NWAC President says findings of Correctional Investigator are signs of a failed system and every elected official in Ottawa should be held accountable

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2, 2022

OTTAWA – A statement from Carol McBride, the President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), on the findings contained in the Annual Report of the Correctional Investigator of Canada:

“The Correctional Investigator of Canada issued a report yesterday that confirmed the number of incarcerated Indigenous women had reached 50% this year. Even more shocking is the fact that of the women who were classified as maximum-security prisoners, almost 65% of them are Indigenous.

Every time we receive reports of the discriminatory and unjust treatment of Indigenous prisoners in Canada, hope rekindles that it will be the “wake-up call” leading to change.

But, after decades and decades of wake-up calls through damning reports like the one issued by the Correctional Investigator of Canada, we have run out of optimism.

At the Native Women’s Association of Canada, we have come to understand that the federal government is blatantly ignoring the suffering of the thousands of Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, transgendered, and gender-diverse people who are behind bars in this country.

The half-empty healing lodges, the stalled construction of healing lodges that had been promised, the failure to appoint a commissioner of Indigenous corrections – these are all signs of failure on the part of successive governments to meet a basic standard of human rights.

This is shameful neglect, and every elected official in Ottawa should be held to account.”

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