QUESTION PERIOD — Indigenous Services
Overrepresentation of Indigenous People in Prisons
October 28, 2025
Welcome, minister. Thank you for being here.
Incarceration remains one of the starkest legacies and the current manifestation of residential schools and other colonial practices of forced separation and institutionalization. Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or TRC, Call to Action No. 30, the government committed to eliminating the overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in prisons by this year — in fact, by the end of last month.
One in two women and one in three men in federal prisons are Indigenous, and efforts such as the Indigenous Justice Strategy have only, however unintentionally, perpetuated and exacerbated overrepresentation. What concrete social, health, economic and educational services is your department funding in communities to help end the conditions that result in systems failing Indigenous Peoples such that they end up in the only system that cannot refuse them, the prison and criminal legal system?
Thank you. Every single one of the Calls to Action is important work that needs to be done. For me, as an Indigenous person, I have to acknowledge that centuries of harm done to people continue to contribute to the reality, much like in the justice system, that people are facing today.
There is continued work that needs to be put in place to respond to that action. I support my colleague Minister Fraser in the work that he is doing; I’m more than willing to help him with the insight that I have as an Indigenous person, with what I’m hearing from communities.
But there are supports that we have to continue to provide in the community. That prevention component is critical: investing in early childhood, investing in support and homes, taking a whole-of-family approach when there is an issue. This is what I envision for other files, like child and family care, ensuring that we are not only looking at the child that is facing adversity, but we are looking at the home, and we are working with every member in that family to support them in a healing process. That is not on a timeline. That is meeting them in their needs, on their timeline, in their space and supporting them based on a cultural context, supporting them in a context that allows for them to speak their language or empower themselves in land-based programs.
At a time when the government is focused on efficient public spending, how is it evaluating the financial costs and public safety outcomes of mass incarceration of Indigenous Peoples versus what could be achieved by investments through Indigenous Services Canada, or ISC, in health care, housing, education, social and income supports and other measures that address the marginalization and, therefore, the victimization and criminalization of Indigenous Peoples?
Thank you. The work of my colleague Minister of Public Safety is critical work. We are there to support him with the information that he needs. I am able to ensure that I raise this with him the question that came to me today. I have had discussions with him.
It’s really a part of the work that we’re doing to have an inter-ministerial approach. I support my colleagues. I am always there to be in a position to offer them the information that they need, to speak about things that are outside of their scope, such as, as I said previously, the importance of prevention, aligning ourselves with having a restorative justice approach. All other mechanisms that we can offer to them within ISC’s scope, we want to build that efficiency and the capacity for them to apply their —
Thank you, minister.
