Aboriginal people represent four per cent of the total population in Canada. But the statistics indicate that they continue to represent 71 per cent of the incarcerated population. For instance, the Stoney Mountain Institute in Winnipeg shows that of 596 inmates, 389 were First Nation thus representing 65 per cent of the incarcerated population.
Because aboriginal people are economically disadvantaged they often do not have legal representation. In many situations the lawyer representing them is also a prosecutor. It's often in the pretrial phase when the accused is most vulnerable to being viewed as a high risk to society. This perception is already there because the pretrial judge and or lawyer acting as prosecutor has already labelled the accused as a danger to society. This factor results in harsher bail conditions, in sentencing, and longer sentences for First Nation people compared to non-First Nation people charged with the same crime. In fact, the bail conditions alone are designed for failure. One slip and the accused is back in court for breach of probation and jail time.
In some more serious cases, in fact cases were dropped and dismissed because of long court delays. The majority of these cases were of non-Aboriginal descent.
What's worse, the conviction or dragging the family into long traumatic court procedure? For aboriginal people, there is little or no recourse to divert the matter to an alternative court system. For the aboriginal accused, a summary or indictable conviction can drag on for over two years. This does not even consider the Charter that outlines a fair and reasonable length of time for a case to be disposed of.
So the question above is answered. The long delays in court matters really hurt the family and many times have a permanent effect on the accused and families reputation.
This of course, does not condone more serious crimes where the accused may in fact be a danger to society. Statistics on aboriginal crimes indicate though that the majority of crimes are misdemeanors or categorized as summary convictions for First Nation people.
Jean Sam
Burns Lake
