Bill C-5: Canadas Failed Opportunity to Address the Mass Incarceration of Indigenous Peoples
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Hi Friend,
A few weeks ago, I shared with you some of the steps that the Canadian government could be taking to reduce its increasing mass incarceration of Indigenous Peoples, and the urgent need for substantive reforms at every level.
Last October, we brought the fight against mass incarceration to Parliament, making submissions on Bill C-5: An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
In our latest commentary, I outline what the BCCLA, along with many others including Indigenous scholars, lawyers, and advocates, recommended in relation to:
- Mandatory Minimum Sentences
- Conditional Sentence Orders
- Decriminalization of Drug Use
Read Part 2: Bill C-5 – Canada’s Failure to Address the Mass Incarceration of Indigenous Peoples
Devastatingly for those impacted by mass incarceration, these recommendations were not adopted. On November 17, 2022,... Bill C-5 received royal assent and was passed into law.
“Despite almost a full year of debates, witness testimony, and similar calls for change, from a wide range of actors, Parliament chose to keep the Bill largely as it was, failing to make any decisive strides to address the mass incarceration of Indigenous Peoples.”
In a 2022 report, the Yellowhead Institute found that the Canadian government has only implemented 13 of the 94 Truth and Reconciliation Commissions’ (TRC) Calls to Action over the past seven years.
The mass incarceration of Indigenous Peoples shows how the Canadian government continues to perpetuate colonial violence. This is a crisis of the federal government’s own making. The government has a responsibility to undo its own harms, by at the very least adopting the recommendations of the TRC and National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (NIMMIWG).
Read Part 2: Bill C-5 – Canada’s Failure to Address the Mass Incarceration of Indigenous Peoples
Canada must, with no further delay, implement the TRC and NIMMIWG Calls and take accountability now.
Despite the ongoing and compounding impacts of colonialism, including mass incarceration, we see Indigenous resistance, resilience, and leadership in working towards the renewal and protection of Indigenous cultures, languages, political, social, and environmental rights.
The BCCLA will continue to use the resources available to us to call for reform and fight alongside Indigenous people and all marginalized communities against mass incarceration by the Canadian criminal legal system.
Thank you,
Safiyya Ahmad (she/her)
Articling Student
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