Current Problems: Justice (25-42)

Exploring Theme: "Legislative and Institutional Issues"

Updates on this page: 49
 

March 8, 2024


Protesters say they’re fed up with NDP government inaction after promise to search landfill for slain women

Daughter of Morgan Harris ‘sick of words with no action;’ AMC grand chief done ‘begging’ CBC Indigenous: Protesters demanding a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of three First Nations women directed their anger at a new target Friday — Premier Wab Kinew, who has yet to deliver on his campaign promise. Chants of “Bring...

March 6, 2024


Frustrations raised concerning province’s plan for bail system

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs express their frustration with the provinces new five-point community safety plan, meant to bolster Manitoba’s bail system and crack down on repeat offenders. Mitchell Ringos reports. First People’s Law Report: City News – An ex-gang member who now teaches youth to stay out of jail is speaking out against the...

February 14, 2024


Manitoba child advocate calls for more supports after family killed

The Globe and Mail: The Canadian Press – Manitoba’s advocate for children and youth is calling on the provincial government to better support young people facing intimate partner violence after a man was charged with killing five family members, including his three young children. Sherry Gott offered her condolences to relatives, friends and the southern Manitoba...

February 6, 2024


Saskatchewan MLA says more support needed for Indigenous women leaving incarceration

APTN News: The opposition critic for First Nations and Métis Relations in Saskatchewan says the province has to do a better job at helping Indigenous women leaving jail. “There needs to be support for healing because many of our Indigenous women, many people have trauma in their lives,” says Betty Nippi-Albright, the MLA for Saskatoon...

January 31, 2024


Frank Gruben: The RCMP response and the need for missing-persons legislation

N.W.T. RCMP say they have ‘exhausted’ investigative leads – but new legislation may empower them to gather more evidence. Fort Smith RCMP Sgt. Cagri Yilmaz agreed to take APTN Investigates Karli Zschogner on a ride-along. Photo: Karli Zschogner/APTN.   This is part three of a four-part series by APTN Investigates looking into the disappearance of Frank...

January 25, 2024


Repurpose youth justice resources to better support young people, Rep says

NationTalk: VICTORIA – A dramatic drop in the number of youth committing crimes and being sentenced to custody over the last 20 years has resulted in a gross under-utilization of scarce resources at the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD), according to a new report released today by Representative for Children and Youth (RCY)...

January 25, 2024


RCMP collecting race-based data is a ‘double-edged sword,’ says Indigenous leader

“If you are coming from a police lens or perhaps a white-based lens, that’s going to influence how the data is framed.’ —Dr. Kanika Samuels-Wortley, associate professor in criminology from Ontario Tech University From left to right: Dr. Mai Phan, acting director of the RCMP anti-racism unit, Fort McKay Métis Nation President Ron Quintal, and...

January 25, 2024


Time to end ‘inhumane’ delays in search for women’s remains, Manitoba chiefs say as new report completed

‘I speak with urgency and expect action from the governments’: AMC Grand Chief Cathy Merrick WARNING: This story contains distressing details. Click on the following links to read the original article on CBC including all related videos: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/amc-landfill-search-prairie-green-1.7094507?cmp=newsletter_Evening%20Headlines%20from%20CBC%20News_1617_1371030 CBC News: First Nations leaders say the year-long wait for a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for...

November 2, 2023


Correctional Investigator Releases Updated Findings on the State of Indigenous Corrections in Canada: National Indigenous Organizations Issue Statements of Support

NationTalk: OTTAWA, ON – On November 1, 2023, the 50th Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator was tabled in Parliament. The report includes the second of a two-part update of the Office’s original 2013 Special Report to Parliament titled, Spirit Matters: Aboriginal People and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. A decade after the...

November 2, 2023


‘A national travesty:’ Prison watchdog urges reform to tackle Indigenous over-incarceration

Correctional investigator calls for transfer of power back to Indigenous people as special probe concludes CBC Indigenous: Canada’s prison watchdog is denouncing the over-representation of Indigenous people in federal prisons as a travesty while urging significant reform, as he releases the second part of a two-year investigation. In the conclusion of his Ten Years Since Spirit Matters report, Correctional Investigator...

November 1, 2023


Office of the Correctional Investigator Annual Report 2022-2023: Recommendations

ANNEX A: Summary of Recommendations Click on the following link to read the full report: https://oci-bec.gc.ca/en/content/office-correctional-investigator-annual-report-2022-2023#s9...

October 25, 2023


How Harper’s former ‘tough on crime’ adviser flipped to completely opposing prisons

Some decriminalization measures have clearly backfired. But Benjamin Perrin offers plenty of examples of alternatives to the status quo that are worth exploring NationTalk: Vancouver Sun: In the now world-famous viral video, Pierre Poilievre needled a hapless journalist by asking for examples of his supposed “populist” approach, all the while casually munching on an apple. The...

