In August 2016, a farmer shot and killed an unarmed 22 year-old Indigenous man on his Saskatchewan farm and was subsequently charged with second-degree murder. This February, an all-white jury found the accused not guilty in what the farmer claimed was an accidental shooting with a handgun. Under Saskatchewan’s jury selection system, potential jurors are selected using provincial health care records. However, health care is provided by the federal Health Department to indigenous persons living on reserves, and consequently they wouldn’t have provincial health cards. During the jury selection process itself and using “peremptory challenges” to block potential jurors, the defence blocked all those summoned jurors who appeared to be Indigenous, whether young or old, male or female — thus the resulting all white jury. This was not a new issue. For example, in 2013 former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci recommended discussing the possibility of asking the federal government to amend the Criminal Code to prevent the use of peremptory challenges to discriminate against First Nations people. No wonder there was outrage among Indigenous peoples across Canada. After all, justice not only has to be provided under the legal system, but it also has to be seen as being just and fair.
We now have the Federal Government stating that it will undertake a review of the Criminal Code and legal processes across Canada to determine if there are systemic discrimination practices. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to see changes made to the legal system to ensure that the rights of Indigenous people are protected and that the system is more inclusive. Given Canada’s history of racism and today’s policies aimed at reconciliation with First Nations people, changes are urgently needed. According to the most recent findings by Canada’s prison watchdog, while Indigenous people in Canada make-up 4.3 percent of the population, they represent more than 25 percent of inmates. There’s something terribly wrong with this situation. More has to be done with regard to the lack of trust by Indigenous people with the police — especially the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the courts and the corrections system.
In 2015 in its final report documenting the history and legacy of Canada’s residential school system, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission raised serious concerns for current and future generations of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children. As a growing crisis, the report noted that Indigenous youth are overrepresented in Canada’s prisons and in the child-welfare system. Prime Minister Trudeau is planning to overhaul the way the federal government relates to Indigenous Peoples, proposing a new legislative framework designed to pave the way towards stronger rights and greater control over their own destiny. It’s about time!
FROLITICKS 
Leave a comment