Under section 15 (1) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Section 3 (e) of the Canadian Multicultural Act, proclaim the rights of residents to be free from discrimination (Griffiths, 2013, 2008). The lack of community relations between the police and the community they serve creates a potential for distrust and misunderstanding by both parties. This sometimes leads to targeting specific people or profiling entire minority groups with criminal activity (Griffiths, 2013, 2008). “Racial Profiling can lead to racial discrimination, which may manifest itself overtly, subconsciously, or systemically” (Griffiths, 2013, p. 299). Research shows that Aboriginal people represent 4% of the Canadian population and 1 in 5 inmates in federal prisons (Griffiths, 2013,…
In today’s modern Canadian society every group is fighting for their rights to be heard, acknowledged and more importantly respected. In Canadian history one group has had to fight harder than anyone else to receive a voice to be heard and that is the Aboriginals. The question that needs to be asked is, do they really have a voice at all? Throughout this paper I will highlight three areas of aboriginal political uprising, First the history, secondly successful initiatives for the betterment of aboriginals and finally unsuccessful actions in the political landscape.…
Cuneen moves on to look at the impact that said police officers have on the lives of these Aboriginal youths. Cuneen’s declaration that ‘their decisions will significantly impact on a young person’s future’ positions the reader to think that the police should take the futures of said young person’s into account before making the decision to potentially apprehend them. This is reinforced by his next statement that there is no real public benefit ‘from charging a…
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia are substantially over-represented in the criminal justice system. This is caused by an interplay of complex historical and contemporary factors including dispossession of land, structural disadvantage, systemic racism, intergenerational poverty and trauma, over-policing, substance misuse and mental illness, tough-on-crime policies and the chronic under-funding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal and interpreter services.…
he text, Diversity, Crime, and Justice in Canada edited by Barbara Perry highlights the fundamental knowledge on topics discussed in Canada and its society. The text examines the concept of racial difference. It delves into topics like society and crime, minorities, diversity, inequality, culture and all how all of these subjects intertwine with the criminal justice system in Canada. The specific chapters that will be discussed in this paper are in regards to conceptualizing difference. These chapters examine the ways various racial groups are subjected to similar marginalization, victimization, and criminalization.…
The Canadian criminal justice system is often represented by the balanced scales of justice. These scales symbolize the need for the law to be viewed objectively in order to ensure a fair determination of innocence. The criminal justice system incorporates the values of the scales of justice in an effort to control crime and impose proper penalties on those who violate the law in society (Griffiths, 2011). However, despite justice being supposedly impartial, there is an overwhelming representation of Aboriginal people in all stages of the criminal justice process, from the charging of the individuals in court to their sentence in prison (Pfefferle, 2008). This is a clear indication that the criminal justice system is not adequately representing…
Australia’s attitude towards the rights and freedoms of Aboriginals has changed drastically from 1920 to the present. It is evident that Australia has made a greater effort throughout the years, to bridge the gap between the rights and of Aboriginals and the rest of Australia. This has been improved by the implementation of different policies such as the Protection policy, Assimilation, Integration, Self Determination and Reconciliation.…
This article written by Scott Gilmore really opens your eyes to the racism that actually happens in Canada. Most Canadians pride them selves on living in such a multicultural and peaceful country. It is the total opposite; the racism just goes unnoticed. The racism that Canadian Aboriginals face is even worse than the racism that African Americans or Canadians face. The government seems to put these issues on the back burner, Scott says “Possibly it is because our Fergusons are hidden deep in the bush”. We do not see the struggles of the aboriginal people in our country because not everyone sees it on a daily basis. The government does a good job of hiding it because the most injustices take place in remote places. The question Scott asks is…
Canada’s prison population is at its highest level ever even though crime is decreasing (silcox, February 5, 2014). This can be attributed to Canada’s PIC, people in power makes laws to imprison the misfits of society so they can be used as raw material for companies that rely on prisons for profit. In Canada the number of visible minorities in prison has increased 75% in the last decade, while aboriginals make up a quarter…
The goal of this paper is to prove, using distinctive evidence that the Canadian Criminal Justice System is unfair. This paper argues that many Canadians of different race, religion, and sexual orientation are treated unfair in the Criminal Justice System. It is extremely important to argue that the Canadian Criminal Justice System is unfair because most Canadians are unaware of the vast majority of hate crimes committed by the police. As mentioned previously, the majority of Canadians are overall pleased with the Criminal Justice System, however, they may not be aware of the victims affiliated to the unfairness of the justice system.…
Contrary to the popular belief, the Aboriginal people in Canada do not live a good life. People may ask, then, where all the money the Canadian citizens have paid for with their taxes has gone to. Truthfully, this is an extremely conceited opinion. People believe that the Aboriginals use most of the funds for drugs and alcohol, but this is far from the reality. While it is true that many aboriginals do get intoxicated quite often and spend money on such things, the same thing happens in the Canadian society generally. Nowadays, it is becoming a thing of the past. Other provinces in Canada also get funds, and it is a fact that Aboriginal reserves require funds from the Canadian government for better environment. Many aboriginals and other Canadians are trying to ameliorate the situation. However, the money flows out in various ways. Some examples include a chief using the money sent from the government for schools to build his house and work with his truck, or a health care center using their funds for the staff to have a nice boating trip. Due to the self-governing policies present in reserves, such things happen. The Aboriginals in power also distribute funds more favorably to people who they are closely acquainted with. As a result, it is still hard for the Aboriginals to step up from poverty.…
The way certain racial minority groups are stigmatized and labeled as inferior from others is a major reasoning why these stereotypes still exist (Copes, Topalli 2008). Taking in consideration that stereotypical views have continued to create conflict, means that class and racial differences raise concerns of empowerment (Gabbidon 2007). The society needs to pay more attention to racial issues involving visible minorities and in this essay Aboriginals will be specifically mentioned. In other words, if racial segregation amongst Aboriginals in Canada were to be more acknowledged either past or present, this group would not be negatively labeled. Aboriginals have a long structural history of being segregated from the rest of the Canadian population, and because of…
The consequences of dispossession for aboriginal spirituality have been enormously and overwhelming detrimental. Two centuries of dispossession impacted greatly on Aboriginal Spirituality most significantly the separation from land led to a loss of identity and thus the dreaming and it’s rituals that follow. The dreaming is inextricably connected to the land and thus the forceful removal from their land means that Aboriginals lost much more than a place to call home. For Aboriginals the land is their mother their sole purpose in life is to love and protect the land and one day return home to the grasp of their mother country. The dispossession from the land resulted in a continuing burden for aboriginal as they were no longer able to fulfil…
hundreds of years before Captain Cook was born. They are now trying to say I…
Over the years the rates of Aboriginal men and women sentenced to prison has increased at an alarming rate. "The number of Aboriginal women who were locked behind bars in federal institutions grew a staggering 97 percent between 2002 and 2012" (Rennie,…