Justice System

Indigenous people, whether youth or adult, male, female, or Two Spirit, are over-represented in all aspects of the criminal justice system in Canada. This can be attributed to a number of factors stemming back to the acts of colonization that see racism systemically embedded into policing and the criminal justice system at all levels from apprehension to incarceration to release. Furthermore, the intergenerational trauma from residential schools and other colonial acts results in low educational attainment, which leaves many people vulnerable to criminality because of low socio-economic status.

See these Government of Canada publications:

Adult and youth correctional statistics in Canada, 2018/2019

Understanding the Overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the Criminal Justice System

To bring this chapter back to the earlier discussion of child welfare, see this APTN news report on the ‘Child welfare to prison pipeline’ feeding rising Indigenous incarceration rates.