Sask. to launch Indigenous court pilot, aiming to reduce overrepresentation in custody
CBC
The latest data shows Saskatchewan continues to lead the country in the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in custody.
The provincial government appears be acknowledging the growing issue, with plans to launch a pilot program this summer for an Indigenous provincial court.
Prisoner advocates like Sherri Gordon of Beyond Prison Walls Canada Society Inc. say overrepresentation has long been identified as a problem that needs to be confronted.
Gordon, whose husband Bronson Gordon is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, said many routes can lead someone to incarceration, and for Indigenous people, those pathways are often shorter and the sentences longer.
"Nobody wakes up and wants to go to jail. There are systemic issues that bring people to jail," she said.
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada issued 94 Calls to Action meant to address the legacy of residential schools and advance reconciliation.
Call to Action 30 was to "eliminate the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in custody over the next decade."
Data from Statistics Canada shows that overrepresentation of Indigenous adults in custody only continues to increase.
The latest numbers from 2023/24 show that in Saskatchewan, Indigenous people are incarcerated at a rate 19.4 times higher than non-Indigenous people. It was 17.7 times higher in 2019/20.
"I'm not surprised, but I'm kind of shocked at the same time," Gordon said of the new numbers.
She believes there are many things the province could be doing "as opposed to just throwing people into custody," she said.
Eleanore Sunchild, a lawyer in Saskatoon, said she isn't surprised by the numbers.
She believes the growing overrepresentation is a result of Indigenous people not being a priority in the province.
"[Indigenous people] are the main component of the criminal justice system in Saskatchewan but there's a lack of services for Indigenous people. The answer seems to be jail," Sunchild said.
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