September 28, 2023


First Nations lawyer says new bail legislation unfairly targets Indigenous women

APTN News: First Nations lawyer Christa Big Canoe says Canada’s new bail reform legislation will result in more Indigenous women behind bars. “That there is potential harm, particularly to Indigenous women as it relates to prior charges of intimate partner violence,” Big Canoe of the Indigenous Bar Association told a Senate committee on Thursday. “Knowing...

July 5, 2023


Statement from Premier Heather Stefanson and Indigenous Reconciliation and Northern Relations Minister Eileen Clarke on the Final report of the Landfill Search feasibility Study Committee

On behalf of our government and all Manitobans, our deepest condolences continue to go out to the families and loved ones mourning the tragic loss of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois, and Buffalo Woman. Today, we met with a number of family members and Indigenous leadership. In that meeting, we stressed the Manitoba government...

July 5, 2023


Video shows police officer punching Métis man with intellectual disabilities

By Kenneth JacksonJul 05, 2023  OPP say it’s launched two internal reviews APTN News: Police cellblock video recently obtained by APTN News shows an Ontario Provincial Police officer repeatedly punching a Métis man in the head while in a jail cell as two other officers look on. The incident happened more than a year ago in...

July 5, 2023


Manitoba grand chief shocked after province says it won’t help pay to search landfill for remains

AMC’s Cathy Merrick says province’s concerns about searchers’ safety are addressed in feasibility report CBC News: The leader of the group pushing to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women says she doesn’t buy the Manitoba government’s explanation that it won’t provide funding for the initiative because of safety concerns for those...

June 29, 2023


Leaked report on searching landfill for women’s remains shares how 60,000 tonnes of material could be examined

Proposal includes using temperature-controlled unit to secure possible remains found at Prairie Green landfill WARNING: This story contains distressing details. A search through as much as roughly 60,000 tonnes of materials for the remains of two First Nations women at a landfill near Winnipeg could involve moving thousands of truckloads of garbage, hiring dozens of...

June 26, 2023


Indigenous Justice and a New Path for Canada’s Prisons

A report offers a blueprint for fixing Indigenous overrepresentation in jails. The Tyee: When I asked Boyd Peters, a Sts’ailes First Nation member and BC First Nations Justice Council director, about the effects of long-term incarceration on Indigenous people, his brow furrowed. He exhaled and looked down before responding. “Nobody should have to go through...

May 30, 2023


Prison isolation units detrimental to the mental health of young Indigenous offenders: report

Young Indigenous prisoners placed in isolation units in prison are more likely to have mental health issues. APTN News: Young Indigenous prisoners who are placed in isolation units in prison are more likely to have mental health issues and be more adversely affected than non-Indigenous populations says a federal panel’s report. According to the report,...

May 24, 2023


B.C. researcher starts project to document Indigenous deaths in police custody

First Nations and advocates echo calls for more transparency into in-custody deaths CBC News: An independent researcher is calling for greater transparency around deaths in police custody in B.C., saying they disproportionately affect Indigenous people. Leonard Cler-Cunningham, a researcher who has documented the deaths of Indigenous people in custody for decades and co-authored research into violence against sex workers in Vancouver,...

May 16, 2023


‘Why did my daughter die?’ Mi’kmaw mother demands inquiry into Nova Scotia jail

APTN News: A Mi’kmaw mother in Eskasoni is demanding answers about why her daughter died in a Nova Scotia jail. Sarah Denny, 36, a mother of two, was serving a sentence for violating her house arrest. On March 26, she died at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, a jail for women in Dartmouth, NS,...

May 8, 2023


Incarcerated Indigenous women devastated after prison stops them from selling beadwork

Inmates earned money through Women Helping Women Beadwork to help support families on the outside CBC News: A woman who relies on selling beadwork she makes in her cell at a Manitoba women’s prison to support her family is devastated that she’s no longer allowed to do so. Lori Sinclair, who has been on remand at...

April 24, 2023


Women’s shelters across Canada are losing nearly $150 million in federal funding

Money was earmarked to help during pandemic but shelters say extra dollars have become ‘lifesaving’ CBC News: The more than 600 women’s shelters across Canada will soon lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding they say has kept them afloat during the pandemic and is still desperately needed. Since April 2020, Ottawa has provided $300...

April 19, 2023


Delegates from Canada highlight land rights, safety for Indigenous women and girls at UN forum

‘We deserve to be valued,’ says FSIN vice-chief Aly Bear CBC News: Indigenous delegates from Canada did not mince words addressing the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York this week. The theme of the 22nd session of the forum, which runs until April 28, is “Indigenous Peoples, human health, planetary and...

