Introduction
The terms First Nations and Aboriginal people are commonly used to refer to indigenous people in Canada. The group makes up about 4% of the total population in Canada. The Constitution Act, 1982 recognizes three groups categorized as Aboriginal people. They include Indians, Métis and Inuit.
Large numbers of Aborigines occupy the northern part of Canada but few numbers are scattered all over the country. Statistics collected during the 2001 Census in Canada showed that North American Indians comprised a population of 957,650; Métis were 266,020 while the Inuit’s were 44,835.
It is however argued that the bureau did not give exact figures. The number of aboriginal people is expected to be larger than that. The question of Aborigines has been a major concern in Canada and Australia since the arrival of first colonialists from Britain (Comeau & Santin, 1995).
First nations/Aborigines in Canada
According to Comeau and Santin (1995), first Nations lived in large nomadic groups in Australia and parts of North America now referred to as Canada. Treaties between settlers and aborigines were signed to enable exchange of goods and services. Some of the treaties included peace and friendship treaties in which aborigines were promised protection against other colonizing powers.
With time, settlers took control over the aborigines and what used to be their agreement was not recognized anymore. The settlers then pushed them to the reserves. This was not a difficult task because tribal fights and small pox infections had reduced their numbers greatly. Settlers then occupied the land initially owned by aborigines and established their own farms.
Since aborigines could not understand English, settlers took the advantage and interpreted the established treaties in their favor. One of the major problems facing aborigines in the modern society is injustices in the court system.
Comeau and Santin (1995) state that aboriginal people account for the largest number of people found in the correctional institutions in Canada. For instance, in Manitoba, a province in Canada, 12% of the total population is aboriginal people. However, they comprise over half of the number of criminals taken to correctional facilities on a daily basis.
This is a suggestion that the rate of crimes among the aborigines is high or they are discriminated against by the justice system. Studies have shown that racial discrimination is deeply rooted in Manitoba. The justice system discriminates against the aborigines because their cultural values and experiences differ from those of the dominant society.
The decision making body in the system of Justice discriminates against aborigines at all points and that’s the reason behind their large numbers in the correctional institutions.
For instance, most of the accused are denied bail, they spend more time in pre-trial detention, there is a likelihood of being charged with multiple offences, stand at high chances of being incarcerated, and finally lawyers spent more time with non-aborigines than they do with aborigines.
Studies have shown that there is a likelihood of aborigines appearing in court without lawyers. This is why they are over represented in every step of the judicial system beginning from charging to sentencing of offenders (Comeau & Santin, 1995).
Social
Crime rate is high among the aborigines than other societies. The following are some of the contributing factors to the increased rate of crimes. They include poor living conditions, unequal distribution of resources, lack of education, high rates of unemployment, inadequate health facilities, cultural values and traditions among other factors. Cultural values expose them to crime for instance; some of them still exercise their hunting and fishing rights which is against the law (Stenning, 1995).
According to Stenning (1995), most of the aborigine households are poverty stricken. It is estimated that more that half of the total number of aborigine households live below the poverty line compared to only 20% of non-aborigine households. The high rate of unemployment among aborigine families is directly related to lack of sufficient education.
They are provided with poor quality education services which make it difficult for them to get good positions in the employment sector which is highly competitive. Due to poverty, most of the aborigines live in overcrowded poor housing conditions. Death rate as a result of air born and water born diseases like diarrhea are high because of poor sanitation facilities. Large numbers of people are forced to live in a small congested house because they cannot afford good and spacious houses which are expensive.
Loss of land to settlers is a major contributing factor to high levels of poverty experienced by the aborigine communities. Aborigines blame the justice system for its failure to assist them in claiming their land which they lost to the settlers or in ensuring that settlers observe their promises.
The system seems to support settlers. This is because at one time, lawyers were not allowed to represent aborigines without getting permission from the federal government. In addition, aborigines were not allowed to contribute money within themselves to carry on with their claims of their lost land. In addition, the judicial system does not support the Aborigines in fighting the oppressive conditions imposed to them by the dominant societies (Stenning, 1995).
