There were specific examples of how the talking circles thought history, tradition, culture, and ceremony could be delivered in a therapeutic manner. The Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS) should create a dedicated unit to advance equity for Indigenous, racialized and other. The arts are perceived by Indigenous communities to be functional, and sacred endeavours that continue to be used for communication, teaching, values transmission and experiential learning (Flicker et al., 2014). Thus, Indigenous methods, including poetry, drama, storytelling, and critical personal narratives are performance practices that make Indigenous life visible (Darder et al., 2014). The system forcibly separated children from their families for extended periods of time and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages. (Barker et al., 2015, pp. As the Elder noted, “Youth—we can deal with youth in ways we’ve always dealt with them.” One circle member suggested that, “One hundred years ago, youth would have been heard by the community. However, as Schwan and Lightman (2013) argue, we need to critically assess how we narrate, characterize, and label the Indigenous experience. This approach was used in order to allow research findings to emerge from the frequent, dominant, or significant themes inherent in the raw data (Thomas, 2003). A Website of The Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta, findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2012. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1995) locate the root cause of Indigenous crime and overrepresentation in the criminal justice system in Canada’s history of colonialism and its continuing effects in respect to social disorder in Indigenous communities. Each of the young people involved in the circles indicated that it was important to them that they were able to spend meaningful time with an elder and also to be able to be heard. Are Conflicts Property? Given the concurrence between the circle member’s thoughts and that of the research literature regarding the overrepresentation of Indigenous young people and possible solutions, the way forward seems apparent. They need to see us doing it.” One of the young people agreed, noting that, “Getting back into nature is a big part of it. The following recommendations have a direct link to human rights and would serve as a valuable reference for all governments and agencies across Canada. I looked at ceremony and spirit.” Another circle member shared the following: I did not know who I was. This includes referrals, investigations, verifications of abuse allegations, referrals to ongoing services, admissions into care, apprehensions from First Nations reserves and Indigenous children off reserve, type of care, days in care and referrals to drug and alcohol testing, In addition to any requirements to report data to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS), all CASs should report publicly [. This study attempted to understand the thoughts of Indigenous young people regarding the overrepresentation of young people in the criminal justice system. Doob and Sprott (2007) have argued that there is evidence to suggest that (a) differences in sentencing cannot be accounted for by discrimination at sentencing alone, (b) a number of cities in Canada have much higher Indigenous populations than others, and (c) the operation of Canada’s youth justice system varies across cities. Jasjit Goraya Canadian criminologists and policymakers alike have long debated the issue of “disproportionate minority confinement,” or the overrepresentation of minority youth in the criminal justice system. Following the establishment of the circle (with a smudging ceremony), the Elder posed the question, “Why do you feel Indigenous youth are overrepresented in the youth custody system?” An eagle feather was then passed around allowing each individual to speak. In its review of the overrepresentation of young people in custody, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) (2015a, 2015b) suggested, “The youth justice system perhaps more than the adult criminal justice system, is failing Aboriginal families” (p. 177). Repeatedly participants talked about internalized messages that Indigenous young people likely feel such as, “I’m no good ” or “We will always lose.” One participant succinctly outlined how without a sense of self, without direction, it is not surprising that something else may move in to fill the void: It wasn’t instilled in me, who I was. This universal sentiment was echoed in the comment of one young person who stated, “I never grew up getting to know (about) my Indigenous identity.” One participant argued that the loss of identity for Indigenous young people was historic and ongoing noting, “It goes from when Columbus discovered North America. (p. 178). The transmission of Indigenous knowledge is often through a dialogue with community Elders (Swayze, 2009). It became clear in the talking circles—as voiced by the participants the helpers/cultural advisor, and the Elder—that a key ingredient to re-building the well-being of Indigenous young people is connected to Indigenous young people learning about their history, including knowledge concerning their ceremonies, their clans, the role of treaties, the role of Elders in Indigenous communities, and the Indigenous connection to the land. Jardine, C., Genius, S., Lukasewich, M., & Tang, K. (2016). New and incumbent child protection workers and managers should be required to undergo training on anti-racism and providing culturally competent services to Indigenous, Black and other racialized families. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminolog... Community engagement in youth justice program design, Over-represented and misunderstood: Pacific young people and juvenile justice in NSW. The Elder guided the talking circles in a holistic manner that is in keeping with Indigenous methodologies. McGuire, P.D. This would appear to be what Smith (as cited in Ray, 2012) describes as the “re-inscribing or reauthorizing of the privileges of non-Indigenous academics” (p. 95). This debate has been ongoing since the early 1980s, with seemingly no end in sight. is increasing, according to the latest Statistics Canada report on adult and youth corrections. (, Ryan, N., Head, B., Keast, R., Brown, K. (, Stewart, S., Riecken, T., Scott, T., Tanaka, M., Riecken, J. My brother was more influenced. As Cunneen (2006) argues in the following: An adequate explanation involves analyzing interconnecting issues which include historical and structural conditions, of colonization, of social and economic marginalization, and institutional racism, while at