The art of quilting

Freeing the Human Spirit brings hope and healing to prisoners at Canadian correctional institutes through yoga and meditation

By Sr. Elaine MacInnes. O.L.M.
May 2006

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Quilting was an active art in the early days of the Maritime provinces where I grew up. It has come back into vogue recently. One recent visitor from Nova Scotia showed me five or six baby quilts she had made with her group. Also my nephew Alan, a meditation teacher at Springhill Prison and Dorchester Penitentiary in Atlantic Canada, is now learning to quilt in Moncton.

R-L: Honourable Monte Kwinter, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Institutes: Ms Rose Buhagiar, Superintendent of Toronto’s East Detention Centre: Gary Commeford, Asst. Deputy to Mr. Kwinter: and Sr. Elaine MacInnes at the launch of Fires That Burn, an award winning documentary about the work of teaching yoga and meditation disciplines in prisons.

Like so many other things in life, quilting cannot be done alone. In the quilting bee, sometimes at every stitch you have to wait for others to do their part, which in reality is very intimate, like passing the threaded needled through to the one waiting on the other side. It provides a venue for news giving and receiving and also grapevine secrets. Such time together has always been considered social entertainment, yet producing something needed in society.

The “quilting bee” I am involved with is called Freeing the Human Spirit, a small registered charity bringing hope and healing into the Canadian correctional institutes through yoga and meditation. As with any quilt, we know how difficult it is giving birth to a new idea; we stumble around for months in our innocent ignorance. For us, setting up a program and finding teachers, meeting prison officials, getting classes started in the various institutions, are all different parts of the whole “quilt” and cannot be accomplished alone.

An award-winning documentary

Also, the recent premiere of Fires That Burn, a documentary about teaching our disciplines in prisons, taught us how enormous the help can be from others. About a year and a half ago, Hilary Pryor of the Maystreet Group in Victoria, British Columbia, decided to help, and consequently produced this excellent film. Last summer it won the highest award in the religion section at the 53rd Annual Columbus (Ohio) International Film and Video Festival.

Vision TV here in Canada bought the rights for one year and sponsored an opening night at Theatre D Digital in Toronto with a wine and cheese party. They showed the film, inviting journalist and broadcaster Michael Enright to give the interview, and hosted a question and answer period. The DVD of the program can be ordered online at www.visiontv.ca.

What an exciting launch. After the program, the special guests were invited onstage and to my surprise there among them were fellow “quilters” from the provincial and local governments: the Honourable Monte Kwinter, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Institutes, and his Assistant Deputy, Gary Commeford. Accompanying them was the Superintendent of Toronto’s East Detention Centre, Ms. Rose Buhagiar. How welcome they are in our creative process of working with inmates.

Participating behind the scenes are other prison personnel, our 30 volunteer teachers who are going into 20 correctional institutes, and hundreds of friends. All packed the house that night of our launch. There was no doubt in our minds that this little charity will flourish.

Being involved in Freeing the Human Spirit is like taking part in a quilting bee. The launch depicting our work has shown this to us. Our heartfelt thanks to all who are making this possible.

You are invited to visit the website of Freeing the Human Spirit at www.freeingspirit.com.

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