Elder Melanie Fisher says she enjoyed working at Regina’s Paul Dojack Youth Centre and loved “the boys” at the facility like her own children.

She and fellow elder Calvin Pelletier had a good relationship with the staff and were praised for their work, until the relationship soured over an October cultural camp, she said.

Fisher and Pelletier say staff disrespected them and sacred ceremonies at the camp.

When their concerns were not adequately addressed by the administration, they brought the issue to the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety — which was renamed the Ministry of Community Safety in Thursday's cabinet shuffle.

Shortly after that, they were told not to come to the centre, and then fired, Fisher said.

“We were punished for protecting our ceremonies,” she sai

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