Aboriginal Law

In a commentary in the Globe and Mail, Amanda Carling, manager of the Indigenous Initiatives Office, highlights the issue of innocent people – a disproportionate number of them First Nations, Inuit and Métis people – pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit ("Pleading guilty when innocent: A truth for too many Indigenous people," May 23, 2018).

Read the full commentary on the Globe and Mail website, or below.

In a commentary in Policy Options, Prof. Douglas Sanderson says that in the future, Indigenous confederacies that exercise self-government and have taxation power could also be part of the larger equalization system ("A federal equalization program that includes First Nations," May 16, 2018).

In a commentary in the Ottawa Citizen, Prof. Kent Roach argues that the federal government's proposal in Bill C-75 to eliminate peremptory challenges in jury selection is an important first step towards ensuring representative juries ("Ending peremptory challenges in jury selection is a good first step," April 2, 2018).

Read the full commentary on the Ottawa Citizen website, or below.

Colten Boushie in a photo posted Nov. 6, 2011 (photo via Facebook)

By Geoffrey Vendeville

The verdict in the Colten Boushie case has provoked outrage across the country and prompted reflection about how the justice system treats Indigenous people. 

Amanda Carling, Manager of Indigenous Initiatives, and Prof. Kent Roach are among the co-authors of a commentary in the Globe and Mail calling on the federal government to amend the criminal code to allow judges to depart from mandatory minimum sentences if they give specific reasons for doing so, as recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ("Mandatory minimum sentencing should be Trudeau’s first resolution," January 2, 2018).