Indigenous Population In Canada

Since the colonization of Canada First Nations people have been discriminated against and assimilated into the new culture of Canada through policies created by the government. Policies created had the intentions of improving the Aboriginal people’s standard of living and increasing their opportunities. Mainly in the past hundred years in Canadian Society, policies and government implemented actions such as; Residential schools, the Indian Act, and reserve systems have resulted in extinguishing native culture, teachings, and pride. Policies towards the treatment of Aboriginal Canadians has decreased their opportunities and standard of living because of policies specified previously (Residential schools, the Indian Act, and reservation systems).

How often do we stop to think about the minorities of this country and how they become involved and are treated in the criminal justice system? I surmise; only some of us will concern ourselves with such details. For some like myself; we might work with individuals of the Aboriginal community or have interacted with members of this group whether through school or work. Canada “had an Aboriginal identity in 2011 of 4 % or 1.4 million people” (Kelly-Scott and Smith, 2015). Of this total there is a gross overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in Canada’s Criminal Justice System. This overrepresentation of Aboriginals in the CJS comes as a result of socio economic factors, sentencing reforms, systemic discrimination, education and employment and victimization of Aboriginal women. In partial fulfilment of this course, this paper will address the leading factors which has led to the overrepresentation of this group in the CJS.

Racial inequality inside of Canadian prisons is shocking and sometimes unbelievable when taken into account the percentage a minority group takes up in Canada’s overall population versus behind bars. The injustices against Canada’s First Nations people are unfortunately not just historic, as their mistreatment is still evident today. Despite representing only 3% of the population, First Nations account for about 25% of the prison population in provincial/territorial facilities. More specifically, 31% of the female population, and 22% of the male population were First Nations in 2015. More than one in five admissions to men’s prisons are of Aboriginal descent, and one in three in women’s prisons. Although it can be said that more and more attention has been drawn to this issue by citizens and politicians alike recently, First Nations people continue to suffer from poverty, injustice, and a lack of opportunities compared to the average Canadian citizen. About one in four native children live in poverty, leading to criminal activity, and eventually

In recent years the issue of mass incarceration in the United States and Canada has begun to take a spotlight in the media, government and public discourse. This paper will examine how Canada incarcerates Aboriginals at much higher rates than those who are not of Aboriginal descent. By examining the culture clash between Aboriginals and the rest of the population and the socio-economic conditions they live in, this paper will show that the criminal justice system works against them, therefore leading to mass incarceration. Finally, this paper will make suggestions as to how the criminal justice system can change in order to reduce the incarceration rates of Aboriginal peoples.

Throughout history, First Nations rights and privileges has been a highly controversial subject in Canada, and remains a debatable topic in society, even in the present-day. Whether it has been the controversies surrounding the missing and murdered Indigenous women or the funding of First Nation’s education, concrete results have yet to be achieved. Consequently, the above forces have delayed the restorative process for the First Nations People. That said, the Canadian Government, whether it is the Conservatives or the Liberals, have attempted to take an active approach to aid the Aboriginal community in their healing process. While the Conservative government failed to address the concerns of the First Nations community such as launching a public inquiry for the missing and murdered Indigenous women and raising funds to increase the literacy rate within the Aboriginal community, the Liberal government has acted in accordance with the above requests from the First Nations community. Although the Liberal government has agreed to provide proper funding to further Indigenous education and to launch a public inquiry for missing and murdered Indigenous women, the federal government has failed to acknowledge that to achieve a sense of reconciliation, the First Nations community requires complete self-government.

The Canadian native aboriginals are the original indigenous settlers of North Canada in Canada. They are made up of the Inuit, Metis and the First nation. Through archeological evidence old crow flats seem to the earliest known settlement sites for the aboriginals. Other archeological evidence reveals the following characteristics of the Aboriginal culture: ceremonial architecture, permanent settlement, agriculture and complex social hierarchy. A number of treaties and laws have been enacted amongst the First nation and European immigrants throughout Canada. For instance the Aboriginal self-government right was a step to assimilate them in Canadian society. This allows for a chance to manage

Aboriginals are disproportionately overrepresented in provincial and federal jails across Canada is an issue that originates from race alone. Many studies have concluded as well that the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in prisons is caused in part by systemic discrimination against them in the criminal justice system. The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics report: in 2003, Aboriginal people made up 18-20 per cent of all sentenced admissions to jail, but only take up 3.6 per cent of Canada's population (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2004). As statistics accumulate, it is important to note that the overrepresentation of Aboriginals in correctional institutions is connected with a high degree of social context issues. Based

Native Canadians play an important role in our national identity, unfortunately, the culture has been slowly dying out for the past century as advancing generations lose the spoken language. Less identify themselves as a true Native for the little knowledge they have of their culture, especially those who live in an urbanized city. One of the greatest contributing factors to this outcome were residential schools, a tragic and critical part of Canadian history.