April 5, 2023


Opposition calling on N.L. to remove statute of limitations for physical abuse victims

Justice minister makes reference to reviewing law, but won’t comment on specifics CBC News: Justice critic Helen Conway Ottenheimer is calling on Justice Minister John Hogan to make changes to the Limitations Act, which would remove the statutes of limitation on physical abuse.  The Progressive Conservative member told CBC News she had a meeting with...

March 16, 2023


RCMP won’t agree to respect Gitxsan chiefs’ ban on ‘militarized’ response group

C-IRG is ‘uniquely situated’ to operate in area if required by court order, spokesperson says CBC News: The RCMP says it will not commit to respecting a Gitxsan hereditary chiefs’ decision banning the Mounties’ Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) from unceded lands in northwest B.C. The chiefs ordered the C-IRG not to trespass or be deployed across 35,000 square kilometres...

February 20, 2023


Canadian registry of wrongful convictions shines light on cases the headlines miss

The registry shows a significant number of cases were due to false guilty pleas and “imagined” crimes or “dirty thinking,” such as the victims of disgraced coroner Dr. Charles Smith. Also, the number of Indigenous people wrongfully convicted represent roughly one in five of the documented cases. The Toronto Star: A first-ever comprehensive Canadian registry...

February 17, 2023


Ex-national chief who helped create Assembly of First Nations says organization now ‘in limbo’

Del Riley enshrined Indigenous rights in Constitution while rallying chiefs under a new banner CBC News: The Assembly of First Nations has lost its way and is now “in limbo,” having over its 40-year history slowly come under the influence of the Liberal Party of Canada, says the former national chief who created it. Del Riley...

February 9, 2023


PHSA did not consistently provide access to mental health, substance use services for Indigenous people in B.C. correctional centres

NationTalk: VICTORIA –Indigenous men and women needing mental health and substance use services while in B.C. correctional centres were not consistently provided access to supports from the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), according to an audit by the Office of the Auditor General. The PHSA – responsible for health care in corrections since 2017 –...

February 4, 2023


Digging for answers

The families of an alleged serial killer’s victims want this landfill searched. But how, and by whom? The Globe asked forensics experts, who saw hope that the right techniques could unearth buried remains The Globe and Mail: For months after police determined Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran were likely buried at the Prairie Green Landfill,...

February 1, 2023


Healing lodges, designed for Indigenous inmates, are failing the people they’re meant to rehabilitate, say prison reform advocates

NationTalk: National Observer – Have healing lodges lost their way as a medicine to Indigenous over-incarceration? It’s a question the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), which represents urban and non-status Indigenous Peoples, is asking after the tragic death of Cassandra Fox, a 27-year-old inmate who died by suicide last Wednesday at the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge in Saskatchewan. “The Congress...

January 17, 2023


Minister won’t say if Indian boarding homes settlement will include apology to survivors

Federal government ‘to keep an open mind’ on saying sorry, Marc Miller says CBC News: The federal minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations won’t say if a proposed class-action settlement with survivors of Canada’s boarding home program for Indigenous students will include an apology — something the case’s lead plaintiff spent more than a decade advocating for....

December 6, 2022


Tŝilhqot’in Question Amendments to Bill C21

NationTalk: Williams Lake, B.C.: The Tŝilhqot’in National Government is questioning the recent amendments to Bill C21, which will now include hunting rifles and semi-automatic shotguns. Hunting rifles are necessary tools for hunting and exercising the Indigenous right to hunt as affirmed by Section 35 of the Constitution. The TNG recognizes the need to address gun...

November 6, 2022


First Nations leaders question new Sask. marshals service amid calls for better policing

Some see benefits to the move, while others decry a lack of consultation CBC News: As Indigenous communities in Saskatchewan call on governments for local policing forces and resources to address safety concerns, some First Nations community organizations are raising questions about the province’s newly announced marshals service. This week, the provincial government announced the planned Saskatchewan Marshals Service —...

November 1, 2022


Federal prison watchdog sounds alarm over treatment of Indigenous inmates

Globe and Mail: Efforts to improve conditions for Indigenous inmates have stagnated over the past decade, the federal prisons watchdog says, perpetuating the disadvantages of a group that is vastly overrepresented in the prisoner population. Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger found that facilities established specifically to meet the needs of Indigenous prisoners, called healing lodges, are...

October 21, 2022


Healing lodges help reduce Indigenous overincarceration. Why has Canada allowed them to wither?

Indigenous-run healing lodges are a successful model for rehabilitation, but they are underfunded and underused across the country Globe and Mail: Conrad Johnson entered prison a teenager, and figured he’d leave a dead man. In 1995, he committed one of Winnipeg’s most shocking gang crimes, shooting 13-year-old Joseph Spence in the back with a sawed-off...

