Friday, March 08, 2013

Imprisoning The Disadvantaged




Howard Sapers, the ombudsman for Corrections Canada, released a report yesterday on the aboriginal population in this nation's prisons. His findings should disturb all Canadians, native and non-native. The lead editorial in today's Toronto Star repeats some of Sapers' findings:

Sapers points out that the 3,400 First Nations, Metis and Inuit prisoners in federal prisons account for 23 per cent of inmates, up from 17 per cent a decade ago, even though aboriginals are just 4 per cent of the general population. And the trend shows no sign of abating any time soon.

 While Canadian law provides for native communities to take custody of offenders in Healing Lodges, far too few inmates qualify, barely one in 10, and there are too few lodges to house any more. Correctional Service Canada and native communities run eight lodges, with fewer than 300 spaces. And there are none at all in Ontario, British Columbia, the Atlantic provinces or the North. As a consequence there has been no progress in closing the large rehabilitation and reintegration gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal offenders.

In fact, the gap has grown -- a gap that is mirrored in the staffing of Canada's prisons:

He also notes that of the federal system’s 19,000 staff, just 12 are aboriginal community development officers tasked with planning prisoners’ release into the wider community.

Sapers gives the details on Stephen Harper's "tough on crime" agenda. Like Kevin Page and Michael Ferguson, he exposes the lie behind the rhetoric. When the prime minister talks about being "tough on crime" he really means "imprisoning the disadvantaged."

A quick note: My wife and I will be away for a couple of days. I'll be back at the beginning of next week. Spring is on the way!


4 comments:

Lorne said...

Enjoy your respite from the blogging world, Owen.

Owen Gray said...

My wife speed skates, Lorne, and I'm her cheering section.

I find it hard to cheer for our leaders. But I'm always happy to cheer for my wife.

Beijing York said...

Sounds like a nice and healthy break, Owen.

In honour of International Women's Day, I would like to underscore the truly brutal stat found in the report that 30% of the female prison population is made up of Aboriginal women. Like Ashley Smith, many are incarcerated for minor transgressions to begin with, but without any regard to rehabilitation or healing, they remain mired in the criminal system.

Owen Gray said...

The Ashley Smith should make ir clear that our correctional system is all about punishment, Bejing -- whether you're a native or a non-native.

It defines Conservative head space.

It was a good skating meet. My
wife brought home a medal -- due to the fact that she was the only woman in her age group who was at the meet. It really is true that half of success is just showing up.