NCJ Number
214905
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 45 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 191-207
Date Published
May 2006
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article provides a brief analysis of the incarceration of the Inuit in Nunavut, Canada and the motivation behind criminal justice reform within the Canadian Criminal Justice System.
Abstract
An important reason for reform in the criminal justice response to and treatment of Aboriginal people in Canada has come about from the extensive documentation of their extreme over-representation throughout the criminal process. It is argued that the most significant reforms in the context of Aboriginal justice have occurred in the context of the correctional component of the administration of justice. However, in the final analysis, for many Aboriginal offenders, the empty rhetorical dimensions of reform talk are embedded in their correctional experiences. This is particularly true for inmates in the newly created Inuit territory of Nunavut, Canada. The response to indigenous people in Canada has led to few meaningful changes in the lives of Inuit inmates. An analysis of the incarceration of the Inuit in Nunavut is in many ways a virtual reproduction of the institutional corrections which exist throughout the rest of the country. In other ways, however, Inuit inmates in Nunavut fare worse than they would if they were serving their sentences elsewhere in Canada. The alternative discourse of self-government, self-determination, and cultural relevance of social institutions is virtually absent from correctional policy in Nunavut. One possible rationale behind this correctional reality of inmates in Nunavut is that there were correctional practices already in existence prior to Nunavut being created in 1999. It would be naive to expect the closure of these prisons and entrenched correctional practices with the creation of Nunavut. In summation, the extent to which reforms can overcome institutionalized colonial practices is challenged by the experiences of Inuit inmates in Nunavut. References