Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

The legacy • 225Parole and community supportsAboriginal offenders face many challenges in obtaining parole from prison andbeginning their transition back into the community. For many Aboriginal inmatesseeking parole, their criminal history is a major factor held against them. Althoughsome research has concluded that criminal history is a reliable risk predictor for bothAboriginal and non-Aboriginal inmates, systemic discrimination related to povertyand the legacy of residential schools undoubtedly disadvantages Aboriginal offenders.154 Just as some courts have the benefit of background and contextual informationcontained in pre-sentencing reports, parole hearings need a full understanding of anoffender’s circumstances when making their decisions.When the National Parole Board grants parole, correctional programming continues.The early stages of parole are often spent in a residential correctional facility: ahalfway house. Although it is not a prison, a halfway house requires the offender toreside there and not be absent except under specific exceptions (for example, supervisedabsences or employment). It is intended as a transitional phase in an offender’sparole, neither full incarceration nor full freedom in the community, with the goal ofgradual reintegration into the community. Unfortunately, there are too few halfwayhouses that provide programming specifically for Aboriginal offenders.Call to Action37) We call upon the federal government to provide more supports for Aboriginalprogramming in halfway houses and parole services.Overrepresentation of youthThe youth justice system, perhaps even more than the adult criminal justice system,is failing Aboriginal families. Aboriginal girls make up 49% of the youth admittedto custody, and Aboriginal boys are 36% of those admitted to custody. 155 The currentlaw regarding young people accused of crimes is the Youth Criminal Justice Act, whichwas introduced in 2002. One of the key objectives of the Act is to reserve jail for themost violent or habitual offenders. Even in such cases, one of the express goals of theyouth criminal justice system is to address the circumstances underlying a young person’soffending behaviour in order to rehabilitate and reintegrate them. 156 The Act hasthe flexibility to allow Aboriginal communities to have some measure of control overthe youth process and to ensure Aboriginal perspectives are considered in individualcases.