Number of Indigenous people in prison now a human rights issue says Correctional Investigator

by Todd Lamirande, APTN National News, Oct 31, 2017

Canada’s Correctional Investigator said the number of Indigenous people locked up in prisons across the country is now a human rights issue.

“That the incarceration rate for Indigenous people keeps climbing year after year after year, relentlessly,” said Zinger.

One-quarter of all female homicide victims in Canada in 2015 were Indigenous

Hundreds of family and supporters of missing and murdered women gathered at the University of Winnipeg to honour their memories and to call for action. CTV Winnipeg.

Indigenous women also continue to be over-represented in justice system, says Statistics Canada report

CBC News, June 6, 2017

The homicide rate for Indigenous females between 2001 and 2015 was nearly six times higher than that for non-Indigenous females, according to a new study by Statistics Canada.

Treatment of Inuit in Quebec jails called ‘unacceptable’ by ombudsman

Report notes dramatic rise in number of Inuit in provincial jails, from 549 to 898 over last 6 years

CBC News, Feb 18, 2016

Quebec’s ombudsman has released a scathing report on the treatment of Inuit in the provincial justice system.

Raymonde Saint-Germain describes the conditions of people arrested and convicted as “unacceptable.”

She says the detention conditions are “below current standards” and infringe on the constitutional right to human dignity.

Prison watchdog says more than a quarter of federal inmates are aboriginal people

Howard Sapers, Canada’s correctional investigator, says efforts to curb high numbers not working

CBC News,  Jan 14, 2016

For the first time, more than a quarter of inmates in Canadian prisons are aboriginal people.

“The most current figure we have is quite shocking,” said Correctional Investigator of Canada Howard Sapers, the country’s prison ombudsman.

“In federal corrections, 25.4 per cent of the incarcerated population are now of aboriginal ancestry.”