The 2018 Stapleford Lecture

Wed., Mar. 21, 2018 7:00 p.m.

Location: The University of Regina, Research and Innovation Centre, room 119

Are Prisons Canada's New Residential Schools?

Presented by Nancy Macdonald
Journalist, The Globe and Mail

Wednesday 21 March 2018, 7:00 PM
Research and Innovation Centre, room 119

To walk into morning bail court in North Battleford, Saskatchewan means confronting a disturbing truth: some 90 percent of defendants appearing before a judge are likely to be Indigenous. It’s a scene repeated in courtrooms across the Prairies, from Regina to Prince Albert, to Winnipeg. In the last decade, while admissions of white adults to Canadian prisons were declining, Indigenous incarceration rates were surging, leading criminologists to begin quietly referring to Canada’s prisons as 'the new residential schools'. As Macdonald will explain, discriminatory practices and a biased system work against Indigenous accused, from the moment they are first identified by police, to their appearance before a judge, to their hearing before a parole board. For the ugly, current reality is that if you happen to be Indigenous, justice in Canada is not blind.

For more information about Nancy Macdonald, and about this event, please visit the Stapleford Lecture website.