Blending the Traditional with the Contemporary in the Treatment of Aboriginal Sexual Offenders

Abstract

While there has been a long-standing recognition of the overrepresentation of Native Canadians in conflict with the law, systems have been slow in attempting to identify, understand, and address this profound and alarming societal concern. Aboriginal people have the highest arrest, incarceration, and crime rates of any group in Canada, and native offenders are disproportionately represented in most provincial, territorial, and federal correctional institutions (LaPrairie, 1996). LaPrairie reports that, although the 1991 census revealed that only 3.7% of the Canadian population reported being of aboriginal ancestry, the averaged number of admissions of aboriginal offenders to federal and provincial correctional institutions between 1989 and 1994 was 11.8% and 20.2%, respectively (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 1994). The level of disproportionality increases in certain regions of Canada, with the prairie provinces (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta) having the largest overrepresentation of aboriginal inmates. As of December 1995, 39% of the inmates incarcerated in federal institutions in the prairie region were aboriginal (Cowie, 1996). LaPrairie (1996) reports comparable and even higher percentages of aboriginal inmates as being found in provincial institutions within the prairies.