Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

12-1:30pm In the early 1990’s, each of the three Prairie Provinces held judicial inquiries into Aboriginal Justice. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples followed these inquiries with a National analysis. All of these important studies reviewed the disproportionate representation of Aboriginal peoples in the Canadian Justice System. At present about 20% of federal offenders are Aboriginal. On the Prairies, provincial Aboriginal incarceration rates range from 35% in Alberta to 80% in Saskatchewan. In the words of Justice Cawsey from the Alberta Inquiry: “The only things that have worked for Natives have come from Natives”. There are consistent statistics demonstrating the decreased rate of reoffending or recidivism where Aboriginal offenders have gone through Aboriginal programming including healing lodges, ceremonies and opportunities to commune with Elders. Just this past winter, Howard Sapers, Correctional Investigator for Correctional Services of Canada underlined these facts. Mr. Sapers emphas