Stanley shot Boushie at close range on Aug. 9, 2016, in what Stanley’s lawyers claimed was a freak accident. 204-474-6535, U of M senate approves ‘compassionate grading’ plan, UMSU lobbies provincial, federal governments, UMSU to restart efforts to leave federation of students, UMSU announcement throws student clubs for a loop, on "Canadian justice system failing Aboriginal people", Math prof embroiled in court battle with university, Much-needed changes made for winter festival, Aboriginal Students Gathering at Migizii Agamik. And that’s because the defence that Mr. Stanley mounted is a defence of accident, and the way it works in Canadian law is that if you believe that the discharge was accidental, then that means there’s at least a reasonable doubt that he didn't have the intent to kill. Published November 5, 2020 Updated November 9, 2020 . Restorative justice, the alternative to incarceration, can take many forms, including community sentencing circles, victim-offender mediation, community service, sweats and other cultural activities, counselling, healing circles, essays written for self-reflection, restitution, formal apologies, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation. The small changes made to the Canadian justice system thus far to make it more inclusive to Aboriginal practices are problematic because their purpose is only to make the existing system more efficient, as opposed to addressing the question of its very legitimacy. Designed by and for European newcomers who sought to institute their own legal orders, the justice system has functioned as an integral part of the structure of settler colonialism in Canada. . You have to remember that Indigenous people reasonably feel like they’re getting it both ways. Specifically, we need to talk about the racism that is so natural and so ingrained in much of the population that most of you don’t realize it is even there. Some courthouses have only one day or a few days that Gladue Court is available each week. Canada has had a long-standing problem with both societal and institutional racism against Indigenous peoples, especially within the justice system. Taking Indigenous Justice Seriously: Fostering a Mutually Respectful Coexistence of Aboriginal and Canadian Justice 1 Ted Palys, Richelle Isaak & Jana Nuszdorfer Simon Fraser University It has long been recognized that the Aboriginal people and Peoples of Canada have been ill-served by the Canadian justice system. After 15 hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted Gerald Stanley, a farmer, of second-degree murder in connection with the death of Boushie, a 22-year-old Cree man from the Red Pheasant First Nation. This is a hugely important case. The dozen Dakota indigenous people who danced on the days between July 17-19, 1902 were all sentenced and convicted with violating the amended Indian Act They were jailed for two to six months. A 2010 Environics Institute study found that more than half of urban Aboriginal people had little or no confidence in the justice system and were more than twice as likely as the general Canadian population to feel this way. Is it the accused or their lawyer who makes the challenge? He is visiting Canada in October and has asked for people to write to him about these matters. It focuses on the experiences of Indigenous peoples residing in the four major Anglo-settler-colonial jurisdictions of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Why did the prosecution seek a second-degree murder charge, and why couldn’t the jury compromise on a lesser charge? We don’t know how many of those were Indigenous, but all of the evidence points to Indigenous people being under-represented for various reasons among that 200. I was involved with the Gladue (R v. Gladue) case in 1999 that said it was a crisis in our justice system the way we were failing Indigenous people. Indigenous people are the most over-represented population in Canada’s criminal justice system. I worry that that is taking us away from the merits, both in terms of what we do in terms of jury selection in Canada but also the bigger issue of how do we reform the justice system, or how do we change the justice system, or how do we allow Indigenous communities to play a bigger role in the justice system. Unfortunately, Parliament – and this goes for governments both Conservative and Liberal – did absolutely nothing about that. It was also found that Aboriginal people on average faced 25 per cent more charges than non-Aboriginal people, and that Aboriginal people had only a 21 per cent chance of being granted bail compared with 56 per cent for non-Aboriginal people. This is hardly surprising; the Harper Conservatives have done much to regress the Canadian justice system. Underlying the move toward the establishment of an independent or quasi-independent Indigenous justice system is a recognition that there are certain values and customs historically attached to Indigenous communities. This review provides a critical overview of Indigenous peoples’ interactions with criminal justice systems. Unfortunately, the Harper government seems disinterested in rectifying the situation. The experience of the indigenous peoples in these two countries, with over-representation in the criminal justice system, prisons and child welfare agencies, parallels the experience in Canada for the Indian, Inuit and Metis peoples. Witnesses are called to testify for or against the accused; that is, to criticize or explain the actions of another. Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers concluded that these inequalities amount to “systemic discrimination.”. It’s a huge challenge. ‘one size fits all’ approach to sentencing, Bill C-10 adopts a formalistic approach to equality that will serve to perpetuate the historic disadvantage of marginalized groups.”. Furthermore, according to the findings of the 1991 Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, Aboriginal people, if convicted, were greater than 2.5 times more likely than non-Aboriginal people to be sentenced to some form of incarceration; this rate is considerably higher for Aboriginal women. Usually they only handle bail hearings and sentencing hearings. It was … The Criminal Justice System has set up this certain criteria, which evidently happens to discriminate more against Indigenous peoples just by the virtue of the questions they have asked (LaPraire, 2002). 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