Crime bill will hurt First Nations

By: James Wilt, Fast Forward Weekly

Stephen Harper loves aboriginals.

At least, that’s what his government wants us to believe. How could the recent donation of 22 modular homes to Attawapiskat First Nation — which came neatly packaged with a third-party manager of funds and a reiteration by Harper that his government isn’t to blame for the brutal poverty of the reserve — be viewed as anything less than adoration?

But Bill C-10, the omnibus crime bill that is quickly heading to the Senate for final approval, might end up proving that Harper’s 2008 admission that the residential schools were a “sad chapter” in aboriginal history was actually an act of foreshadowing, not reflection. That’s because the omnibus bill is racist against aboriginals, who already make up 17 per cent of federally sentenced offenders despite the fact that they comprise a mere 2.7 per cent of the Canadian adult population; the disparity is even more pronounced in provincial jails in the Prairies, and in the incarceration of women.

A proclamation of racism might seem outlandish and a cousin to a full-fledged conspiracy theory, but there’s rationale for it. Of the nine bills within the Safe Streets and Communities Act, there are four that are of particular concern to aboriginal justice. Together, their implementation will form a perfect storm to ensure that the next generation of aboriginal people are kept incarcerated, impoverished and out of the public’s eye. It might not be entirely intentional, but that’s how institutionalized racism works.

Researchers and public policy analysts have come to the conclusion over the past two decades that punitive justice simply doesn’t work for the aboriginal people of Canada. There are too many factors that accompany First Nation, Métis and Inuit offenders to their cells — ranging from sexual abuse to drug addiction, to feelings of abandonment, to a lack of education and employment — to allow for reintegration back into society.

The evidence for this is in the recidivism rate. It was realized in 1998 that 65.9 per cent of aboriginal criminals reoffend within three years of completing community supervision, compared to 47.8 per cent of non-aboriginal offenders. A year later, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that judges must take offender’s aboriginal background into consideration when sentencing, and consider rehabilitative options such as healing lodges rather than punitive measures.

The approach worked. A reconnection with aboriginal activities in a community setting contributed to a “relatively low federal recidivism rate for some aboriginal healing lodge participants.” Obviously, the system isn’t foolproof, but Correctional Service Canada now operates or funds eight healing lodges across the country. Harper’s new bill will erase almost all of the progress that has been made.

Conditional sentencing will also be scrapped for many crimes that aboriginals are often convicted of, and the Supreme Court ruling in 1999 that ensured proportionality in sentencing will have little effect anymore. Schedule I crimes, which include sexual offences and other violent crimes other than first- or second-degree murder, make up 68.4 per cent of aboriginal crime. The new bill will ensure that most Schedule I offenders (along with those convicted of murder, major theft and arson) will no longer be allowed to participate in rehabilitative justice opportunities such as healing lodges. Aboriginal offenders will be held “accountable,” as the government puts it, and will visit prison more often and for longer.

“The most serious criminals” will no longer have access to pardons. Criminals incarcerated for sex crimes involving children or those that commit more than three serious crimes will have to serve their full sentence in prison. It’s been proven again and again that this type of punishment doesn’t work for aboriginal offenders, but Harper clearly doesn’t care. He wants criminals off the street, regardless of background or context for criminal action.

Another bill will ensure that delinquent youth aren’t exempt from the government’s discriminating wrath. The category of “violent offence” will be broadened, meaning more incarcerations, and adult sentences will now be levelled on youth who commit murder, manslaughter and aggravated sexual assault. The fact that the aboriginal population of Canada is extremely young — the median age of the group will be 12 years younger than the national median by 2026 — is irrelevant to Harper. After all, it was Rob Nicholson, the Minister of Justice, who said that “We’re not governing on the basis of the latest statistics.”

Canada is at a critical stage in its pursuit of aboriginal justice and reconciliation. On one hand, the government can continue its neo-colonial and exploitative ways, refuse to acknowledge that Bill C-10 ignores the legacy of residential schools and poverty, and let the effects harm the aboriginal population of Canada for generations to come. Conversely, and far less likely, Harper and his cabinet can forfeit a couple of fundamentalist votes and take a step towards healing the still-burning bridges of Canadian-First Nations relations.