There are many emerging and current issues which impact aboriginals. These issues impact all western and aboriginal people in their own way and often some much more than others. The Canadian criminal justice system has failed aboriginal people and all Canadians on an unacceptable scale. The faults in the criminal justice system has been inaccessible and insensitive, while have disproportionate numbers of imprisoned and arrested aboriginal people. First nations who are are arrested spend less time with their lawyers, are more commonly denied bail, and when convicted, run a higher risk of incarceration.
The justice system is not just simply failing first nations people; it is out right being denied to them in the same way it is being offered
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The influence of the fur trade, religious missions, disease, language and acculturation changed the First Nations’ pre-colonial existence. Treaties that were signed with Aboriginal people acted as an attempt to make way for land settlement; and it was with the first Indian Act that the distinction was made between “Status” and “non-Status” Aboriginal people” (JUS-3360 module 3.2, (The Newcomers, 1997)).
A large piece of the issue is the constitutional prejudice of those with the power and authority to make decisions in the criminal justice system. Any way discrimination is defined it is obvious for anyone to see that first nations people have victims of of it. Aboriginals have been victims of both unintended discrimination as well as openly hostile discrimination both which is rooted in police law.
There are countless examples of injustice served by the justice system. However two predominate examples from 1987 and 1988 clearly show the unacceptable discrimination by the system. In november 1987 there was finally a trial for the murder of Helen Betty Osborne from 1971 in The Pas Manitoba. The trail had clearly determined that four separate men were in attendance of the murder of the your first nations female, only one of the men were eventually
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However, how can they possibly explain the injustices in the first nations communities. Is justice not supposed to treat everyone the same. Section 15.(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms un questionably states: “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination...”.Although, perhaps the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has no presence in law, our criminal justice system is seriously lacking. The fair treatment of first nations in our broken system have a very dim light at6 the end of tunnel. Our criminal justice system must be revised and edited in order for it to be more accessible, sensitive and equitable for first nations
Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. The Justice System and Aboriginal People: Child Welfare. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html.
Maidment, M. (2009). When justice is a game: Unravelling wrongful convictions in Canada. Canada: Fernwood Publishing.
The Canadian justice system, although much evolved, is having difficulty eliminating bias from the legal system. Abdurahman Ibrahim Hassan, a 39 year old man, died on June 11 in a Peterborough hospital, while under immigration detention. He came to Canada in 1993 as a refugee and was suffering from mental, and physical health issues such as diabetes and bipolar disorder. There was an overwhelming amount of secrecy surrounding the death of this troubled Toronto man, and to this day no light has been shed on this tragedy. (Keung, 2015) An analysis of the official version of the law will reveal how race class and gender coincide with the bias within the legal system.
David Milgaard’s story is one of the most striking and well know representation of wrongful conviction as it happened right here in Saskatoon. Even further than that his case has been called “one of the most famous examples of wrongful conviction in Canada” (CBC News, 2011). In January of 1970, 17-year-old ...
During the late sixteen century, when the first fleet arrived to Australia and discovered the free settlers or known as Australian Indigenous inheritors (The Aborigines), the community of aboriginal inhabitants since then have experienced vast levels of discrimination and racism against their gender, race, colour and ethnicity. The term over representations refers to the presents of minority or disproportionate ethnic aboriginal groups represented in the criminal justice system (CJS). This essay will further explain the relationship between aboriginal communities and policing discussed in Blagg (2008) and Cunneen (2007, the three major sources of concern in association to aboriginal over representation in CJS which include; systematic bias,
Generations of native people in Canada have faced suffering and cultural loss as a result of European colonization of their land. Government legislation has impacted the lives of five generations of First Nations people and as a result the fifth generation (from 1980 to present) is working to recover from their crippled cultural identity (Deiter-McArthur 379-380). This current generation is living with the fallout of previous government policies and societal prejudices that linger from four generations previous. Unrepentant, Canada’s ‘Genocide’, and Saskatchewan’s Indian People – Five Generations highlight issues that negatively influence First Nations people. The fifth generation of native people struggle against tremendous adversity in regard to assimilation, integration, separation, and recovering their cultural identity with inadequate assistance from our great nation.
Living in Canada, there is a long past with the Indigenous people. The relationship between the white and First Nations community is one that is damaged because of our shameful actions in the 1800’s. Unnecessary measures were taken when the Canadian government planned to assimilate the Aboriginal people. Through the Indian Act and Residential schools the government attempted to take away their culture and “kill the Indian in the child.” The Indian Act allowed the government to take control over the people, the residential schools took away their culture and tore apart their families, and now we are left with not only a broken relationship between the First Nations people but they are trying to put back together their lives while still living with a harsh reality of their past.
trial of two men for the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas Manitoba.
