Joignez-vous aux débats d’Options politiques et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces directives. [31], Similarly, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Calls to Action 50-52 seek for the improvement of equity for Indigenous Peoples within the Canadian legal system [32], In 2018, the Canadian Federal Government issued a report on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security’s investigation on Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system and subsequently issued 19 recommendations to improve equity of outcomes for Indigenous Peoples. [14], Once in front of a judge, Indigenous Peoples in Canada have historically received more and longer incarceration sentences. For example, in Ontario, the province and Legal Aid Ontario fund the production of what are referred to as Gladue reports. Canada H3A 1T1, Privacy Policy | They make up approximately 30% of all incarcerated individuals in Canada despite being approximately 4% of the total population. Because these initiatives are at the provincial or territorial level, the federal government has seen little need to become involved, but these initiatives require funding to thrive. From my father’s incarceration to his advocating for abolishing the death penalty, my family has carried on the struggle of freedom and justice, for all peoples. The differences among provinces and territories in the way they have responded to Indigenous justice concerns are quite stark and revealing. The development of courts with a particular emphasis on working with Indigenous offenders and accused persons is another way to address estrangement from the legal system. [15] The risks associated with self-representation is laypersons are not educated in the law and the judicial process so they can become overwhelmed to their own detriment. 85 - House of Commons of Canada", "United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples", "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action", "Indigenous People in the Federal Correctional System", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indigenous_Peoples_and_the_Canadian_Criminal_Justice_System&oldid=999175910, Violence against Indigenous people in Canada, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 8 January 2021, at 21:23. Indigenous Peoples and the Justice System. The concerns the case raised focused not only on the verdict by the all-white jury but also on how the jury was selected, in particular the fact that the defence was able to rely on the use of peremptory challenges to prevent any Indigenous people from serving on the jury. That is why prosecutions under the Criminal Code — a federal statute — are carried out by Crown attorneys appointed by the province, usually in provincial courts, where judges are also provincially appointed. Morning Star is deeply committed to advocating for indigenous sovereignty issues such as missing & murdered indigenous … Abolishing peremptory challenges — when lawyers do not have to give any reason for refusing to allow a person to sit as juror — was a recommendation of both the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, which reported in 1991, and the First Nations Jury Review in Ontario in 2013. For example, the federal government could, as the Manitoba and Ontario reports suggested, eliminate the use of peremptory challenges. This conclusion was also reached by the Supreme Court of Canada on three occasions. The court went on to plainly state what anyone who lives in the justice system trenches knows all too well: “Trials do not take place in a historical, cultural, or social vacuum. Legislative change is certainly useful in addressing the crisis facing the legal system with respect to Indigenous people. Some authors have argued that the primary cause of over-representation is widespread criminality among Indigenous peoples, rather than what is sometimes termed 'systemic bias' in the criminal justice system. An independent justice system would recognize an important role for elders in the … Additionally, cultural and language barriers may exist between Indigenous persons and their Duty Counsel further impacting their access to effective representation. Accused persons have access to three types of representation in Canada, duty counsel, defense counsel, and self-representation. The “historic new highs” of Indigenous people incarcerated in Canada’s prison system comes as no surprise to Indigenous people or those who have been paying attention to the issue. Approximately 1,000 Gladue reports are written annually in Ontario. Both options cover historical contexts including generational effects of colonization, Section 718.2 (e) of the Criminal Code, case and Indigenous law, Indigenous Persons Court, restorative justice, Gladue in practice and what is needed to increase its success moving forward. Approximately 40% of individuals appearing in family court appear in absence of counsel, and the trend of increased persons self-representing in also experienced in civil court proceedings. While these issues affect Indigenous Peoples broadly, there are specific implications for Indigenous women and youth. Cries for justice for Indigenous people killed by police or failed by the legal system are reverberating across Canada, from coast to coast to coast. Self-represented litigants are less likely to achieve fair settlements, have worse outcomes in family and financial matters and their cases take substantially longer to come to conclusion. [9], Contemporary outcomes stemming from intergenerational trauma experienced by Indigenous Peoples are overrepresentation in all negative categories of social determinants of poor health including poverty, precarious housing and employment, experience with violence, and disrupted family and support systems. justice system works against I ndigenous people at every level, from police checks and a r- rests (e.g., Nettelbeck and S mandych 2010 ) to bail denial and deten tion (e.g., Roberts and FASD service delivery in terms of diagnosis, prevention and intervention is lacking and has led to inappropriate treatment within the criminal justice system. Ivan Zinger, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, issued his statement and a challenge earlier this month, reporting the proportion of Indigenous people behind bars has now surpassed 30 per cent. Since 1989, 13 provincial and federal inquiries, commissions and studies have examined the issue of Indigenous peoples and the justice system in Canada. [30], UNDRIP articles 5 and 40 both advocate for Indigenous Nations to revitalize and employ traditional legal structures for their Peoples. “The justice system criminalizes Native people but provides little to no resources when we ourselves are victims of violence.” ... Justice for Indigenous peoples outside of the confines of settler colonialism is a close reality. May 2019. [12] Further, duty counsel may be under resourced or overburdened, and the combinations of these ineffective factors can be enhanced in the presence of bias or racism. The meeting focused in particular on “micro-discriminations” or “micro-aggressions”, which are the myriad ways (some not “micro” at all) that society’s racist prejudices are conveyed to … This review provides a critical