the same time considering the impact of specific (and sometimes quite localized) practices of criminal justice related agencies. The most significant casual factors underlying overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples are complex. This method aligns with an Indigenous world view that honors orality as a means by which to transmit knowledge (Bird-Naytowhow et al., 2017). Each talking circle was led by an Elder, his two Oshkawbaywuss (helpers/apprentices), and an Indigenous Cultural Advisor. Doob and Sprott (2007) suggest that researchers have still not adequately addressed the question: What is it in the lives of Indigenous young people that accounts for their high rate of involvement in the criminal justice system? Research suggests that the greatest impact of colonial legacies have been felt by young people (Schwan & Lightman, 2013). As one participant suggested, “Our young people don’t know who they are.” Without exception young people, the circle’s helpers, and the cultural advisor all voiced their struggle with their identity and the disconnect they have sometimes felt from their Indigenous heritage. The overrepresentation of Indigenous young people in custody Indigenous young people are eight times more likely to be incarcerated than their non-Indigenous peers (Corrado et al., 2014). Indigenous communities share a deep spiritual connection to the land and have relied on ceremonies and oral traditions to pass knowledge from one generation to the next (Flicker et al., 2014). the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. 9. CASs should reach out to and be guided by First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities on data collection standards, training, approaches, analysis and reporting that will respond to the specific context of Indigenous communities. There is a growing consensus that the overrepresentation of Indigenous young people is not due to a single factor, such as increased offending or the discriminatory practices of police, but by a complex mix of massive over-policing, racist law, order politics, a greater level of offending, and social disorganization (Corrado et al., 2014). Jackson (2015) also suggests that stereotypes about Indigenous families being irresponsible or having addiction problems may also come to play. Less Time with Lawyers. Combatting over-representation of Indigenous youth in the Queensland criminal justice system through 'justice reinvestment' Hage, Tamara, and Fellows, Jamie (2018) Combatting over-representation of Indigenous youth in the Queensland criminal justice system through 'justice reinvestment'. Until recently, many research institutions in the world did not believe that Indigenous research required any particularly different legal, ethical, or human rights protocols (Champagne, 2015). Participants were quite passionate and thoughtful about strategies that might reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous young people. Miigwetch. Barker, B., Alfred, G. T., Fleming, K., Nguyen, P., Wood, E., Kerr, T., DeBeck, K. (, Bird-Naytowhow, K., Hatala, A. R., Pearl, T., Judge, A., Sjoblom, E. (, Bracken, D. C., Deane, L., Morrissette, L. (. Now older people (are) making the decisions, youth have no voice. In addition, policies and practices, such as risk assessment tools that reflect White, Western, Christian notions of child rearing, coupled with unconscious racial biases, may result in incorrect assumptions about the level of risk to which children are exposed. The circles’ members agreed that Indigenous young people (particularly those who are marginalized and struggling) need to “Go back to roots including (learning) the connection to land, (the) use of Elders.” As one of the helpers suggested, “(it’s important that they) Go back to the land, canoe through swamp, fish, make connections there is a teaching behind each bush, each fish, learn about their clans…. The conversation progressed organically until its conclusion. Deciphering the ‘Indigenous’ in Indigenous methodologies, The incarceration of Aboriginal offenders: Trends from 1978 to 2001, Engaging Indigenous communities: Towards a policy framework for Indigenous community justice programmes, Fostering resistance, cultivating decolonization. Much of this paper has discussed the challenges and difficulties facing Indigenous young people. New and incumbent child protection workers and managers should be required to undergo training on how to collect human rights-based data. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Funding for this research was provided by the Department of Justice (Canada) and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Tensions, contradictions, and uneasiness of stories, and the resurgence of Indigenous societies. The “othering” positions the university/institution as dominant in the area of knowledge and scholarship even as it recognizes and includes community knowledge (Bird-Naytowhow, Hatala, Pearl, Judge, & Sjoblom, 2017). The number of key informants and participants was small and drawn from a particular geographic location in Southern, Ontario. The crisis of Aboriginal over-incarceration in Canada is one of the most well-documented features of our Criminal Justice System. overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in the criminal justice system is a result of the Canadian government’s failure to address social issues stemming from colonialism as well as the lack of concrete sentencing measures to address systemic Homel, R., Lincoln, R. and Herd, B. For the past few decades, there has been growing publicity about the over-representation of Indigenous and other minority children in our child welfare systems across Canada. The government should monitor and ensure CASs’ compliance with any legislation, regulations and policy directives pertaining to human rights-based data collection, with the aim of increasing the accuracy of the data collected and reducing the amount of missing or unknown data to zero. Youth feel undervalued and unimportant in institutions today.”. Talking circles were the means by which focus groups were established. If I don’t smudge I lose myself.”. Anand, S. (2000). 2The term residential schools refers to an extensive school system set up by the Canadian government and administered by churches that had the nominal objective of educating Indigenous children but also the more damaging and equally explicit objectives of indoctrinating them into Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living and assimilating them into mainstream Canadian society. I like to think it’s (because of) our resilience that we are still here.”