Les peuples américains et le système judiciaire canadien: Spéléologie d'un trou de mémoire
Abstract Why are First Nations overrepresented in Canadian prisons? The habitual answer is that the Canadian justice system is not adapted to Aboriginal cultures. This has given rise to various measures of adjustment, which have not, however, contributed significantly to halt the constant increase o...
| Published in: | Canadian journal of law and society |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2002
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0829320100007274 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0829320100007274 |
| Summary: | Abstract Why are First Nations overrepresented in Canadian prisons? The habitual answer is that the Canadian justice system is not adapted to Aboriginal cultures. This has given rise to various measures of adjustment, which have not, however, contributed significantly to halt the constant increase of overrepresentation. The author argues that this predicament is rather due to the lack of credibility that the Canadian justice system has in the eyes of Aboriginal peoples, given its involvement in the dismantling of Aboriginal institutions of social control since the middle of the nineteenth century. For this reason, first of all, one must dissociate oneself from certain founding myths of present-day Canada. Moreover, all must be set in motion to allow Aboriginal peoples to reappropriate their political institutions, including their own ways of administering justice. Make no mistake: it is not a question of returning to the past, but rather of moving ahead towards the future. |
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