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Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 5 : Justice

Having examined historical reports to Parliament made by the Superintendent of Penitentiaries, the AJI found that:

…The proportion of “Indians” and of “Indian half-breeds,” and of the other various equivalent designations that appeared in the reports for 1900, 1913, 1932-33, 1934-35 and annually until the 1949-50 report, in the Manitoba penitentiary population reflected no more than the Aboriginal proportion of the Manitoba population in this period. The Aboriginal proportion of the Manitoba penitentiary population increased in an extraordinary fashion during the decades after 1950 ¹².

By 1965, Aboriginal people comprised 22% of inmates at the Stony Mountain federal penitentiary. This increased to 33% in 1984 and 46% in 1989. In that same year, the Aboriginal portion of the population in all Provincial institutions was 57%. At the Portage Correctional Institute for Women, 67% of inmates were Aboriginal, and 61% in institutions for young people. Over all, 56% of inmates in federal and provincial institutions were Aboriginal in 1989. ¹³

According to the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, the national numbers of sentenced admissions to custody peaked in 1992-93 after a decade of growth, and have since declined on a year-to-year basis due to reductions in the numbers of adults charged. This is linked to decreasing crime rates in the 1990’s. However, the incarceration rate per 10,000 adults charged has continued to increase during the 1990’s. Further:

The over-representation of Aboriginal persons in the federal prison population is worsening. Aboriginal persons accounted for 11% of admissions to federal penitentiaries in 1991-92, 15% in 1996-97 and 17% in 1997-98. (Aboriginal persons represent 2% of the adult population in Canada.)¹⁴

In Manitoba, where Aboriginal persons comprise 9% of the adult population, they accounted for 61% of sentenced admissions ¹⁵ to federal or provincial custody in 1997-98, up from 55% in 1995-96. This compares to 72% in Saskatchewan (which has a similar demographic), 39% in Alberta, 16% in B.C., and under 10% in other provinces.

On October 5, 1996, when the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics conducted a one-day “snapshot” of all inmates on-register in federal and provincial adult correctional facilities, 61% of inmates in Manitoba were Aboriginal.¹⁶ This figure is higher than the 55% of admissions in 1995-96, for the reason that Aboriginal inmates are serving, on average, longer sentences with less chance of early release.

If trends observed in the mid-1990s have continued, the current self-identified Aboriginal proportion of the prison population in Manitoba is probably close to 70%. In short, the past 50 years have seen the Aboriginal portion of the prison population in Manitoba rise, approximately, from 10% to 70%.¹⁷

Among the female prison population, Aboriginal over-representation is even greater. The AJI reported, quoting a study done by the Elizabeth Fry Society, that 71% of Manitoba female inmate population in the early 1980s was Aboriginal. By 1988, this had risen to 85%.

The situation at Portage is not unique. In Saskatchewan, it has been estimated that treaty Indian women are 131 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Aboriginal women are, while Metis women are 28 times more likely to be incarcerated. …Statistics collected by the Portage Correctional Institute for Women show that at least 80% of the inmates had suffered either physical or sexual abuse; 40% reported both. ¹⁸

Another trend in the 1990s has been the increasing prevalence of street gang activities in prison. The Hughes Report on the 1996 riot at Headingley observed that the “gang problem” emerged very rapidly in the period from 1992 to 1994. “Members of these gangs, especially the Indian Posse and Manitoba Warriors, actively and often violently recruit new members while incarcerated…”¹⁹