June 3, 2022


First Nations Leadership Council troubled by lack of progress on implementing the MMIWG Calls to Justice

NationTalk: (Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.) – On the third anniversary of the release of the National Inquiry’s Final Report and Calls for Justice, the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) is deeply troubled by the lack of progress to implement the Calls for Justice. Despite the finding of genocide made by the...

March 5, 2021


“The Petty Trespasses Act”

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs – AMC states that “Bill 63 The Petty Trespasses Amendment and Occupiers Liability Amendment Act (Petty Trespasses Act)” introduced for first reading in the Manitoba legislature “attempts to legislate its way into First Nations’ areas of autonomy and jurisdiction. “The AMC cannot allow provincial laws to violate Treaty rights. First Nations...

February 18, 2021


Bill C-22 : An Act to amend the Criminal Code….”

Toronto Star – Bill C-22 “An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act” although a step in the right direction does not go far enough, critics say. The fact that the bill does not remove mandatory minimums for more crimes and does not repeal simple drug possession from the...

January 26, 2021


Women’s Shelters in Iuit Nunangat

Indigenous Services Canada – Commit to fund the construction and operations of shelters for Inuit women and children across Inuit Nunangat as well as in urban centres. Funding for the new shelters will be part of the $724.1 million for a comprehensive Violence Prevention Strategy as announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement. The government...

November 12, 2020


Federal, Provincial, Territory Ministers responsible for human rights

NationTalk – 24 civil society groups attending the third ever meeting of Federal, Provincial, Territory Ministers responsible for human rights “condemned the obstructive attitude of some governments” in advancing international human rights obligations. Groups had pressed governments to commit to nation-wide law reform that will legally require governments to adopt a collaborative, accountable, consistent, transparent,...

September 14, 2020


Women’s Shelters in Iuit Nunangat

Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada – Inuit communities are not eligible to access funding for shelters through the federal government’s Family Violence Prevention Program for Indigenous women, children and families. In its recent pre-budget submission to the Standing Committee on Finance (now paused due to the prorogation of Parliament), Pauktuutit reiterated its shelter ask as...

June 11, 2020


Bill 1 – Critical Infrastruture Defence Act

HuffPost – “Bill 1 – The The Critical Infrastructure Defence Act” bans protests at critical infrastructure such as “pipelines, oilsands sites, mining sites as well as utilities, streets, highways, railways, and telecom towers and equipment. Violators who protest, trespass, interfere with operations, or cause damage around that kind of infrastructure will face fines as high...

June 2, 2020


Women’s Shelters in Iuit Nunangat

Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada – Historically, the Minister of Indigenous Affairs has only had authority to provide funding for shelters on First Nations reserves, resulting in a glaring policy and program gap for vulnerable Inuit women and children. Inuit women face violence at a rate 14 times greater than other women in Canada. Of...

June 3, 2019


Cutting Legal Aid Funding

Ottawa Citizen – Cuts to Legal Aid Ontario are “mean-spirited” and will push the province closer to a two-tiered legal system, where Indigenous people, the poor and refugees will be at an even greater disadvantage, Ottawa lawyers warn....

April 12, 2019


Cutting Legal Aid Funding by 30%

The provincial government is cutting funding to Legal Aid Ontario by 30% that negatively impacts the Indigenous population who are one of the most disadvantaged and impoverished in Ontario and one of the most over-represented in the criminal justice system....

April 12, 2019


Bill S-215 An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Sentencing for Violent Offences Against Aboriginal Women)

Native Women’s Association of Canada – As a supporter of this bill, Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) hoped it would be an important step forward with respect to the urgent issues Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people face today such as heightened likelihood of disappearance, human trafficking, violent crimes, and forced and coerced...

April 10, 2019


Bill S-215 An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Sentencing for Violent Offences Against Aboriginal Women)

Defeat of “Bill S-215, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Sentencing for Violent Offences Against Aboriginal Women)” in the House of Commons during the second reading on April 10, 2019. The Bill would have required a court to take Indigenous female identity into account during the sentencing of offenders. Those “in favour” of Bill...

December 4, 2018


Bill S-215 An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Sentencing for Violent Offences Against Aboriginal Women)

Toronto Star – When there’s a large-scale industrial development, when there’s construction camps that are co-located, we have documented increases in the rates of sexual assault, the rates of sexualized violence, the rates of prostitution, the rates of sexually transmitted infections,” said Ginger Gibson, director of the Firelight Group, which does research in Indigenous and...

Filter This Page

chevron_rightby Indigenous Group

chevron_rightby Stakeholder


Explore Other Themes