Canada is failing Aboriginal Peoples who wind up behind bars, report says

OTTAWA – Canada’s correctional investigator is giving the country’s prison system a failing grade for the way it deals with aboriginals behind bars.

The report by Howard Sapers says the gap in incarceration rates between aboriginals and non-aboriginals is widening.

Sapers says roughly one in four inmates in federal penitentiaries is aboriginal.

But he says aboriginal-specific provisions in the justice system are chronically underfunded.

Sapers is calling on the Harper government to significantly increase funding to deal with aboriginal offenders.

He also recommends appointing a deputy commissioner for aboriginal corrections to ensure the government is held to account in dealing with incarceration rates for Aboriginal Peoples.