Overrepresentation of Aboriginal Women in Canadian Prisons

In the introduction to Are Prisons Obsolete? Angela Davis discusses the impact of “tough on crime” politics on prison populations within the Regan era. According to Davis this firm approach to crime was intended to keep communities crime-free while in reality this “led not to safer communities, but, rather, to even larger prison populations” (12). Characteristic of this “tough on crime” stance is the implementation of mandatory minimums and three strike laws. These laws disproportionately affect people of colour in both the United States and Canada. We can look at the Safe Streets Community Act and s.718.2(e) of the Canadian criminal code to demonstrate the unequal effects of being “tough on crime”.

In 1996 Canadian parliament amended s.718.2(e) to include two specific components. The first applies to all Canadians; it directs judges to consider all other possible sanctions beside prison upon sentencing. The second component, the Gladue Provision, applies only to Aboriginal people and it directs judges to consider the unique position of the Aboriginal population within Canada as a result of the continued trauma of colonization. S.718.2(e) did not reduce prison rates as was intended. One explanation of this is the emergence of The Safe Streets and Communities Act, which imposed mandatory minimum prison sentences for a variety of drug offences. This means that judges can no longer consider the individual circumstance of the perpetrator, completely nullifying the Gladue Provision.

Aboriginals are overrepresented within Canadian prisons as the result of a multitude of factors; the nullification of the Gladue Provision by mandatory minimums is just one example. This got me thinking about Canada’s declaration of itself as a multicultural nation while requiring the continued oppression of Indigenous women as discussed by Audra Simpson. While on paper s.718.2(e) espouses the effort to recognize the oppression of Indigenous persons and to reduce prison populations, this often cannot actually be carried out because of contradictory legislation. Therefore Canada appears to be making an effort to correct the overrepresentation of Aboriginal persons within the prison industry, but this overrepresentation is not decreasing, it is actually increasing. Similar to the situation of black women in the United States, Aboriginal women are the fastest growing population within Canadian prisons. This incarceration of huge numbers of Aboriginal women is another way the state can enforce violence on Aboriginal women and remove them from society. Prisons assist in the wiping out of Indigenous women, which, as Simpson argues, is a requirement of the state.