History repeats itself: overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canadian prisons is alarming

The 'Indigenization' of the Canadian correctional system is a product of structural inequalities entrenched in the legal system. The numbers are even more disturbing for Indigenous women, who now make up 42 per cent of the prisoner population in Canada.

Independent Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard, pictured during a prison visit in the last Parliament as part of the Senate Human Rights Committee's study on Canada's prisons. The crisis of Indigenous overrepresentation in Canadian prisons is a pressing human rights issue that calls for immediate action. The problem in part is due to the legal and political paradigms that remain an injustice to Indigenous offenders, writes A’aishah Abdul Hameed. Photograph courtesy of the Senate of Canada

Opinion

BY A’AISHAH ABDUL HAMEED

June 29, 2020

TORONTO—The endemic overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canadian prisons is a systemic issue that transcends beyond carceral walls. Indigenous people account for five per cent of Canada’s general population and yet, the proportion of Indigenous people in federal custody has exceeded 30 pe...

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