On March 20, 2014, Statistics Canada released new data about admissions to youth and adult corrections services in 2011 to 2012. Overall, admission to correctional facilities has decreased by 7 percent and 1 percent in youth and adults respectively. Most of the individuals admitted are male (77 percent in youth and 85 percent in adults) and spending on adult correctional services passed the $4 billion mark in 2011-2012. Most notably, these results showed that Aboriginal people, which include First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals, are over-represented in admissions to correctional services. Despite Aboriginal people making up approximately 4 percent of the Canadian adult population and 7 percent of the youth population of those provinces that track corrections data, they accounted for more than 28 percent and about 39 percent of admissions respectively in 2011-2012.
Aboriginal people, which include First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals, are over-represented in admissions to correctional services.
In the adult group, 43 percent of females were sentenced to custody and 37 percent were admitted to remand as compared to 27 percent and 23 percent respectively for males. Similarly, Aboriginal girls made up a higher proportion of admissions with 49 percent being admitted to the corrections systems compared to 36 percent of male youth.
According to the annual report release by the Office of the Correctional Investigator for the 2011-2012 year, Aboriginal offenders accounted for 45 percent (104 individuals) of all self-injury incidents with one third of these incidents occurring in segregation units. Aboriginal people are also reported to experience high rates of mental health issues, suicide and trauma.
For the complete Statistics Canada articles and data tables, visit the StatsCan website.
For the Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator 2011-2012, visit the Office of the Correctional Investigator website.