Canada’s correctional investigator says stronger leadership and improved implementation of mandated Aboriginal initiatives are needed to address a growing crisis in our prisons
More than twenty years after Parliament enacted the Corrections and Conditional Release Act allowing the Correctional Service of Canada to enhance Aboriginal community involvement in corrections and respond to the unique needs and circumstances that contribute to high incarceration rates for Aboriginal people, disparities in opportunities and outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders continue to widen, finds a report issued by the Correctional Investigator of Canada.
“Close to one-in-four inmates in federal penitentiaries today are of Aboriginal ancestry, yet Aboriginal-specific legislative provisions are chronically under-funded, under-utilized and unevenly applied by the Correctional Service. In failing to fully meet Parliament’s intent, my review concludes that the federal correctional system perpetuates conditions of disadvantage for Aboriginal people in Canada,” said the Correctional Investigator, Mr. Howard Sapers.
We speak with Howard Sapers.
RELATED | News release: Special Report on Aboriginal Corrections Tabled in Parliament (Mar. 7, 2013) | Read the full report in PDF | Summary of the report: Spirit Matters: Aboriginal People and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act | Winnipeg Free Press: Canada is failing Aboriginal Peoples who wind up behind bars, report says (Mar. 7, 2013) | CBC News: Federal response to aboriginal corrections report ‘dismissive’ (Mar. 9, 2013) | The Globe and Mail: Prison watchdog says officials ‘defending the status quo’ on aboriginal incarceration (Mar. 8, 2013) |
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Howard Sapers attends a news conference; MPs discuss the report on CBC’s Power and Politics