. The term “research” is inextricably linked to European imperialism and colonialisms (Battiste, 2014; Cunneen, Rowe, & Tauri, 2016). Such training should be standardized across the province and should emphasize the importance of outcomes connected to data collection. The destruction of Indigenous families, which participants connected directly to colonization and residential schools, was a common theme in the study’s talking circles. Southern Chiefs’ Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels says “institutionalized racism” is the reason the numbers keep climbing. It’s always about the loss of identity. Some of the most systemically discriminatory policies pertained to residential schools, which resulted in Indigenous children being taken from their families and removed from loving parents, parental role models, and thus losing their cultures and their identities. Please check you selected the correct society from the list and entered the user name and password you use to log in to your society website. Each of these, can be connected to socioeconomic disadvantage (low income, lack of education, transiency, single parent homes), and the relative deprivation found within Aboriginal communities (Balfour, 2012; LaPrairie, 2002). Before first contact, the “family” within Indigenous communities could be described as a complex combination of biological ties, customary adoptions, clan membership bonds, and economic partnerships (Grekul & LaBoucane-Benson as cited in Bania, 2017). This crisis is harming the next generation of Indigenous youth. One member of the circle shared the following: My parents act like children because they never learned how to parent properly, they yelled a lot and had temper tantrums … and they passed it on to me. They are unsure whether they should remain true to an Indigenous identity or take on aspects of mainstream society (Pirbhai-Illich, 2011). An example that the talking circles gave of the kind of activity that could engage young people in history, tradition, culture, and ceremony (and one that is seen in the research literature as key to the Indigenous identity) was any activity that was connected to the land. The government should require by law that all [Children’s Aid Societies (CASs)] – both mainstream and Indigenous – collect human rights-based data, including race-based data, and poverty-related information. He hung with gang kids, and they did bad stuff. James Cook University Law Review, 24. pp. The one theme that was clearly paramount in regard to young people was that, “We need to get youth more involved in decisions.” This is in keeping with notions of best practice in regard to engaging Indigenous young people. Aboriginal students engaging and struggling with multiliteracies. (1999). One of the helpers noted that, “I grew up in a house with alcohol, lots of violence, sexual and verbal abuse. Homel, Lincoln, and Herd (1999) describe Indigenous cultural resilience in terms of Indigenous peoples’ diversity, revival and distinctiveness. Exploring the victimization-criminalization continuum in the sentencing of Aboriginal women in Canada, Aboriginal street-involved youth experience elevated risk of incarceration, An uncaring state? Each of these issues is intricately connected and, as the participants noted, inextricably connected to the overrepresentation of young people in the criminal justice system and youth custody. Login failed. The central purpose of this study was to provide a platform for Indigenous young peoples’ opinions regarding the overrepresentation of Indigenous young people in the criminal justice system. Please read and accept the terms and conditions and check the box to generate a sharing link. For many Indigenous peoples, the police are inseparable from the broader white culture and white domination in which racism is embedded (Perry, 2009). In 2016-2017, Indigenous female youth accounted for 60 percent of all female youth admitted to provincial and territorial corrections systems (Statistics Canada, 2018a). This strategy should contain measurable commitments to address these inequalities, including increasing the availability of funding, housing, services and supports to help families meet their needs and safely keep their children. We all lost our identity with residential schools. This site uses cookies. However, existing studies indicate that children from families who are Black and from other visible minority groups, including those who are new Canadians, experience higher percentages of referrals for investigation, over-monitoring and higher numbers of decisions resulting in out-of-home placements. The problem of Indigenous overrepresentation in Canada has been well documented in all principal correctional texts for several years, and widely acknowledged by the Canadian public (Roberts & Melchers, 2003). They told him who he was instead of my parents. Successful Indigenous prevention, rehabilitation, and programming are facilitated by the inclusion of a cultural match (Ryan et al., 2006). 147-168. Evidently, while overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the Canadian Criminal Justice System has persisted for decades, the crisis is particularly acute in the youth justice system. “(Youth, need to) Get to know there is a greater purpose for being here. It’s a ripple effect…. Participants discussed being bullied for being “too native” or being made to feel like, somehow, they were trying to “get off” or take advantage of the system by utilizing the very laws that were meant to recognize the context and vulnerability of their lives. CASs should commit to fully implementing the relevant Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC)’s Calls to Action. Perceptions regarding racism among law enforcement were widespread. See Recommendation 22, Developing special programs to address the specific needs of Indigenous and/or racialized clients and increase hiring of Indigenous and racialized staff, Creating anti-discrimination and harassment policies that explicitly define racial discrimination as a type of discrimination that is illegal and provide relevant examples, Creating accountability mechanisms, such as complaints and disciplinary procedures, Building dialogue and relationships with racialized and Indigenous groups in the community, Undertaking comprehensive organizational development projects that incorporate the elements above. The talking circle method recognizes young people as collaborators in the research project and contributors to community knowledge (Bird-Naytowhow et al., 2017). These have created stereotypes and racism that Indigenous people experience from the non-Indigenous community that continue to be manifested and reinforced. 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