Aboriginal Incarceration: Black Mark for Canada

Abhorrent rates of aboriginal imprisonment are linked, inextricably, to the social and economic position of First Nations communities.

In April, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo addressed the lack of discussion surrounding First Nations' issues during the 2011 Canadian federal election, suggesting that First Nations children are more likely to go to jail than to graduate from high school. The connection between school and prison is not accidental: Failure to graduate from high school and failure to make the transition from school to work are known to be linked with crime.

The Mark analyzes Assembly Chief Atleo's response to the violent death of a young child on a native reserve. Read more here.

More generally, the problems prevalent in aboriginal communities that Atleo pointed out as being ignored in the recent federal election – low high-school completion rates, high infant-mortality rates, and extreme poverty – have been with us for quite some time. Forty-three years ago, an unsuccessful Progressive Conservative candidate for prime minister, Robert Stanfield, made the observation in his election platform that:

One of the greatest blots on Canada’s reputation for fairness and equity is the condition of the Indians, Métis, and Eskimos who are the descendants of the original inhabitants of this land. It is a problem that should touch the conscience of all Canadians … In 1966, 40 per cent of Canadian Indians were living on relief … Indians are hospitalized twice as often as other Canadians. Their mortality rate is higher. Among pre-school children the mortality rate is eight times the national average.

This is not a pretty picture. Unfortunately, the picture hasn’t changed much.

Given what we know about the structural causes of crime, and the social and economic position of aboriginal people in Canadian society, it is not surprising that aboriginal people are much more likely to be involved – as victims and offenders – in crime, especially serious, violent crime. There is almost a perfect correlation between the factors associated with crime and the description of the status of most aboriginal people in Canadian society.

According to Statistics Canada, the likelihood of being a homicide victim is six times higher for aboriginal Canadians than for non-aboriginal Canadians. Given that aboriginal people are more likely to be killed by other aboriginal people, the rate of being named as a suspect in a homicide investigation is seven times higher for aboriginal people than for non-aboriginal people. Likewise, aboriginal people are more than three times more likely than non-aboriginal people to report having been a victim of physical or sexual violence. Given that aboriginal people are much less likely than non-aboriginal people to be victimized by strangers, it seems likely that most of the offenders in these violent incidents involving aboriginal victims are themselves aboriginal people.

Canada's First Nations ought to have more of a stake in harnessing natural resources. Read Chief Atleo's column here.

If serious, violent offences (such as homicide, attempted murder, assault, and robbery) can be expected to result in prison sentences, it is hardly surprising that Aboriginal people are overrepresented in Canada’s prisons. Aboriginal people account for 21 per cent of those sentenced to provincial prisons, and 18 per cent of those sentenced to federal penitentiaries – rates that are about four to five times what one would expect based on recent estimates that aboriginal people constitute about four per cent of the Canadian population. They are also overrepresented among those receiving certain punishments other than prison: Sixteen per cent of all those admitted to probation are aboriginal people. Finally, 17 per cent of those currently serving sentences for murder are aboriginal people.

In 1996, in an attempt to reduce the use of imprisonment, Parliament amended the Criminal Code to instruct judges that, in handing down sentences, “All available sanctions other than imprisonment that are reasonable in the circumstances should be considered for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of aboriginal offenders.” There is no clear evidence that this had any measurable impact on the sentencing of aboriginal offenders, in part because the factors that generally result in non-custodial sentences – stable housing, friends without criminal records, stable jobs, access to treatment programs, etc. – are less likely to be available to aboriginal Canadians. In a convoluted way, it would almost be better if the problem were as simple as judges discriminating against aboriginal people during sentencing, because then it could be addressed by working with one easily defined problem group – judges. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.