After 32 years in prison, a former inmate leans on a Black-led program as he steps into freedom

After more than three decades in federal prison, Renford Farrier says he’s not looking too far into the future. With only 36 days since his release on parole, he’s taking things one day at a time. 

“There’s still a lot to process and go through and get to learn and know,” Farrier said in a recent interview. “There’s no feeling that can be described at this point.”

Farrier was convicted for second-degree murder in 1992 when he was 20 years old. Now, at age 52, he says a Black-led program in Nova Scotia is helping him find his place as he re-enters society. 

The Mobilizing Partnerships Project (MPP) helps people of African ancestry and their families create a plan to reintegrate after incarceration, and connects them with much-needed supports, according to Noémie Bergeron-Germain, a community health navigator with the program. 

Launched in 2019, the multi-phase project is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada and is directed by Barb Hamilton-Hinch, an associate professor at Dalhousie University. The project received close to $600,000 in funding over five years.

MPP started as a research project and began taking clients in fall 2023, and since then has worked with 25 people. Data on job retention, securing housing, and instances of recidivism are still being collected. 

The project is set to end in March  — and those involved hope new funding will allow it to continue. 

But the Public Health Agency of Canada said funding applications are closed, and the nine projects from the current funding stream won’t receive more money after March 31. 

“This funding was time-limited and intended to address an immediate need to support populations whose mental health was disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” spokesperson Nicholas Janveau wrote in an email.

In Canada, Black and Indigenous people are overrepresented in prisons. In Nova Scotia in 2020-21, Black people made up approximately three per cent of the adult population, but they accounted for 11 per cent of admissions to custody.

“We’re trying to provide a service for us, by us, because that is crucially lacking right now,” Bergeron-Germain said.

Bergeron-Germain said people can connect with the program at any point during their reintegration process, through a case worker, nurse, social worker, probation officer or a self-referral.

The program is available to people who have been incarcerated themselves or people who have a family member who was formerly incarcerated.

Bergeron-Germain said the key is helping create lasting and supportive connections.

“There’s a lot of good stuff that’s happening, but everybody’s kind of working in silos,” she said. “So creating that network of organizations that can refer people between them, make sure that services aren’t duplicated and that the gaps are filled.”

Farrier worked with the John Howard Society and his lawyer at PATH Legal in Dartmouth to secure his release. But he said support from the Mobilizing Partnerships Project has also been vital. 

“The thing that sends most people back [to prison] is the lack of support,” he said. “You create that plan so you know upon hitting the street, you’re prepared for what you’re about to encounter. You know that I got this, because they’ve done an amazing plan for me.”

Farrier worked with Bergeron-Germain on his plan, which he said involved mental and physical health supports, and goals like technological training and a personal trainer course. 

“MPP is able to lead me on the road and connect me with the people that are able to help me find what I need…. They’ve been with me every day since.”

Peer supporters with lived experience

One peer support worker who has been working with the Mobilizing Partnerships Project since July said it is “the most meaningful work” he has ever done. 

The support worker, who CBC News is not naming because of safety concerns, has family roots in Halifax’s Uniacke Square community, but was adopted by a family in Toronto due to his mother’s drug use.

He said he was in and out of group homes and ended up sleeping on the street as a young person, when he wasn’t in jail.

After being released in Nova Scotia in the summer of 2023, he vowed to never go back to incarceration. Now, his work allows him to bridge the gap between offenders and support organizations, and help people navigate the system.

He also hopes to be a role model to youth who may find themselves in similar situations to his past.

“You know a lot of these kids, they don’t have no place to to sleep,” he said. “They don’t have nothing to eat. So they’re going to, eventually maybe stray down that path, you know. So the Mobilizing Partnership Project is combating that in a big way.”

Farrier said he also hopes to be involved in helping others find a better future.

“We want to start community-based stuff, so 20-year-old, 18-year-old, 13-year-old men don’t see incarceration, they see a university,” he said.

“And not because they can dribble or jump or run fast, but because their brain is amazing.”

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.