Statement made on 02 February 2011 by Senator Lillian Eva Dyck
Hon. Lillian Eva Dyck:
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
The state of Aboriginal women in Canada's prisons is very troubling. It is appalling. Aboriginal women are significantly overrepresented in Canada's prisons and they now account for one third of all federally incarcerated women. This number has increased by 91 per cent since 2001. Additionally, about 80 per cent of female Aboriginal inmates are held in maximum- to medium-security prisons, while only about 20 per cent are in minimum-security prisons. In my home province of Saskatchewan, which has one of the largest provincial Aboriginal populations in Canada, Aboriginal women make up 87 per cent of the female inmate population. In neighbouring Manitoba, the number is 83 per cent.
To compound the problem, about 30 per cent of incarcerated Aboriginal women are said to have mental health problems at the time of imprisonment and cannot access treatment programs. Of the Aboriginal women who are incarcerated, 90 per cent have been victims of sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse. Experts agree that the proposed crime legislation from this government will significantly increase these numbers. More Aboriginal women will be incarcerated.
Aboriginal women are at a higher risk of reoffending because culturally appropriate programs and services that are mandated by Correctional Service Canada are not made available to most Aboriginal women.
We cannot sit by and watch an already vulnerable population continue in a cycle of offending and reoffending without the necessary help in Aboriginal communities to reintegrate them and in prisons nationwide to rehabilitate them.
Could the Leader of the Government in the Senate explain why the government continues to ignore the underlying issues of poverty, abuse, violence, homelessness and drug abuse in Aboriginal communities that perpetuate a cycle of offenders, and why the programs that are specifically for Aboriginal women have not been made more widely available?
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