{"id":4295,"date":"2026-02-02T13:48:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T19:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/?p=4295"},"modified":"2026-02-02T14:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T20:34:23","slug":"breaking-the-cycle-of-fasd-related-crime-and-punishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/breaking-the-cycle-of-fasd-related-crime-and-punishment\/","title":{"rendered":"ARTICLE: Breaking the cycle of FASD-related crime and punishment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following article is an excerpt from a piece written in the Winnipeg Free Press on August 22, 2025 by Erik Pindera. It highlights some of the work being done by IJC. Click here<\/a> to read the full article. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was early in Don Shackel\u2019s career, while working in the mental health and addictions field in northern Ontario, when he met a woman who had given birth to a child with FASD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That started him on a path that has included work with the Interagency FASD Program in Winnipeg in the 1990s and with northern First Nations as an FASD specialist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConnecting the whole issue of fetal alcohol and the justice system, I come at it from a different perspective,\u201d said Shackel, who is now the executive director of Initiatives for Just Communities, a non-profit that provides supports to adults with cognitive disabilities, including many with FASD, in Winnipeg and southern Manitoba. Earlier in his career, he worked as a corrections officer in Brandon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IJC runs day and residential programming \u2014 where some participants live in supported but independent housing or with families \u2014 while helping participants gain basic life skills and structure. It also develops circle-of-care plans, where participants learn about their disabilities and develop a path forward in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe majority of people we work with that have (FASD), we support them in an outreach program. So they could have anywhere between five to 30 hours of support a week, where they could live independently or with their family, and we provide help with basic needs,\u201d Shackel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shackel, whose career has largely been spent working with First Nations governments, noted his organization, other non-profits and the provincial government provide programming that isn\u2019t available in Indigenous communities for adults. Much more disability support is available for youths under Jordan\u2019s Principle, the federal government\u2019s legal obligation to ensure First Nations children have access to proper health care, among other supports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, IJC has added cultural programming and traditional healing \u2014 such as sweat lodges \u2014 for those they work with, a significant number of whom are Indigenous or First Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Shackel hopes to see more services made available in First Nations communities across the province, so adults with FASD don\u2019t have to move south from their homes \u2014 where they are already connected to family and their culture \u2014 to receive the help they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose services help keep people out of incarceration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People like Russ Hilsher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hilsher, now 48, was diagnosed with FASD as an infant shortly after being taken from his Ontario birth mother and placed into child-welfare care. He eventually landed in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MIKAELA<\/a>
MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FASD advocate Russ Hilsher (right) with his support worker Harri Vallittu at IJC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite his criminal past \u2014 which includes a record for assaults, breaches of court-ordered conditions and theft, and saw him in and out of Manitoba\u2019s jails \u2014 he\u2019s given presentations about living with FASD to judges, justice officials, educators and others in Winnipeg and in northern Manitoba First Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He knows first-hand that there are better options for individuals with FASD than cycling through jails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think society really needs to take a look at restorative justice\u2026 not be afraid to try things\u2026 that\u2019s what I always tell the judges, \u2018You can\u2019t be afraid to try things,\u2019\u201d Hilsher said in a recent interview at the IJC office in Winnipeg\u2019s West End.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have so much power to send someone\u2019s life in the right direction, or continue them down this path of in and out, in and out of incarceration\u2026 that\u2019s what I tell the judges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he looks at the world differently than people without FASD, and that it takes him a long time to understand certain concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just say if this was left here,\u201d he said, gesturing to a reporter\u2019s voice recorder. \u201cWhen you left and everybody else left, to me, that would tell me you didn\u2019t want that anymore, and no one else seemed to want it, so why would I not take it? I\u2019m not understanding that\u2019s not mine, that it\u2019s still yours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hilsher, who lives in supported housing, is grateful to have been given a diagnosis, which has provided him better understanding of his behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I wasn\u2019t diagnosed in my life, had things set up the way they are, I would be in prison or dead \u2014 that\u2019s realistically, (with) no supports in place,\u201d he said. \u201cBut because of the diagnosis and the supports I\u2019ve received, that\u2019s been avoided. I\u2019ve been very fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hilsher\u2019s longtime direct support worker, Harri Vallittu, said the difference in Hilsher from the early days working with him \u201cis incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vallittu thinks the justice system is beginning to better understand the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere seems to be a willingness now, it\u2019s starting, that we\u2019ve got to look at this problem with a different set of glasses here, zero in on it a bit more \u2014 why is it happening and what can we do to improve it? There have been some improvements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery case is different, right\u2026 and just because you\u2019ve done a crime and have FAS, you\u2019re still responsible for it, but the punishment should be looked at differently. And it seems that it\u2019s starting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shackel turns off Highway 12 near Steinbach and heads down a series of gravel roads before turning his pickup truck onto a narrow driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gets out and, with sweat beading on a muggy July day, points to an eagle circling above where a fire burns in preparation for a sweat lodge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shackel is at El\u2019dad Ranch, a program run by IJC where men with cognitive disabilities, including many with FASD, learn life and work skills, such as cooking and cleaning, and receive vocational training in areas such as cutting wood, basic carpentry and automotive mechanics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MIKAELA<\/a>
MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS Meeko McDonald works on a painting at El\u2019Dad Ranch. He has been a participant in the IJC\u2019s alternative justice program at the ranch for two years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some of the men live at the ranch as part of the non-profit\u2019s alternative justice program, either while on bail awaiting court proceedings, on probation or as a conditional sentence \u2014 essentially house arrest \u2014 instead of jail or prison, while others attend the ranch for day programming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meeko McDonald, a 37-year-old with FASD currently on probation for two counts of assault with a weapon, has been at the ranch for two years as part of the justice program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While learning how to plan for life away from the ranch, he\u2019s also begun to paint, draw and take part in cultural programming, and is working on his life skills. He\u2019s hopeful he can break the cycle of re-offending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time I went to jail, I always told everybody I\u2019m not coming back, then all of a sudden I come back. I guess the guys, even all the guards, are like, \u2018I knew you were coming back\u2019 \u2026,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s better. I like it here, more than Winnipeg anyways. When I (return) to Winnipeg, I want to come back a better person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MIKAELA<\/a>
MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS McDonald is hopeful the lessons he\u2019s learned will break the cycle of re-offending.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kailey Schultz has been the ranch\u2019s alternative justice program\u2019s co-ordinator for eight years, though she has spent time at El\u2019dad since she was a child, when her father, Randy Schultz, helped set up the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a place to serve their jail time, or sentence, in a more meaningful way than what jail can offer them. Often, people with FASD can struggle to understand consequences and we\u2019re able to provide wraparound case-management services in a place where they can learn and grow in a safe environment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no question the approach works, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven if there is a relapse, per se, into the justice system, I feel like we\u2019ve been able to provide them skills that can still benefit them in a way, or reduce the harm later on in life, whether it\u2019s to the community or to themselves, if they do end up going back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MIKAELA<\/a>
MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS Kailey Schultz says the alternative justice program is making a difference, but similar services need to be made available for women and youth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have seen some individuals that do not go back into the justice system \u2026 A lot of people give up on people in this demographic, with legal challenges, like there is no hope. But there is, and we cannot give up on people, never.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to working on practical and vocational skills, the men learn about boundaries, emotional regulation, mental health and how to address their addictions, in a stable and consistent environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of them didn\u2019t have that growing up, to have stable environments. To be able to have, no matter what challenge comes up, we have a support for them \u2014 there\u2019s someone there, we can support them through that, whether it\u2019s the justice system or getting their kids back from CFS, or financial challenges, or budgeting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s how people with FASD can flourish, that wraparound case-management service.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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