Quote of the week
“Buffalo Sage ‘gave me my freedom back…’”
— Buffalo Sage Wellness House project
Editor’s Corner
The winners of the IPAC/Deloitte Public Sector Leadership Awards have been announced. The program “recognizes organizations that have demonstrated outstanding leadership by taking bold steps to improve Canada through advancements in public policy and management.”
There are four categories: federal/provincial/territorial, municipal, education and health, with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals being given out in each one. This year winners from government included the federal government, Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the cities of Surrey and Grande Prairie.
The Gold winner in the federal/provincial/territorial category was given to the federal Correctional Service of Canada for a partnership with the Native Counseling Service of Alberta (NCSA) that saw the opening of Buffalo Sage House in Edmonton.
Buffalo Sage House provides a transitional home for women, mainly Aboriginal, who are either on some form of conditional release or classified as minimum security. The goal of both the CSC and the NCSA is the “effective, safe, reintegration of the offender, at the appropriate time” and Buffalo Sage House is unique in supporting that goal.
The award celebrates the partnership between the NCSA and the CSC. The former had approached Correctional Services of Canada with the Buffalo Sage House proposal. Championed by the RDC for the Prairie Region, it made it through bureaucratic hoops related to issues such as access to food services and health care to become a reality.
Lessons learned? CSC credits its partner, the NCDSA, for being instrumental in the success of the project. It was a “committed and established partner” that had a solid reputation and was able to leverage other partners into the project.
Congratulations are due to all winners. The full results of the IPAC/Deloitte Public Sector Leadership Awards can be found at here.