Discriminatory Factors
The impacts that the judicial system has on the Aboriginal people is evident that the system discriminates against them. The judicial system takes advantage of aborigines being economically disadvantaged, high illiteracy levels, cultural differences and lack of representation in the system to offer unfair judgment to them. Many judges take into account employment when considering appropriate sentences to crimes.
Employment is regarded as a sign of trueworthyness based on the assumption that one would not risk to loose his job by getting himself into trouble. Judges would also not want to terminate the job opportunity in favor of people who depend on the accused.
Employment determines whether an individual is to be released on bail or jail sentence is to be imposed. Potentiality in employment enables an individual to be released on parole. This factor affects aborigines negatively because they have no access to employment (Comeau & Santin, 1995).
Programs offered by the government requiring citizens to be educated to benefit from the program negatively affect the aborigines because of high levels of illiteracy. The government assumes that offenders choose to ignore the law which is not the case with aborigines.
This is mainly because they are not able to read the law, may not access government offices and libraries where they can acquire legal information in addition to the fact that their school curriculum may not provide lessons about the law. It is unfair to assume that aborigines should know the right and wrong in non-aborigine communities because their concept of culture is different.
The justice system should reach them in their first language to make them understand the law. The system should publish articles written in their first language and allow representatives of the group to sit in the juries. This will enhance their understanding of the law.
Aboriginal communities lack important facilities, services and resources which expose them to poor treatment. Most aborigine communities lack counseling services within their home areas. Whether or not to release the accused on bail, parole or probation are decisions which require supervision.
Aborigines are under-represented in the judicial system. Moreover, they are excluded in the decision making body. This is a clear indication that the decisions arrived at will be culturally inappropriate for aborigine people (Comeau & Santin, 1995).
Areas of Discrimination in the Justice System
Process of Choosing People to be policed
There is a tendency of the police to view people in terms of being “criminals” or “respectable”. The police tend to pay more attention on the first group than they do to the second.
They take seriously crimes committed by the aborigines whose culture is different from that of the dominant society because of the fear that they may commit even serious crimes. Police actions are concentrated to groups which seem to be a threat to the rest of the community.
For instance, aboriginal youth group may be barred from gathering in a park by the police for fear of engaging in deviant activities. Studies show that many poverty stricken people engage in crimes. Based on this, police associate crimes with aborigines because they are poor.
It has been observed that some of the aborigines are arrested and held in custody because of an offence which a non-aborigine was neither held nor arrested at all (Kelly & Clarke, 2002).
Pre-Trial Detention
Factors like employment and education are considered by judges in determining whether to grant bail to the accused or not. These factors do not favor aborigines because of their disadvantaged position.
Representation in the System of Justice
High poverty levels among Aborigines make it difficult for them to get lawyers to represent them in courts. The low incomes make it difficult for them to pay a lawyer the result of which they appear alone in courts. This is a good opportunity for the judges to offer unfair judgment (Kelly & Clarke, 2002).
Hearing Process
Before confirmation of charges, the accused person should face several hearings before the court. Out of respect of the officers found in court, some aborigines may be tempted to give answers which they think the officials expect. The rules and procedures used in courts are also discriminative.
For example in the circuit court, there is a one month interval between one court case to the other. However for aborigines, the period can last for several months. Because of the delay, some aborigine victims choose to plead guilty to cut down this period. Aborigines found committing serious crimes are not tried in local courts where some of their community members are present (Hester & Eglin, 1992).
Sentencing
Judges consider the economic position of the accused when offering sentence. Studies show that aborigines are treated harshly because they commit more crimes and also because they are poor (Hester & Eglin, 1992).
Conclusion
Although studies have shown that aborigines commit more crimes than the rest of communities in Canada, the oppressive legal sanctions provided by the system of justice discriminates against them at all levels. The government of Canada should ensure that laws in the judicial system which discriminate against aborigines are removed. Like other citizens, they should be offered fair and equal hearings by the court of law. This will promote unity in the country.
References
Comeau, P. & Santin, A. (1995). The first Canadians: A profile of Canada’s native people today. Ontario: James Lorimer & Company.
Hester, S. & Eglin, P. (1992). A Sociology of Crime. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kelly, H. & Clarke, E. (2002). Deviant behavior: A text-reader in the sociology of deviance. New York: Worth Publishers.
Stenning, P. (1995). Accountability for criminal justice: selected essays. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.