How to Stop the Incarceration-to-Homelessness Pipeline for Indigenous Men: The Sagatay Program Model

Watch this Prevention Matters! panel recording on how Na-Me-Res (Native Men’s Residence)’s Sagatay model is helping stop the incarceration-to-homelessness pipeline for Indigenous men in Canada.

By combining transitional housing, cultural reconnection, and wraparound supports, the Sagatay model supports Indigenous men leaving incarceration to rebuild stability and successfully reintegrate into their communities.

In this conversation, we explore the incarceration-to-homelessness pipeline, why mainstream reintegration programs fall short for Indigenous men, and how the Sagatay model disrupts this cycle. The discussion unpacks how the model works in practice, why it is effective, what is needed to scale it across communities, and includes insights from a speaker with lived experience of the incarceration-to-homelessness pipeline who is also a current participant in the Sagatay program.

HOST

STEPHEN GAETZ is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University, in Toronto Canada.  He is the President and CEO of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and the Homeless Hub at York University. Dr. Gaetz works in collaboration with partners to conduct research and mobilize this knowledge so as to have a greater impact on solutions to homelessness, and in particular the prevention of homelessness. In 2017 Dr. Gaetz was awarded the Member of the Order of Canada.

PANELISTS

STEVE TEEKENS is the Executive Director at Na-Me-Res (Native Men’s Residence) where he has worked since 2008. He has been working with the marginalized and homeless sector in Toronto since 1995. Steve is a member of Nipissing First Nation and has a master’s degree in public administration from Queen’s University.

Steve is very active in Toronto’s Indigenous Community where he volunteers at Toronto Aboriginal Social Services Council (TASSC), Aboriginal Legal Services Community Council Program. Steve also teaches traditional drumming to the youth and men at various Native organizations inside and outside of Toronto.

Steve enjoys working and volunteering in the Indigenous Community and wishes to see people overcome their obstacles and find the resilience in themselves to succeed in life.

JANE ROY is currently the manager at Sagatay – Na-Me-Res (Native Men’s Residence). Jane Roy is a woman who leads with an emphasis on kindness and dignity.

For the past eight years, in management Jane has supported the positive growth of Na-Me-Res’ Sagatay transitional housing program. Sagatay is a program that helps Indigenous men re-connect with culture, family and community while building the skills needed to successfully transition from being homeless to being housed independently on their healing journey. 

Jane has over two decades of experience in the social service sector with a sole focus on ending homelessness, in this time Jane spent 16 years in leadership.  Joining the Out of the Cold program across 16 sites in the city of Toronto was only the start of her journey in having an impact on the homeless community. As a first-generation immigrant to Canada Jane understood the importance of supporting the first people of the land, Jane has used her experiences and university education to honour the Indigenous people and support the homeless community, leading with kindness, staying grounded in humility and providing a safe space for community members to be heard. Helping the service recipients to move forward and continue their journey in a good way is a reminder of the difference that can be made.

SHANE JAMIESON is a lived experience expert. His government name is Shane, his spirit name is Red Bird Man. He is from Tataskweyak Cree Nation Treaty 5. He was born and raised in Toronto, he’s been in and out of jail for the past ten years, overcome addictions and homelessness.

When he was given the chance to reconnect to his traditional culture, he began healing, he made this connection with the help of the Sagatay Program at Na-Me-Res.  He has been honoured to accept the responsibility of fire keeping for the sweat lodge, learning and participating in traditional ceremony as well as sitting at the big drum.

Today, he is housed, working and in school bettering himself everyday, has opportunities he once only thought about and he’s grateful to be able to share his healing journey.