crime and poverty and alienation

In 2008-09 , aboriginal convicts made up a whopping 71% of all admissions to provincial institutions. From 1998 to 2008, the aboriginal population in federal prisons increased by nearly 20%. Why is there such an overrepresentation of aboriginal peoples in the jails?

Eric Robinson, Manitoba's minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, says "It's hard to overcome generations of oppression towards aboriginal people. As a result, many aboriginal people fall between the cracks and then wind up doing time." The residential school era took away the students' cultural identity, which has been passed on through generations, he said. "We have not been able as aboriginal people to generate enough to end that cycle that appears to be there. What has happened has been ... this loss of identity of aboriginal people and that's what has contributed to the social discourse of aboriginal people for the most part in the province of Manitoba."

Jennifer Wood, residential school compensation co-ordinator with the Association of Manitoba Chiefs, explained "...that the direct link to many of our problems is ... these are children of residential school survivors. When you come out, you don't have the parenting skills, you don't have the emotional comfort that a child should have, you don't have the ability to teach them certain things." Many families live in poverty on reserves, and when people make the move to the city, that poverty continues, she said. "Once you come in to the city, you are a target because you are a vulnerable person," she said. "You don't have the street smarts. Vulnerability is a breeding ground for people wanting to recruit young people into the drug scene."

Poverty is often linked to criminal activity, and Wayne Helgason, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg says it is the "single most determining factor" for whether or not one chooses a life of crime. 68% of children under the age of six who are aboriginal live in poverty. When educational and other opportunities are missed, there is a general disassociation with society and its norms and values, he said. "It gives you permission in your own way, to take what you can, while you can for immediate basic needs," he said. "So it's a predictable situation. If we have poverty and exclusion, we will have increasing rates of crime."