In 1991, the Commissioners
of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba noted of over-representation:
… Aboriginal people
constitute approximately 12% of the Manitoba population. Yet, Aboriginal
people account for over one-half of the 1,600 people incarcerated
on any given day of the year in Manitoba’s correctional institutions.
This is a shocking
fact. Why in a society where justice is supposed to be blind, are
the inmates of our prisons selected so overwhelmingly from a single
ethnic group? Two answers suggest themselves immediately: either Aboriginal
people commit a disproportionate number of crimes, or they are the
victims of a discriminatory justice system (Hamilton and Sinclair
1991: 85).
The Commissioner’s
noted that to some degree both answers are correct3 and that it is systemic
factors that are central to understanding patterns of discrimination
which result in over-representation (85-87).
For federally sentenced
women in the Prairie Region (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) the
fact of over-representation is even more disquieting. On May 24, 2000,
119 women were in federal custody in the region (Borrowman 2000, 1).
Aboriginal women accounted for 67 of those inmates (53.6%). Therefore,
within the Prairie Region the pattern of discrimination against Aboriginal
women is more pronounced. Part of the explanation lies in the number
of Aboriginal people who reside in the prairies. In Saskatchewan, the
1996 census determined that North American Indians were 11.4% of the
population. However, this is not a full explanation.
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The Commissioners of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry caution:
We believe
that both answers are correct, but not in the simplistic sense
that some people might interpret them. We do not believe, for
instance, that there is anything about Aboriginal people or
culture that predisposes them to criminal behaviour. Instead,
we believe that the causes of Aboriginal criminal behavior are
rooted in a long history of discrimination and social inequality
that has impoverished Aboriginal people and consigned them to
the margins of Manitoba society (85).
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