Current Barriers and Challenges
Criminal justice system
Indigenous people are overrepresented in Canada's criminal justice system as both victims, and as people accused or convicted of crime.
Unfortunately, there are few national data sources that provide criminal justice statistics disaggregated by Indigenous identity. The limited national data that does exisdt that disaggregates criminal justice system data based on Indigenous identity includes the general social survey conducted by Statistics Canada on self-reported victimization, police-reported homicide statistics, and data on provincial/territorial and federal custody. The Department of Justice fact sheet linked below uses data from the Statistics Canada's 2014 general social survey on victimization.
Why are Indigenous people over-represented in the criminal justice system?
In 1996, the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was released. It found that the greatest contributor to over-representation continues to be the colonial values that underlie Canadian criminal laws, policies, and practices that continue to have negative impacts on Indigenous peoples.
Please refer to the linked resources for more information.
Foster care system
In 2011, Indigenous children aged 14 and younger represented seven percent of all children in Canada. In the same year, however, they accounted for almost half (48%) of all foster children in the country. Indigenous families continue to be targeted as being perceived to be unable to care for their children, which continues the genocide that was started through Indian residential schools and day schools.
Please refer to the linked resources for more information.
Indigenous languages
Due to colonization and racial discrimination against Indigenous peoples and practices, many Indigenous languages have been on the brink of extinction for many years. Indigenous languages are culture — much of a culture's information is entrenched and embedded within language. Indigenous language revitalization is critical work. Many languages have few or no fluent speakers remaining, and must work with documentation that provides insufficient information for the language's continuation. Thus, Indigenous nations are creating language revitalization programs with the intention of creating fluent speakers and teachers.
Within British Columbia, the First Peoples Cultural Council seeks to strengthen the knowledge and practice of Indigenous cultural traditions. Additionally, the First Peoples Cultural Council funds the website resource FirstVoices, that provides assistance to nations working on language revitalization. secondary institutions are creating Indigenous language programs and courses all over the country to support the revitalization of languages.
Please refer to the linked resources below for more information.
Land and treaty rights
Indigenous peoples have fought for their land rights since first contact of settlers within what is now also known as Canada. Indigenous treaties are contractual agreements between Indigenous peoples and the government of Canada. Treaties contain Indigenous rights such as resources (fishing, hunting, trapping, and land title), financial assessments, and self-governance.
Treaty negotiations are vital to Canada’s current reconciliation process. These negotiations aid in work to reclaim stolen land, and to re-establish resource rights. In acknowledging the importance of treaty negotiations, it is important to recognize that this includes addressing the colonial mindset of having to "prove" Indigenous peoples' claims to the land. This is a difficult task, due to the mass displacement of Indigenous peoples, and histories that have occurred over the past two centuries of colonization.
Many nations all over Canada are currently involved in the treaty process. British Columbia has its own treaty commission to support the nations in their treaty negotiations, called the British Columbia Treaty Commission.
Please refer to the linked resources below for more information.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) is an epidemic that has long caused suffering for Indigenous peoples residing within Canada. The history of Canada is built, fundamentally, on institutions of racism and inequality that have resulted in the injustice that Indigenous peoples continue to face. Much of this injustice has manifest as egregious violence toward Indigenous women and girls.
According to Statistics Canada, Indigenous women are three times more likely to be victims of violent crimes. Canada launched a national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls that was released in 2019. United Nations spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani stated, in an email regarding the inquiry's report, that “[the] national inquiry found reasons to believe that Canada's past and present policies, omissions and actions amount to genocide, under international law” in an email last year regarding the report ("UN Human Rights Office Calls on Feds to Assess Serious Claims of Genocide | CBC News," June 17, 2019). The federal government has yet to implement any plan of actions regarding the ongoing atrocities that Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people experience.
Please refer to the linked resources below for more information.
Pipelines
There has been considerable debate around pipelines within Indigenous territories, and their environmental ramifications. The government of Canada has a due diligence, as written in the Constitution Act, 1982, to receive the consent of Indigenous leaders in regards to land usage. Pipelines permitted without informed consent of Indigenous leaders are a direct violation of section 35 of the 1982 constitution.
A key concern regarding pipelines is that they destroy the environmental safety of the land, and intrude on the culturally sacred sites of Indigenous peoples. The free and informed consent of Indigenous leaders is a critical prerequisite for all major projects proceeding on Indigenous land.
Please refer to the linked resources for more information and examples of current pipeline projects within Indigenous territory.