The native offender and the law

"The Law Reform Commission of Canada receives from time to time background studies for the development of its working papers. A great deal of time and work is usually necessary to develop policy proposals and recommendations for legal change. After the development of the working papers, background papers are generally published in conjunction with them. In this case, however, because a great deal of interest has been shown in the material of the background paper and because the problem identified in it obviously needs to be considered by many levels of government as well as the public, the Commissioners decided to publish the background paper in the form presented by its authors.

The report is a compilation of recent Canadian statistics on the involvement of one segment of our society--the native people--with one aspect of the criminal process--detention and punishment. The term "native offender" includes Indians, Metis and Inuit (Eskimos). No distinction has been made in the data between registered (status) and non-registered native people. Most of the material presented concerns the western provinces. This might stem from the fact that natives make up a greater proportion of the population in the western part of the country. The material was gathered from a wide variety of sources, including federal government departments, provincial corrections departments and Attorneys-General, private agencies, Indian and Metis associations, police detachments, and individual judges and magistrates.

The federal institutions surveyed in Saskatchewan and Alberta were also selected because these institutions have the highest proportion of natives. In order to obtain reliable federal statistics, studies were conducted of the prisoners' files at the Prince Albert penitentiary and the Drumheller Institution. The material is arranged according to prison population, type of offence committed, the involvement of alcohol, sentencing practices and recidivism rates. There are no statistics available on the number of natives brought into court (as opposed to the number convicted), or on the number who plead guilty to the charges against them. There is little data on detentions in local jails, where the shorter sentences are served.

This paper attempts to present facts rather than to draw conclusions. The causes of the disproportionate number of native people incarcerated, or the effects of incarceration on the offenders and their society are not considered and would be almost impossible to present statistically. The Commission hopes that the publication of this paper, as incomplete as it may be, will contribute to the development of a more complete picture which will permit changes in policies, attitudes and approaches which go far beyond the criminal law. For this purpose the Commission invites comments from all sources concerned with the native offender." -- Provided by publisher