“In about half of the Dominion, the aboriginal rights of Indians have arguably been extinguished by treaty” (Sanders, 13). The traditions and culture of Aboriginals are vanishing at a quick pace, and along it is their wealth. If the Canadian Government restore Native rights over resource development once again, Aboriginals would be able to gain back wealth and help with the poverty in their societies. “An influential lobby group with close ties to the federal Conservatives is recommending that Ottawa ditch the Indian Act and give First Nations more control over their land in order to end aboriginal poverty once and for all” (End First). This recommendation would increase the income within Native communities, helping them jump out of
Systemic discrimination has been a part of Canada’s past. Women, racial and ethnic minorities as well as First Nations people have all faced discrimination in Canada. Policies such as, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provincial and federal Human Rights Codes, as well has various employment equity programs have been placed in Canada’s constitution to fight and address discrimination issues. Despite these key documents placed for universal rights and freedoms Aboriginal and other minority populations in Canada continue to be discriminated against. Many believe there is no discrimination in Canada, and suggest any lack of success of these groups is a result of personal decisions and not systemic discrimination. While others feel that the legislation and equality policies have yet resulted in an equal society for all minorities. Racism is immersed in Canadian society; this is clearly shown by stories of racial profiling in law enforcement.
The system in place is completely unsuitable and unhelpful for Native people and it shows just how indifferent Canada is to First Nations peoples’ well-being. Zimmerman explains in his article “Outcomes” that it is a well-known fact that Aboriginal people are overrepresented in the prison system (1992). There are so many reasons why this is so, and the majority of those reasons are because of the terrible way that Canada has interacted with them. They are isolated in their reserves, they are haunted by their residential school experiences, leading to alcoholism, domestic violence and neglect, and they face discrimination and a lack of social support from the government. Once an Aboriginal person finds themselves in the clutches of the prison system, the indifference begins. Canada’s criminal justice system is indifferent to an Aboriginal person’s cultural, spiritual, and individual needs that separate them from the average convicted person (Zimmerman, 1992). The criminal justice system ignores the unique idea of justice and restoration that First Nations peoples have, making it extremely irrelevant and unhelpful for them. First Nations peoples have linguistic and cultural barriers and a lack of counsel and understanding of the criminal processes and, therefore, have misguided rulings and inaccurate proceedings. Canada has not provided the cultural training and
A general background of why Aboriginals are over-represented in correctional systems today is because of the attempt to assimilate them back in 1831 through residential schools. In result of the residential school, Indigenous people lost their entire way of life as it was known to them. Throughout the time spent at the residential schools, Indigenous people suffered from beatings, sexual and verbal assault and in some cases they were murdered. The goal of these schools were to beat the Indian out of the children, and to assimilate them into the European norms and beliefs. However, this was a clear issue at the time many people seemed to turn their heads. Finally in 1996, the final residential school was shut down and the Indigenous people
The Indian act, since being passed by Parliament in 1876, has been quite the validity test for Aboriginal affairs occurring in Canada. Only a minority of documents in Canadian history have bred as much dismay, anger and debate compared to the Indian Act—but the legislation continues as a central element in the management of Aboriginal affairs in Canada. Aboriginal hatred against current and historic terms of the Indian Act is powerful, but Indigenous governments and politicians stand on different sides of the fence pertaining to value and/or purpose of the legislation. This is not shocking, considering the political cultures and structures of Aboriginal communities have been distorted and created by the imposition of the Indian Act.
In every society around the world, the law is affecting everyone since it shapes the behavior and sense of right and wrong for every citizen in society. Laws are meant to control a society’s behavior by outlining the accepted forms of conduct. The law is designed as a neutral aspect existent to solve society’s problems, a system specially designed to provide people with peace and order. The legal system runs more efficiently when people understand the laws they are intended to follow along with their legal rights and responsibilities.
...trated through civil disobedience, which is halted by an authority that is greatly influenced by the ruling elite. In a similar case, Martin Luther King fought for black rights under racist attacks and a racist state. He was jailed numerous times, and ultimately killed for his actions, leaving a key legacy for the future to come. “One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” (King 1963). His statement expresses the will to abide with the law as long as they are fair and equal among all citizens. Relating this to aboriginal communities in Canada, it is accurate to say that they are mostly unfavoured by the constitution, and need to be included in the planning process to voice their concerns as equal citizens. Policies that conflict with the public interest must be broken.