Disadvantages Of Incarceration In Canada

One of the more prevalent topics discussed in contemporary Canada is the need to reconcile and repay the indigenous peoples for atrocities committed during settler colonialism. Although many act as though colonialism is a historical event, it is actually an ongoing social structure that forces indigenous peoples into an underprivileged position in society in an ongoing attempt by the state to assimilate them and appropriate their land. The socioeconomic, individual, and institutional disadvantages suffered by the indigenous peoples can also explain the over representation of indigenous incarceration in Canada and the self-perpetuating cycle of criminalization, social disadvantage, and increased incarceration rates. When European explorers

Many children also experienced abuse, physically, mentally, and sexually (Neeganagwedgin, 2014). Some were starved or used as entertainment, and the schools were heavily crowded and had little to no concern in regard to indigenous healthcare. It is estimated that thousands of indigenous children died in residential schools with the death rate being as high as 64% (Neeganagwedgin, 2014). Parents, upon learning of the abuse would attempt to keep their children at home, but that soon became punishable by law. The Indian act also blocked indigenous parents from hiring lawyers to contest government actions, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police often assisted in the forcible removal of children from their homes (Neeganagwedgin,

Instead of attaining the elimination of the Indian through racist laws, legislations, and policies, the Canadian government uses prisons, and child care and protection services to assimilate younger indigenous generations (Tauri, 2014). Previously, indigenous organizations would visit prisons to personally teach cultural activities, but now Correctional Services Canada (CSC) has established official indigenous cultural education programs. Over time these programs have become oversimplified and an “over generalized version of indigenous identity” (Reasons, 2016). The CSC program does not cater to the different indigenous people’s cultural practices, instead often viewing indigenous peoples as a homogenous group. With the implementation of a state run indigenous cultural program, indigenous peoples have lost control over their true traditions and culture as well as the very definition of what is or is not legitimate indigenous culture. In some situations, non-indigenous peoples become the ones teaching indigenous peoples how to be “indigenous” (Reasons, 2016). In other cases indigenous peoples are hired by the state and used to coerce incarcerated indigenous individuals into becoming a “proper” indigenous person as defined by the state; thus perpetuating the colonial goal of assimilation (Reasons,