In its ground-breaking Gladue decision (1999), the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that there are mitigating social factors and historical circumstances that should be considered when sentencing Aboriginal offenders. Though the Service has integrated Gladue principles into policy as well as provided some training to staff members, there remains insufficient and uneven application of Gladue social history considerations in correctional decision-making. For example, it is not uncommon to find in an Aboriginal offender’s file a brief reference that Aboriginal social history was considered in a correctional decision that impacts retained security and liberty interests (e.g. security classification, penitentiary placement, transfer, segregation, internal discipline). However, there is often very little meaningful analysis with respect to how these considerations impacted, influenced, altered or mitigated the decision.

Simply stating that Aboriginal social history was considered does not make it so nor does it ensure the due diligence expected by the policy requirement.Supreme Court of Canada: Ewert v. CanadaGovernment Commitments to Restorative JusticeCanadian Bar AssociationOfficial Federal Government Response: Sept. 5, 2019