ICYMI: Indigenous people overrepresented in justice system a ‘sad reality’: Jody Wilson-Raybould

The numbers are indeed shocking – our equivalent of US incarceration rates for Blacks:

The overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada’s justice system, both as offenders and victims, is a “sad reality,” Attorney General and Justice Minister Wilson-Raybould said in a speech at a Canadian Bar Association conference in Ottawa on Friday.

While Indigenous people in Canada make-up 4.3 per cent of the population, they represent more than 25 per cent of inmates, Wilson-Raybould said of the most recent findings by Canada’s prison watchdog.

“This is totally unacceptable,” she said.

The justice minister also pointed to the following findings:

• Between 2005 and 2015, the Indigenous inmate population grew by 50 per cent compared to the overall growth rate of 10 per cent.
• Indigenous women comprise 37 per cent of all women serving a sentence of more than two years.
• Incarceration rates for Indigenous people in some parts of Canada are up to 33 times higher than for non-Indigenous peoples.

She called the statistics “shocking.”

Source: Indigenous people overrepresented in justice system a ‘sad reality’: Jody Wilson-Raybould – Politics – CBC News