Pubdate: Tue, 21 Feb 2012
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2012 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Jordan Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

AFN VOICES CONCERNS ABOUT CRIME BILL'S EFFECTS

OTTAWA - The government's omnibus crime bill could put more 
aboriginals behind bars rather than addressing the source of high 
crime and incarceration rates among native Canadians, says the 
Assembly of First Nations.

The AFN told senators reviewing Bill C-10, known as the Safe Streets 
and Communities Act, that it could override rules allowing courts to 
consider alternatives to incarceration for aboriginal offenders, 
rules the Supreme Court outlined in its 1999 Gladue ruling.

Those rules have tried to deal with what the AFN argued were unique 
issues facing aboriginals that cannot always be addressed by the 
corrections system. The crime bill, the AFN argued, could remove more 
First Nations offenders from aboriginal rehabilitation programs. AFN 
National Chief Shawn Atleo said First Nations want to keep more of 
their offenders in aboriginal-run institutions where they can receive 
help from community elders and targeted rehabilitation plans.

"It's a comparable approach at the federal level," Atleo said via 
video conference from his home community of Ahousat, B.C.

The crime bill, he said, would reverse all that work. "I am very 
concerned with the direction this bill is taking us in," Atleo said.

Research over the past 14 years has found that aboriginals make up a 
greater proportion of the inmate population in Canada, greater than 
the percentage of aboriginals in the general Canadian population. A 
2009 study from Correctional Service Canada found aboriginals made up 
about 20 per cent of the prison population, despite representing 
about four per cent of the Canadian population. The same study cited 
myriad factors affecting the incarceration rates of aboriginals, 
including low levels of educational attainment and higher rates of 
unemployment. Corrections research has also found that aboriginals 
are more likely to be repeat offenders and involved in violent crime.

AFN senior strategist Roger Jones told the committee that more 
aboriginals are becoming part of gangs involved in drug crimes and 
the reach of those gangs is widening in urban centres and aboriginal 
communities. The crime bill, Jones argued, could put more aboriginals 
behind bars because the crime bill targets repeat offenders and drug 
traffickers. "You can't predict exactly how legislation is going to 
impact people, but you can do a good job," Jones said.

Jones said the AFN doesn't dispute the need to curb violent crime to 
make communities safer, but questioned whether investing in 
prevention rather than prisons might better serve aboriginals. "One 
of our messages is you either increase your costs by putting more of 
our people into the prison system, or you can invest in programs . . 
. that keep our people out of the prison system," Jones said.

The Senate legal affairs committee will be reviewing the crime bill 
for the remainder of the week. On Friday afternoon, the committee is 
scheduled to debate each clause of the omnibus bill.

"One of our messages is you either increase your costs by putting 
more of our people into the prison system, or you can invest in 
programs . that keep our people out of the prison system," Jones said.
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