AG Report: Indigenous Offenders Not Getting Timely Access To Correctional Programs
"An inspection by Canada’s auditor general found that Correctional
Service Canada (CSC) did not provide rehabilitation programs, including
culturally specific programs, to indigenous offenders in a timely manner
— one of many issues that he says make up a situation that is 'beyond
unacceptable' for Canada’s aboriginal people.
The auditor general’s report, tabled Tuesday morning in the House of
Commons, found that only 20 per cent of indigenous offenders were able
to complete programs designed to prevent them from re-offending 'by the
time they were eligible to be considered for conditional release by the
Parole Board.'
'Very few' indigenous offenders were released on parole, in
comparison to non-indigenous offenders, the report also concluded. Out
of the 69 per cent released at their statutory release dates, more than
three quarters of those indigenous offenders re-entered society directly
from maximum- or medium-security prisons.
In his report, Auditor General Michael Ferguson referred back to his
predecessor, Sheila Fraser — who, near the end of her mandate, described
the response to her 10 years of audits and recommendations related to
areas impacting indigenous peoples as 'unacceptable.'
'When you add the results of these audits to those we reported on in
the past, I can only describe the situation as it exists now as beyond
unacceptable,' Ferguson said. 'This is now more than a decade’s worth of
audits showing that programs have failed to effectively serve Canada’s
indigenous peoples.'”
View the Report
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