Canadian racist prison system primarily affects native people
In
the wake of the acquittal of Gerald Stanley in the death of Colten Boushie,
there have been loud calls for reform to address Canada’s
blatant systemic racism in the criminal justice system.
Boushie,
22, died after being shot by Stanley in the back of the head as he sat in an
SUV on a farm near Biggar, Sask.
The
Canadian justice system works against indigenous people at every
level, from police checks and arrests to bail denial and detention, sentencing
miscarriages and disparities and high incarceration rates.
These
trends are also well-documented in countries like the United States,
Australia and New Zealand. It is clear that the problem lies in our justice
systems.
Around
the time that Canada started receding its formal “indian assimilation” policies
in the 1950s, including the end of the residential school requirement,
penitentiary and child welfare systems started to quietly assume a new role in
the lives of Indigenous people.
In
fact, prior to the 1960s, Indigenous people only represented one to two
per cent of the federal prison population. The rates have consistently
increased every year since.
The
Office of the Correctional Investigator reports the incarceration rate of
Indigenous people is now at 26.4 per cent of the federal prison population,
while they comprise only four per cent of the Canadian population. Incidentally,
the Canadian crime rate has fallen in the last 20 years.
Placed
in segregation
Not
only are Indigenous people more likely to be imprisoned, but they are also more
often subjected to some of the most restrictive levels of punishment,
including segregation, forced interventions, higher security classifications,
involuntary transfers, physical restraints and self-harm.
Kinew
James died of a heart attack after the emergency call button in her cell
was routinely ignored at the Saskatoon Regional Psychiatric Centre.
Eddie
Snowshoe committed suicide after 162 days in solitary confinement at the
Edmonton maximum security institution.
Renee
Acoby accumulated an additional 21 years of charges in prison, spent more
than half of her time in segregation, and was eventually given a dangerous
offender designation for a series of prison hostage-takings. She is now
effectively behind bars for life.
Addressing
these deeply problematic prison realities is currently at the forefront of the
government of Canada’s criminal justice review, including two House of
Commons studies and one by a Senate committee.
In
considering remedies, two important issues are at play.
Imprisoned
more often
First,
Indigenous people are more often criminalized and imprisoned for acts that are
linked to poverty, lack of educational and employment opportunities, lifestyles
of substance use, mental health concerns and histories of sexual abuse,
violence and trauma — in other words, coloniallism.
Second, prisons
are characterized by authoritarianism, power imbalances, restriction of
movement and activities, isolation, lack of freedom of association and
enforcement of sometimes arbitrary and trivial demands. Prison environments
often reflect and even perpetuate the very trauma and violence experienced by
Indigenous people.
Even
though Indigenous people make up only four per cent of Canada’s population,
26.4 per cent of those incarcerated in Canadian prisons are Aboriginal. THE
CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
The
federal government would do well to consider community options.
According
to the Parlamentary Budget Officer,
it costs upwards of $343,810 to incarcerate one woman for a year and $223,687
to incarcerate a man. The community placement option, on the other hand, is
priced at $85,653 per year per person, and parole costs as little as $39,084.
There
are already existing remedies in the Correctional annd Conditional Release Act ,
Sections 81 and 84, that allow for agreements in the community where Indigenous
and non-Indigenous prisoners can serve their sentence and parole in a supported
way.
If
we want to alleviate the conditions that foster conflict and harm in the first
place, we also need to ensure that basic national standards and human rights
are being met for Indigenous people.
The
private members’ BIIIC-262, which outlines the implementation of the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, just passed its
second reading.
Approving
this bill would ensure some of the most basic rights for Indigenous
communities, including the provision of clean water, electricity, employment,
education and adequate social and health services.
In
its calls to action, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has
recommended that the federal, provincial and territorial governments make a
commitment to eliminate the over-representation of Indigenous people in custody
over the next decade.
If
the federal government takes up this call, prisons would no longer be part of
the solution. As noted by Romeo Saganash, NDP’s critic for Intergovernmental
Indigenous Affairs, “there will be no reconciliation without justice”
Reference: The Conversation
https://theconversation.com/broken-system-why-is-a-quarter-of-canadas-prison-population-indigenous-91562
