If it wasnt for Marj and the Circle of Eagles Lodge, John figures hed probably be back in.
The First Nations man, now in his early 50s, was serving a 16-year sentence for manslaughter at a B.C. correctional institution when he got a visit from a sprite native elder named Marjorie White in 1999.
John, who asked that his last name not be used, had been eligible for parole for a few years but he was reluctant to leave the prison.
Hed gathered information about some of the halfway houses in Metro Vancouver but hed heard many disheartening tales from other inmates whod returned 30 days after their release because of probation breaches and other problems. I just didnt feel ready to get out.
White helped change his mind. I liked her right off the hop, he recalls.
She talked from her heart. She was a kind woman with a good aura but she also meant business.
She told him about Circle of Eagles Lodge COEL), a downtown Vancouver halfway house for aboriginal men run by an aboriginal staff.
At the lodge, the men took part in sweat lodges, smudging ceremonies and a canoe trip journey for healing. The halfway houses staff offered the ex-offenders addiction counseling and career training.
There was an elder always there, says John.
And, perhaps equally important, the lodge became like a home for the men, most of whom didnt have family support in the city once they were released.
It felt like a family, John says.
And White was the undisputed matriarch.
If it wasnt for Marj... shes always there, she like a mother, he says, noting that even though she retired shes always around making sure the place is running properly.
Her motto was simple: Treat me with respect and Ill give you the same.
Now 75, White began reaching out to incarcerated aboriginal men back in the late 1960s when she made a trip to the notorious B.C. Penitentiary, a hulking maximum-security prison in New Westminster.
After I made my initial visit, it wasnt so scary anymore, she says.
Truth is, White has never been easily intimidated. Raised in a residential school after he mother died when she was a teen, White ventured on her own to Vancouver in her early 20s to study nursing, becoming the first member of her Huu-ay-aht First Nation (population under 300) to leave the small Vancouver Island reservation to pursue a career.
Shortly after, she became involved in the creation of the citys Aboriginal Friendship Centre, which led her to visit B.C. Pen.
She quickly learned that many of the aboriginal inmates were survivors of residential schools; others had been placed in non-native foster homes as youth. Once they left the prison, they had little family support.
Understanding the importance of family relationships from her own childhood, she wanted them to have a safe place to heal and reintegrate to society. Its really important to these individuals, says White, sitting outside the lodges new 17-bed facility on East Broadway.
So, in 1970, she helped to create the Allied Indian and Metis Society, which later became the Circle of Eagles Lodge.
White always believed that given the proper support and programs, the men could make significant changes to their lives in order to become good husbands, fathers, grandfathers and members of the community.
And, over the past 40 years, helping more than 1,500 men make the transition back into the community, many lives have been positively changed thanks to that unwavering belief.
After three years at COEL, John, who still calls Marj mom, has his life back on track and he now volunteers at the lodge, taking residents to powwows and participating in the annual canoe journey.
[The lodge] made a lot of difference in my life and there are a lot of other people who are also doing good (because of the program), he says. I try to give back to the brothers.
On Monday, May 30, the Circle of Eagles Lodge celebrates its 40th anniversary. To RSVP for the event, call Jerry at 604-816-4392. For more information about the lodge, visit CircleOfEagles.com
