Gunter: Indigenous overrepresentation in prison populations not a sign of racism – London Free Press

January 28, 2020

The fact that Indigenous inmates are “overrepresented” in Canada’s prisons my well be a sign of a big problem — even of racism — but it is not necessarily a sign of problems with our justice system.

The fact that 30 per cent of federal inmates are Indigenous is not proof police are bigots or judges are ill-trained or our courts and prisons have it out for Indigenous people.

Last week, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, Ivan Zinger, reported that Indigenous inmates make up nearly 30 per cent of the population in federal prisons for men and nearly 42 per cent of the inmates in women’s prisons.

By contrast, Indigenous people are only a little over four per cent of the country’s population.

Read More: https://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-indigenous-overrepresentation-in-prison-populations-not-a-sign-of-racism/wcm/f3ebd34f-271a-4228-9227-176328726d10