Alternate Title
Aboriginal peoples [Indians, Native peoples, First Nations] and the criminal justice system [electronic resource]
Summary
This paper deals with Aboriginal people and the criminal justice system, with particular emphasis on Ontario, arguing that understanding the dynamics of this relationship helps explain the way in which attitudes and responses to events such as the occupation of Ipperwash Park can be understood. The paper examines issues relating to overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in prison, the over-representation of Aboriginal people as victims of crime, and over- and under-policing of Aboriginal people. It also considers the governmental and judicial initiatives that have been created to address problems in the difficult relationship between Aboriginal people and the justice system, in particular, the 1996 amendments to the sentencing provisions of the Criminal Code and the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1999 in R. v. Gladue that gave the section renewed vigour and power. It illustrates how initiatives developed to address over-representation became the spur for more comprehensive and wide-ranging responses to some of the causes of social dislocation in Aboriginal communities.
Contents
Introduction -- 1. Overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system -- 1.1. The Canadian picture -- 1.2. Aboriginal over-representation in Ontario -- 2. Causes of over-representation -- 3. Over-policing and under-policing -- 3.1.Over-policing -- 3.2. Under-policing -- 4. Governmental and judicial responses -- 5. Persistence of the problem -- 5.1. S 718.2(e) and Gladue -- 5.2. Bail, remand and CPIC data -- 5.3. Aboriginal justice programs -- 6. What is to be done? -- 7. Summary of recommendations.