Indigenous women now account for half of the female population in federal penitentiaries, a state of affairs Canada’s prison ombudsman calls “shocking and shameful.”
As of last week, federal prisons held 298 non-Indigenous women and 298 Indigenous women. This is the first time the ratio has reached 50/50, the ombudsman, Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger, told The Globe. One out of every 20 women in Canada is Indigenous.
Ottawa has made countless pledges over the years to address the issue of Indigenous overrepresentation in prison. In its 2001 Speech from the Throne, the Chrétien government vowed to eliminate the disparity within a generation. Indigenous imprisonment soared under the Harper government, which introduced a series of mandatory minimum sentences that criminologists have said had a disproportionate impact on Indigenous people.
In 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letters directed the Ministers of Justice and Public Safety to address the overrepresentation issue. But the trend has defied all government efforts to reverse it.
“It’s just shocking and shameful for a country that has so many resources,” Dr. Zinger said.
Rates of Indigenous incarceration in Canada have been on the rise for decades. Twenty-six years ago, an inquiry into Kingston’s Prison for Women found Indigenous women made up 19 per cent of the country’s female prison population.
In 1999, the year the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark Gladue decision declared that the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in prisons constituted “a crisis in the Canadian criminal justice system,” Indigenous men and women together made up 12 per cent of the country’s federal inmates. Now, they make up 32 per cent.
These figures do not account for Indigenous people who are inmates in provincial jails.
Inmates in federal custody in Canada
Daily count, conducted April 24
Indigenous:
4,040 (32.7%)
Non-indigenous:
8,298 (67.3%)
TOTAL
12,338
Female:
298
(50%)
Male:
3,742
(31.9%)
Female:
298
(50%)
Male:
8,000
(68.1%)
BREAKDOWN
Note: Indigenous women make up 4.9 per cent of Canada’s
female population, according to Statistics Canada.
the globe and mail, Source: Office of the
Correctional Investigator
Inmates in federal custody in Canada
Daily count, conducted April 24
Indigenous:
4,040 (32.7%)
Non-indigenous:
8,298 (67.3%)
TOTAL
12,338
Female:
298
(50%)
Male:
3,742
(31.9%)
Female:
298
(50%)
Male:
8,000
(68.1%)
BREAKDOWN
Note: Indigenous women make up 4.9 per cent of Canada’s
female population, according to Statistics Canada.
the globe and mail, Source: Office of the
Correctional Investigator
Inmates in federal custody in Canada
Daily count, conducted April 24
Indigenous:
4,040 (32.7%)
Non-indigenous:
8,298 (67.3%)
TOTAL
12,338
Female:
298
(50%)
Male:
3,742
(31.9%)
Female:
298
(50%)
Male:
8,000
(68.1%)
BREAKDOWN
Note: Indigenous women make up 4.9 per cent of Canada’s female population,
according to Statistics Canada.
the globe and mail, Source: Office of the Correctional Investigator
Dr. Zinger and his predecessors have warned of the relentless increase in Indigenous incarceration rates for years and issued recommendations intended to curb the rise. But getting the government to act has been difficult, he said.
For example, in 2004, Howard Sapers, who was then the Correctional Investigator, called for the creation of a new executive posting at the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) for a deputy commissioner devoted entirely to overseeing Indigenous programs and working with Indigenous communities.
Nothing came of the idea until 2018, when the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) made the suggestion one of its 231 calls for justice. While the government eventually agreed to prioritize the hiring of a deputy commissioner for Indigenous corrections, it has not yet begun a hiring process. On Tuesday, CSC spokesperson Marie Pier Lécuyer said in an e-mail that Commissioner Anne Kelly “is open” to creating the position.
Dr. Zinger said he wants CSC to divert a significant portion of its budget to Indigenous community groups, for them to use for funding Indigenous-run correctional facilities across the country.
“CSC continues to seek out opportunities to expand relationships with Indigenous community partners critical to delivering culturally responsive interventions and services,” Ms. Lécuyer said.
The MMIWG inquiry found that most Indigenous women who become entangled in the criminal justice system are arrested for crimes of poverty, such as theft. “It’s not that they’re inherently criminal, it’s that they’re poor,” said Marion Buller, who was chief commissioner of the inquiry.
Once involved with the courts, Indigenous people tend to receive higher security classifications and lower reintegration scores than non-Indigenous inmates, reducing their chances of serving parts of their sentences outside high-security prisons. People with lower risk assessments might be allowed to serve out some of their time in less secure facilities, where inmates typically have more freedom and better quality of life.
“It’s really jarring when you walk into a prison and you see mainly Indigenous women and gender-diverse folks,” said Emilie Coyle, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, a group that advocates on behalf of Canadian women in prison. “It just makes it really evident how it’s a continuation of colonization. Every actor in the so-called justice system has to take responsibility for their role.”
In 1996, Ottawa tried to address the issue of Indigenous overrepresentation in prison with a Criminal Code provision that directed judges to consider a person’s Indigenous background during sentencing. The government’s hope was that this would mitigate sentences and divert significant numbers of Indigenous people away from incarceration. The Supreme Court’s 1999 Gladue decision reaffirmed the provision.
The court’s intervention led to the creation of Gladue reports, which detail an offender’s Indigenous background to assist with sentencing and bail decisions. But Ms. Coyle said the reports are not readily available in many provinces. And because the reports can detail violence and addiction issues in a person’s background, they can be used to justify higher security classifications for inmates.
“Those Gladue factors translate into risk when they hit prison,” Ms. Coyle said. “If you go to the maximum-security units that are designated for women across Canada, you will primarily see Indigenous women. From there, it’s harder to get released from prison, because it takes a long time to cascade down from maximum security to general population and then eventually to be released.”
For those lucky enough to be diverted away from prison, the options are few.
“Speaking as former judge, I can tell that in a lot of communities there aren’t options available, because governments haven’t funded restorative justice programs,” Ms. Buller said. “The lack of options goes against the Gladue decision and the Criminal Code of Canada.”
If Canada is to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous women in prison it will likely have to look beyond the criminal justice system. Racial inequities behind bars reflect racial inequities in Canadian society, Ms. Buller said.
“The underlying factors we heard time and time again were poverty, violence, generational trauma, dislocation,” she said. “Until those factors are properly addressed, we’re going to see the numbers rise.”
Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
Patrick White