University Department of Marketing and Communications
Canadian Friends Service Committee is the national peace and social justice agency of Quakers in Canada. Since 1981 Quakers have supported the abolishment of prisons, recognizing that they are “as destructive to the cagers as to the caged.”
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