overview of Indigenous peoples’ interactions with criminal justice systems. Montreal, Quebec Photo: A chant is performed during a rally in response to Gerald Stanley’s acquittal in the shooting death of Colton Boushie in Edmonton, Alberta, on February 10, 2018. Editing the piece is not permitted, but you may publish excerpts. The concerns the case raised focused not only on the verdict by the all-white jury but also on how the jury was selected, in particular the fact … That is what it is on a daily basis for Indigenous people across the country. Recently, Indigenous and Federal governments have come together to address this systemic issue and improve the equity of outcomes for Indigenous Peoples within the Canadian criminal justice system. In Ipeelee the Court decried the failure of the system to answer the call of Gladue and renewed its call for changes in the way Indigenous offenders were sentenced by the courts. The section states that judges should look for alternatives to incarceration for all offenders, but with particular attention to the circumstances of Indigenous people. RJIP works to expose and address the disparities of California Indigenous people, especially women and youth in the carceral system using traditional and cultural lifeways and practices, community organizing and advocacy to restore justice to these communities and ancestral homelands. [7] Ultimately, the settler state endeavored to assimilate and enfranchise all Indigenous Peoples into dominant society. Subsequently they have called upon the Canadian Federal Government to, among other interventions, commit to ratifying the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Due to the combination of all these factors Indigenous women are statistically more likely to participate in survival sex work, an activity criminalized in Canada. These commissions and inquiries have all come to the same conclusion: that the criminal justice system in Canada is failing Indigenous people. The recent acquittal by a jury of Gerald Stanley, a white farmer, in the shooting death of Colten Boushie, an Indigenous man from the Red Pheasant First Nation in Saskatchewan, has again raised issues about the way the criminal justice system deals with Indigenous people. 1470 Peel St. #200 A partnership between the Province and the BC First Nations Justice Council (BCFNJC) is creating Indigenous justice centres throughout B.C., improving access to supports and helping individuals more easily navigate the justice system. Those options include release without conditions, undertaking with conditions, and recognizance. There are no such courts in Quebec or Manitoba, one in Saskatchewan (a Cree-speaking circuit court) and two in Alberta. These include dispossession of Indigenous lands through the Numbered Treaties in which Indigenous Peoples received limited Reserve land[3] and restriction of personal freedoms through the enaction of the Pass System. The Canadian government has framed this disproportionate victimization and criminalization as being an "Indian problem." If trauma is experienced over multiple generations, the affects of intergeneration trauma can accumulate. Section 718.2(e) is an example of legislation that has made a difference. This article first appeared on Policy Options and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. Some of these royal commissions and public inquiries recommended a form of independent justice in Indigenous communities. The three-hour seminar, Indigenous Peoples and the Justice System, is a joint initiative of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta and the University of Alberta. You are welcome to republish this Policy Options article online or in print periodicals, under a Creative Commons/No Derivatives licence. [22], Indigenous women experience higher rates of poverty, precarious employment, and are statistically more likely to be single care givers. There are only a few national data sources that provide criminal justice statistics disaggregated by Indigenous identity. For Indigenous people, the case was simply another milestone on the long and well-travelled road of injustice. Despite the findings of commissions and courts, and despite promises by prime ministers to address this issue — specifically Prime Ministers Jean Chrétien (in the 2001 Throne Speech) and Justin Trudeau (in his 2015 mandate letter to the Minister of Justice) — the numbers tell a different story. Protests in the United States in the wake of George Floyd’s death were most directly about policing and justice in the United States. There are things that can be done and are being done to meaningfully address the over-representation of Indigenous people and the other factors that have led to the estrangement of Indigenous people from the justice system that the Supreme Court noted in Gladue. Accused persons can seek the services of legal aid for defense counsel however, it can be difficult to secure effective counsel. Indeed, the book is an important resource for lawyers who are committed not only to reconciliation but … The overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in the justice system reproduces false racist narratives of their criminality that inform both judges and the prosecution. [4][5] Additionally, Indigenous family units were disrupted through the Residential School System and the Sixties Scoop. The Supreme Court of Canada decision in R v Gladue both recognized this issue, and mandated justices to allow for provisions in sentencing that considered the historical and socio-economic factors that bring Indigenous Peoples before the court, in order to reduce Indigenous over representation in the carceral system. Legislative change is part of the process. In the case of Barton, released days before the National Inquiry’s report, the court acknowledged the detrimental effects of widespread racism against Indigenous people within our criminal justice system. Constitutionally, while criminal law is a federal responsibility, the administration of justice is a provincial-territorial responsibility. Gladue and Ipeelee both concerned themselves with interpreting section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code, a provision that was introduced in 1996 as part of a comprehensive set of amendments dealing with sentencing in Canada. At the most recent meeting of the A2JBC Leadership Group on October 27, 2020, we heard Indigenous leaders, lawyers and academics speak powerfully about how Indigenous people experience the justice system. And while Canada now imprisons fewer and fewer young people, more and more of those young people are Indigenous. That is what it was for the family of Colten Boushie. The government has promised to bring in legislation to put an end to mandatory minimums, but it has not yet done so. As with duty counsel, these factors can be aggravated in the presence of bias. The Supreme Court in Gladue said judges had a role in over-representation and they should ensure that they had the information necessary to allow them to meaningfully address this provision of the code. Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences, which flourished under the Stephen Harper government and even if it does introduce such,... 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