The Coalition Against Proposed Prison (CAPP), arts collective Debaser and Carleton University community members held a benefit concert at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre Nov. 3 to raise funds and awareness against the proposed prison in the Ottawa valley municipality of Kemptville.
The Ford government unexpectedly announced the proposed 235-bed prison after no consultation with the Kemptville community living on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin Anishinaabe territory.
For those leading the fight against construction, the proposed prison poses several issues.
CAPP co-founder Colleen Lynas said these issues include increased tax burdens, exploitation of Indigenous territory and the targeting of prime agricultural land.
“The land that we’re talking about is on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin Anishinaabe territory, which is significant when you think of the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in jail cells,” Lynas said.
The concert began with a traditional smudge by elder Irene Compton followed by a concert from local country singer, Trevor Alguire, who delivered dulcet sounds into the old church. Headliner Logan Staats graced the stage soon after with a powerful and commanding presence.
Lynas said Ontario is already losing more than 300 acres of farmland a day and she would rather see the Kemptville lands put to agricultural use than “expanding the province’s ability to incarcerate.”
“We don’t need more jail cells. We believe the money could be better spent elsewhere,” Lynas said.
To have a healthy and safe community, Lynas added the government needs to provide services and support.
“Depriving communities of what they really need, which is services and support, and building a more egalitarian society is a much healthier way to have a safe community, country and province,” Lynas said.
Community Engaged Sociology, a fourth-year Carleton class, worked on the benefit concert as part of their course curriculum. Aaron Doyle, a sociology and anthropology professor at Carleton, said he introduced the project to apply interdisciplinary theory to real-world issues.
Doyle is passionate about prison reform, co-founding the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project in 2012 with University of Ottawa criminology professor, Justin Piché. The project focuses on the harms of imprisonment and tries to persuade governments to refrain from imprisoning large numbers of people.
“I remember meeting with the superintendent of the Carleton Detention Centre. The first thing she said to me was that half of these people shouldn’t be here,” Doyle said.
Doyle said he aims to challenge the assumption that mass imprisonment is necessary for societal health.
“People don’t really question the idea that we need prisons,” Doyle said. “People kind of learn very early on that the way to deal with someone committing [a crime] is to punish them and the only way to do that is by sending them to prison.”
Maia Wenger is a volunteer with the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project and a master’s student in legal studies at Carleton University. Through their coursework, they learned about prison theory and practice, increasing their passion for the subject.
“Working with other community members to fight against these oppressive systems is very rewarding. It’s exhausting but it’s rewarding,” Wenger said.
Wenger got involved with the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project because they believe in prison abolition and challenging oppressive systems. They said they hoped the benefit concert reiterated that building a new prison would harm the land and people.
“Musicians are activists,” Wenger said. “People connect over music. When you’re dealing with heavy topics, it can be nice to have something that people can take part in that isn’t necessarily really emotionally heavy on them.”
CAPP members Kirk Albert and Victor Lachance have dedicated three years and thousands of dollars to stand up to the Ford government. The two filed a judicial review application to the Ontario Superior Court to review how the government selected the Kemptville farmland for the prison project.
“[The provincial government] didn’t consult, they didn’t abide by the planning act and they didn’t abide by the public policy statements,” Lachance said.
Albert, who is also a spokesperson for the Jail Opposition Group, said the Ford government did not practice due diligence in the decision.
“It was shocking to the community because we had no forewarning of it,” Albert said.
“It makes no sense that they would target prime agricultural land for a facility such as this. There was no justification to support that facility.”
Mohawk singer-songwriter Staats helped raise awareness after learning about the concert’s cause. Staats found common ground in the message and has spent his career going against colonial government and law.
“For me as a First Nations person, I’ve seen some of the issues … that we were facing in our communities, so I think that all forms of government need to change the way they do things. Not just the Ford government but the Canadian government at large”
Staats reaffirmed his dedication to the land, saying he feels physical pain when the land is damaged or treated poorly.
“We are the land, that’s our belief. We are the Mohawk people, we are all part of this land,” Staats said. “It’s not about ownership of the land, it’s about taking care of the land and nurturing that connection to [it].”
Doyle and Lynas said those interested in opposing the prison can check out CAPP’s fundraiser.
Featured image by Curtis Perry.
