30 January 2020 - Indigenous people make up a third of prisoners in Canada
Indigenous people make up over 30 per cent of prisoners in federal custody, Correctional Investigator says
Kristy Kirkup (The Globe and Mail, 21/01/2020)
Indigenous people represent more than 30 per cent of prisoners in federal custody, a new high, the Correctional Investigator said Tuesday as he urged action, including on a long-standing request for the creation of a deputy commissioner for Indigenous corrections.
In findings released Tuesday, Ivan Zinger said the number of Indigenous people federally sentenced has steadily increased for decades, adding that custody rates have accelerated in recent years despite an overall drop in the inmate population.
‘We’re doing something really wrong:’ Advocates react to rising rates of Indigenous people in Canada’s prisons
Jamie Pashagumskum (APTN News, 23/01/2020)
Indigenous women’s organizations are calling the results of a recent report by Canada’s correctional investigator appalling after it shows close to half of women in federal prisons are First Nation, Metis or Inuit.
Emilie Coyle, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) advocates for Indigenous women in Canadian prisons.
According to the report, 42 per cent of the women in prison are First Nation, Metis or Inuit, almost double what it was in 2001.
U of L professor reflects on high Indigenous prison population
Tyler Barrow (CTV News, 23/01/2020)
After a prison watchdog revealed Wednesday that 30 per cent of prisoners in federal custody are Indigenous peoples, a University of Lethbridge Indigenous governance and management professor Don McIntyre said he believes that's a problem that needs to be fixed.
“Indigenous inmates are walking through a system which is not (built) for them,” said McIntyre.
McIntyre has also researched Indigenous legal theory and laws and is part of the Timiskaming First Nations Reserve.
'National travesty': report shows one third of Canada's prisoners are Indigenous
Leyland Cecco (The Guardian, 22/01/2020)
More than 30% of inmates in Canadian prisons are Indigenous – even though aboriginal people make up just 5% of the country’s population, according to new figures released by a federal watchdog.
In a scathing report published on Tuesday, the correctional investigator of Canada, Dr Ivan Zinger, described Indigenous overrepresentation in the country’s jails and prisons as “nothing short of a national travesty”.
The figure is highest in the prairie provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, where Indigenous people make up 54% of the prison population. Quebec had the lowest proportion of aboriginal prisoners, but at 15% the group was still dramatically overrepresented.