The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was established in 1991 to investigate the issues faced by the Canadian First Nations in terms of both their social lives and justice issues. This entity also found that the Canadian First Nations have been disproportionally represented, and concluded that the justice system has "failed" these people (Office of the Correctional Investigator, 2010). RCAP also found a particular overrepresentation of Aboriginal women in the criminal justice system, while the general federally incarcerated population in the country declined by 12.5% from 1996 to 2004. For the same period, First Nations representatives in the system increased by 21.7%.
Factors that influence this population include not only discrimination and racial or cultural prejudice, but also economic and social deprivation that tend to lead to substance abuse and violence across generations, as mentioned above.
Demographic information shows Aboriginal offenders to be among the younger age groups, who are general incarcerated for violent offences, while also beign...
Other factors that influence them is early drug and alcohol abuse, amounting to 80%, with physical abuse reported for 45% of inmates. Parental absence or neglect is associated with 41% of inmates, while poverty is reported for 35% of family backgrounds for inmates. General health problems are also associated with a high percentage of these inmates.
In general, prejudice is certainly not the only issue resulting in the high incarceration rates for First Nations in Canadian prisons. However, it certainly plays an important part, as this population faces a number of social and demographic issues related to their population.
References
The History of Canada Online. (n.d.). First Nations and the Justice System. Northern Blue Publishing. Retrieved from: http://canadachannel.ca/HCO/index.php/6._First_Nations_and_the_Justice_System
Office of the Correctional Investigator. (2010). Backgrounder: Aboriginal Inmates. Retrieved from: http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/rpt/annrpt/annrpt20052006info-eng.aspx