The Attawaspiskat Cree and Ojibwa are a first nations group living in parts of Canada, mainly northern Ontario. The main languages spoken by these first nation groups are Mushkegowuk Cree and Ojibway. I will compare and contrast the experience of the Attawapiskat Cree to Ojibwa in relation to the Canadian Government. This will include analyzing the treaties introduced by the government towards the Cree and the Ojibwa: in particular, treaty 9 will be discussed. In addition, to these treaties the government has divided the first nation community into two different groups: status-Indians and non-status Indians. Within these two groups further division has been accomplished by the allocation of lands know as reserves to status-Indians and

“The fear I carry and the aversion I feel towards governmental departments is due entirely to inter-generational trauma. My mother carries this fear, my grandmother carried this fear, and my great-grandmother carried this fear,” (Quotation mark) said Kelly Briggs. Aboriginal Canadians are still instilled with dread and animosity from the negligence of human rights that they were deprived from. Aboriginal Canadians do not receive the respect, impartiality or justice they deserved. Many rights of the Aboriginal Canadians were neglected. Canada prides itself on, the great variety of cultures, ethnicities, races and religions, which occupies this country. However, the Canadian government and society did not acknowledge the Aboriginals or the

Despite representing only 4.3% of Canada’s population, aboriginals represent 23.2% of federal prisons (Office of the Correctional Investigator, 2013). The reason behind this over representation is not the longer sentences, as the matter of fact aboriginals receives shorter sentences about a mean of 4.2 years compared to 5.2 years for non-aboriginals (Ogloff & Welsh, as cited LaPrairie 1996). The reason behind the over representation is the low parole rate for aboriginals which is 34% and 41% for non-aboriginals causing them to spend more time in jail than intended (Ogloff & Welsh, 2000). Also, aboriginals are 51 % more likely to have their parole revoked compared to 28% for non-aboriginals (Ogloff & Welsh, as cited LaPrairie 1996). The reason behind this low prole rate are: high recidivism rate, involvement to prison violence, classified as medium to high risk, high in need regarding employment, housing , family support, and community reintegration (Ogloff & Welsh,

Back in the 1930’s, 120 000 youth crimes were committed a year. This might be a surprising figure, but when the Youth Criminal Justice Act came into effect in the year of 2003, the crime rate reduced to 50 000. This suggests that youth respond better to the societies who are helping them to reintegrate back into society. The YCJA is a more improved act that really distinguishes crimes and the court involved in the situation really needs to investigate to provide proper measures. Although one could argue that the YCJA provides an opportunity for a child to commit a crime, it is a fair and equitable act as it improves the youth justice system, has benefited Canada’s economy and provides great social benefits.

Aboriginal people are very passionate about their culture and traditions and believe that they are an important part of Canada’s past. Although their customs shaped Canada into a great nation, they are slowly fading into the background while competing with the French and English cultures. “Such an understanding gives no consideration to the presence and role of Aboriginal groups throughout history.” First Nation’s people do not receive a just amount of respect and equality in terms of their rights for land and freedom. Over the past century there have been several brutal protests that promote a negative, violent appearance towards all Aboriginals. In order to advance within society and claim land that is rightfully theirs, Natives

Canada is a country filled with a diverse population, in regards to both immigrants and those born within the country. However, it is undeniable that Canada was born on the land of the natives and that they are still a very integrated community within the country. As of 2011, the aboriginal population took 4.3% of the nation’s inhabitants, a 20.1% increase from 2001 (Statistics Canada, 2014). This translates to approximately 1.4 million citizens, but unfortunately, 23.2% of the federal inmates within the country are aboriginals (Office of the Correctional Investigator, 2013). There is an abnormally large amount of indigenous people behind bars, in which the incarnation rate for aboriginal offenders are ten times higher than an non-aboriginal

When Europeans started visiting today’s Canada they saw aboriginals as an asset to them. They relied on the indigenous peoples for directions, food, fur, and to support their militaries. The Europeans started to settle on this new found country and were relying less and less on the Aboriginals. These settlers were making Canada their home and the Indians were seen as a burden when the fur trade stopped. The settlers, being more civilized, saw these First Nations peoples as savages and started pushing them away onto given land known as reservations with hopes that they could farm the land and sustain themselves. At this time, the indigenous population was decreasing due to a change in diet (since they were pushed away from their usual food