2. Context

We enter this century and millennium with the ever-present and persistent challenge of ensuring that women behind prison walls have access to justice. As the economic, social and political climates within our nations and internationally continue to produce ever more daunting challenges to the women with and/or on behalf of whom we work, we too find ourselves struggling at times to remain clear, united, strong and focussed as we are urged to abandon the most difficult issues in favour of self-preservation. Resisting such efforts has and will continue to strengthen our collective voice as well as our commitment to equality and justice for women and girls.

3. Increased Criminalization of Women

First of all, I plan to describe the current realities, in terms of the burgeoning numbers of women prisoners. This will include some of our analyses in relation to what is not just a Canadian, but a global trend. I will also provide some concrete examples of the results of such trends in terms of human costs. In the end, I hope we will all be able to discuss how we move forward with more progressive equality and justice agenda.

a) Defining the “Trend”

Women prisoners, especially young racialized women prisoners, are the fastest growing prison population world wide. In Canada, for example, we have seen almost a 200% increase in the number of women in prison over the past decade. When the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women tabled its report in 1990 there Most of this increase has occurred in our three Prairie provinces and the four Atlantic provinces, where there have been 300% and 500% increases respectively in the number of women serving prison terms of two years or more, since 1990, when the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women tabled its report entitled, Creating Choices.