The number of aboriginal people in Canada's federal prisons has jumped by more than 50 per cent over the past decade, Canada's correctional investigator has found.
Despite being only four per cent of Canada's total population, now aboriginals make up 23 per cent of the country's federal prison inmate population.
The report was tabled in the House of Commons Thursday morning — only the second special report ever written by the investigator since the office's creation 40 years ago.
Howard Sapers and his director of investigations, Marie France Kingsley, are holding a press conference in Ottawa to discuss the report with the media.
The report also finds that in Canada's federal prisons, aboriginal people account for:
- 25 per cent of male inmates.
- More than a third of female inmates.
- More than 65 per cent of prisoners in some Western Canada facilities.
Additionally, aboriginal inmates are sentenced to longer terms, and spend more time in segregation and maximum security. They are less likely to be granted parole and are more likely to have parole revoked for minor problems.
Shawn Atleo, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said the prison system needs to work with aboriginal communities to successfully reintegrate offenders into society, ending the revolving door many young aboriginals experience between prison and freedom.
"It's a troubling pattern that has to be broken," he said. "When you open the door to a school, you close the door to a jail cell."
He said the government needs to invest in programs to prevent aboriginal Canadians from reoffending "or we see this pattern continue unabated, and that is obviously completely unacceptable."
Jonathan Rudin, the program director of Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, said the government and prison services lack the commitment and resources to address these problems.
He said there are sections in law governing prisons that allows for special provisions for Aboriginal offenders, such as allowing offenders to serve their sentences in their community. However, these provisions are not frequently used.
"What's being done is not working," he said.
The Office of the Correctional Investigator is an impartial body that conducts investigations into how correctional services treats offenders in its care.
Sapers has served as the correctional investigator since 2004. He is in his third consecutive term.
Corrections and Clarifications
- An earlier version of this story reported incorrectly that aboriginal people account for 25 per cent of inmates in Canada's federal prisons. In fact, aboriginal people account for 23 per cent of the federal prison population. Thursday, March 7 2013 9:45 a.m.
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