Tough-on-crime tack destroys Indigenous lives

In the United States, after the unrest of the civil rights era, the federal government began to spend more on “law and order,” which became the clarion call of right-wing politicians, and it was clearly aimed at keeping Black folks in line.

In the years that followed, the jails were filled to overflowing, the war on poverty went nowhere — if anything, the poor lost — and the war on drugs was a joke as drug use skyrocketed across all segments of society.

Rather than address the root causes of the social dysfunction, they concentrated on the symptoms.

In Saskatchewan, the term “law and order” is being replaced with “community safety.” This is a dog whistle to the Sask. Party's rural constituency that sees First Nations in a negative light.

In Saskatchewan, the rural population is decreasing and the First Nations population is on the rise. This demographic shift is creating fear among a portion of the rural population.

This process is ongoing with the passing of the amendment to the provincial trespass legislation in 2019 that was aimed at First Nations hunters. The conservation officers were also permitted to carry firearms for the first time.

The budget earmarks $7 million for the Saskatchewan Marshals Service, which is supposed to be operational in 2026.

The role of the marshals service does nothing more than copy the job of the RCMP and begs the question, why bother to duplicate the work of another agency and cost the public purse $20 million a year?

The budget also allocates $37 million to continue the expansion of the Saskatoon Remand Centre. The original cost of the new construction was $120 million in 2020. More than half of the incarcerated people in Saskatchewan haven't been convicted of a crime, but are awaiting their day in court on remand.

This is the highest rate in Canada and most of the people on remand are Indigenous. That $120 million could go a long way in the community for supportive housing, electronic monitoring and other community-based programs.

And $120 million is only the cost of the facility; next, the government must staff and operate it. How much more will be wasted warehousing our people? Successive provincial governments have allowed our people to become an industry for prison guards, social workers and other support staff.

The prison system has become the new residential school system. People are warehoused in these crime colleges as a method of control with no positive outcome. We need reform, not more spending on a remand centre.

The provincial government must realize that everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty. Locking up people is not an answer to making a safer community. Few inmates die in jail and most return to society. They come out of a crime college with few prospects and supports and a return to crime is inevitable.

Of course, there are dangerous individuals who must be incarcerated for the good of the community. This exists in every group in society. But our people are poor and lack the resources to hire a lawyer or get proper representation. Many plead guilty to get it over with and throw themselves at the mercy of the court.

This is not a justice system, it's the modern-day equivalent of a Victorian debtor prison where those who can afford justice get it.

First Nations are developing alternative programming and addressing the problems at the root cause such as addictions, intergenerational effects of residential schools and the broader aspects of colonization.

Some First Nations, such as the Lac La Ronge First Nation, have developed healing lodges to help their people. Other First Nations have developed land healing programs and are reviving traditional healing practices.

None of our First Nations are advocating increased incarceration or a more punitive response. They realize what the province fails to see — that the roots of dysfunction are in our past and we lost control over our lives through colonialism and racism.

The tough-on-crime policies of the province are a vengeful and dangerous path that will lead nowhere. It's not the road our people want to take. It's time to end an industry based on the suffering of our people.