Indigenous Criminology

• Colonialism; the CJS and Indigenous People
• Indigenous Criminology
• Land acknowledgement
• Recognizing the multiplicity of Indigenous people in Canada
• Reject homogenous and reductionist narratives
• Distinct groups of Indigenous Peoples – First Nation, Métis and Inuit
• Colonialism


  Settling as a conflictual relation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous societies
• Dehumanization of Indigenous people, forced disconnection from land, culture, and community, disqualification of their systems of knowledge
• Displacement from their traditional territories, forced into reserves
• Royal Proclamation of 1763


  Acknowledged the Indigenous nations' entitlement over their lands, sovereignty and self-government
• The land legally belongs to Indigenous people and can only be ceded through treaties
• England's victory over France in the Seven Years' War – England claimed control over the territory
• Attempt to conciliate and establish trade and military alliances with Indigenous peoples against other European colonizers (France)
• Supreme Court of Canada recognizes that the Indigenous rights over the land pre-existed the Royal Proclamation and the colonial occupation
• Indigenous Treaties


  Constitutionally recognized agreements between the Crown and Indigenous peoples
• "Numbered" treaties (1-11): First Nations surrendered their rights to land in exchange for benefits – e.g., reserve lands elsewhere, farming equipment and animals, annual payments, ammunition, rights to hunt and fish
• Treaties preserved the Indigenous sovereignty, culture, and right to self-government
• Critique to treaties: Indigenous people experienced difficulties in the moment of the signature and were forced to accept unfair and disfavorable terms; treaties have been systemically and repeatedly dishonored by the government of Canada
• 1876 Indian Act


  Consolidation of laws that invasively controlled aspects of the daily life for Indigenous people
• Canada's control of Indian Status, reserve lands, and local Indigenous governance
• Strict control over reservations
• Regulated Residential Schools
• Subalternization of Indigenous women
• Replacement of traditional governance with government-imposed structures
• Acculturation and assimilation of Indigenous people into mainstream Canadian society
• Content warning: forceful removal of children from their families, physical abuses, depiction of racism, racially offensive language
• Cultural assimilation implemented by the Canadian Government and Christian organizations
• Assimilation policies dismantled Indigenous sovereignty and governance, forcing them to incorporate into Canadian society with a marginalized status
• Impoverished conditions of life: poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, interpersonal violence, family breakdown, obstacles to education and job opportunities, discrimination and racism
• Deficit Discourse


  Indigenes are blamed for the problems they experience and are considered individually responsible for criminality and deviant behavior
• Ignores the history of systemic racism and intergenerational trauma
• Indigenous people are overrepresented in the Canadian criminal justice system: victims/survivors and accused/convicted
• 30% of the prison population in provincial prisons and 27% in federal prisons, while being less than 5% of the population
• In 2020 Indigenous women accounted for 42% of the female inmate population in Canada
• Indigenous peoples are less likely to be released on parole, are disproportionately placed in maximum security facilities, are more likely to be involved in use of force or self-injury incidents, and are more often placed in segregation
• The Indian Act was created to assimilate indigenous peoples into Canadian society.
• Residential school survivors have experienced intergenerational trauma as a result of the abuse suffered by their parents or grandparents at these institutions.
• Residential school survivors have reported high rates of PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and suicide ideation.
• Indigenous people were forced to attend residential schools, where they faced physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.
• Intergenerational trauma is passed down from one generation to another through family lines.