A national travesty:’ Prison watchdog urges reform to tackle Indigenous over-incarceration – CBC
Nov 02, 2023
Correctional investigator calls for transfer of power back to Indigenous people as special probe concludes
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 Ivan Zinger calls for the devolution of correctional power to Indigenous people to address worsening rates of over-representation.
“The steady and unabated increase in the disproportionate representation of Indigenous peoples under federal sentence is nothing short of a national travesty and remains one of Canada’s most pressing human rights challenges,” Zinger wrote.
His latest findings were released Wednesday with the office’s 50th annual report, which says the over-representation of Indigenous people in federal prisons has been an area of steady concern since the correctional investigator’s office was created.
