Shameful anniversary should spur action on prison crisis

It’s been nearly 50 years since the federal government first officially acknowledged aboriginal overrepresentation in the Canadian corrections system. As we approach that anniversary, it’s worth pausing to reflect on why, in the half-century since then, things have mostly gotten worse.

In August 1967, the Canadian Corrections Association presented the Indians and the Law report to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (as it was then called). The report provided statistical evidence that indigenous people were grossly overrepresented in provincial and federal facilities — a situation it characterized as “of serious magnitude.” Sadly, the description remains apt. Overrepresentation refers to the imbalance between the proportion of the indigenous population in Canada (currently estimated at less than 5 per cent) and their population within the provincial and federal corrections systems. The problem exists across Canada, but has long been particularly pronounced in certain parts of the country. In the prairie provinces, for example, aboriginal inmates currently account for approximately 50 per cent of the federal corrections population.

The correctional investigator’s most recent report identifies that — when expressed as a national average — the total current population of aboriginal federal inmates has now reached an all-time high of 25 per cent. The situation for aboriginal females is particularly worrisome, as they comprise 35.5 per cent of the total female federal corrections population. Many of these women have young children and so the cycle of disadvantage continues.

The Supreme Court of Canada has done its part, admitting in its Gladue decision in 1999 that aboriginal overrepresentation is a “crisis.” The court’s ruling in that case gave rise to the so-called “Gladue method” to incorporate restorative justice and rehabilitation principles into the crafting of meaningful sentences for aboriginal people, with the stated goal of avoiding incarceration. Despite this effort to tackle overrepresentation at the sentencing stage, the numbers and proportions of male and female aboriginal people in federal and provincial corrections facilities keeps rising. Much more needs to be done.

Specifically, Ottawa needs to more aggressively use the policy tools at its disposal to address the roots of the problem, which are by now well known. The final report of the TRC on residential schools has laid bare the connections between the colonization and over-incarceration of indigenous peoples in Canada. The intergenerational impacts of the residential school system and the 60s scoop are now clearly linked to the ongoing institutionalization of indigenous children in the childwelfare system, in youth criminal justice facilities, and as adults in provincial jails and federal prisons. The upcoming inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women will undoubtedly also make these connections, adding more voices to the chorus identifying the “serious magnitude” of the problem.

We have for too long accepted the high costs of inaction. In 1991, the Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba quoted lawyer Ovide Mercredi, who would soon become the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations: “If you accept our assertion that much of the root cause of Indian peoples’ disproportionate conflict with the justice system lies in their poverty and marginal position in Canadian society, then what do you think is going to happen in the next 10 or 20 years, if radical changes do not occur?” he predictable outcomes have since continued and will do so until we change course.

The upcoming 50-year anniversary of the federal government’s knowledge of aboriginal over-incarceration will be a shameful occasion if it is not accompanied by a meaningful, well-funded plan to reverse the trend. The long-awaited significant investments in First Nations health, education and infrastructure in the 2016 federal budget are a good start to address some of the root causes that contribute to involvement with the criminal justice system, but we have yet to hear anything concrete from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould about their plans to reduce the overrepresentation of aboriginal people in the corrections system. It’s been half a century — we can’t wait any longer.

Jacqueline Briggs is a PhD candidate in the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto.