PERCEPTIONS OF RACISM IN YOUTH CORRECTIONS: THE BRITISH COLUMBIA EXPERIENCE 1

I Resume Similar to their adult counterparts, Native youth have been identified as experiencing differential treatment within the youth justice system in Canada. This research discovered that, for the most part, both Native youth and correctional senior management in British Columbia felt racist attitudes and behaviours were not overtly present in youth corrections. The research also examined the intensity of abuse and neglect which incarcerated Native youth had experienced throughout their lives. It was discovered that most Native youth in British Columbia's correctional facilities had lengthy histories of physical, sexual, emotional and substance abuse. II est reconnu que les jeunes autochtones, a I'instar des adultes, subissent un traitement distinct au sein du systeme judiciaire canadien. Cette recherche a decouvert qU'en general les jeunes autochtones et les cadres du systeme correctionnel avaient I'impression que les attitudes et les comportements racistes ne se manifestaient pas ouvertement dans les centres de correction. La recherche s'est aussi penchee sur Ie degre d'abus et sur Ie manque de soins que les jeunes autochtones incarceres ont subi toute leur vie. On a decouvert que la plupart d'entre eux, places dans les institutions correctionnelles en Colombie-Britannique, avaient une longue histoire d'abus physique, sexuel et psychologique et eprouvaient des problemes de drogue. The Canadian Joumal ofNative Stucles XVII, 2(1997):329-350. 330 Michael P. MacDonald Indigenous youth throughout Canada pose a unique challenge for both the formal youth criminal justice system and various social service agencies. The documented marginalization of Native peoples is often reflected in varied states of economic dependence and cultural disintegration as many communities are plagued by high rates of unemployment, capital deficiency, infant mortality, substance abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, spousal assault, suicide and violent deaths (LaPrairie, 1995, 1988; Griffiths and Verdun-Jones, 1994). Intricately woven into this social and cultural tunnoil are the lives of Aboriginal children. Faced with such diversities, some Native youth resort to criminal behaviour as an outlet for their frustration, hopelessness, anger and boredom. It is routinely argued, and commonly perceived, that the differences between Native and Anglo-Canadian cultures results in discriminatory practices by insensitive justice system personnel when dealing with Native youth. As a result, such ethnocentric behaviour has been identified as one of the major contributors to the disproportionate number of Native children repeatedly found in the youth justice system (Hamilton and Sinclair, 1991; Griffiths and Verdun-Jones, 1994). Furthermore, it is argued that the negative justice system experience fosters additional criminal activity because of unfair labelling as well· as learned and/or reinforced criminal values. This then creates a damaging cyclical effect where many Native youth are perpetually caught within the criminal justice system thereby making it extremely difficult for practitioners to provide effective crime prevention assistance. One official response to the apparent disproportionate numberof Native youth in custodial facilities has been the provincial inquiries into the youth justice systems' treatment of Native children. Both Alberta and Manitoba have published reports that confirm and detail many of the above criticisms (Cawsey, 1991; Hamilton and Sinclair, 1991). However, there has been no similar official inquiry in British Columbia. Therefore, this research project was developed to undertake an initial examination of the attitudes of both incarcerated Native youth and correctional senior management on the racism issue in British Columbia's youth correctional facilities. Before presenting the results of the personal interviews, it is necessary to first overview literature conceming the relationship between racism and Native peoples in Canada. Perceptions of Racism in Youth Corrections 331 Analysis of Racism in Canadian Society The Manitoba Justice Inquiry: Treatment of Native Youth Partly as a result of several fatal confrontations between Native Indians and the police, there has been a widespread perception that the province of Manitoba's justice system has changed little in its apparently longstanding practice of biased treatment towards Native persons. The Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba (1991) addressed this serious issue by providing a detailed description of the treatment Native persons received within that province's youth and adult justice systems. Concerning young offenders, the Manitoba Inquiry discovered that Native youth account for approximately 70% of all incarcerated residents in "secure" institutions while Native peoples comprise (unofficially) only about 14% of the entire provincial population (Hamilton and Sinclair, 1991 :549). This disproportionality raised the following key questions. Do Native youth account for more crime than non-Natives? And, are the disproportionate numbers due to prejudice and racism within the youth justice system itself? In addressing these questions, Hamilton and Sinclair (1991) provided four conclusions. They found that in comparison to nonNative youth, Native youth tended to have: more charges laid against them; were less likely to benefit from legal representation as they often lived in isolated northern communities; were more often detained before trial, detained longer and denied bail; and experienced more delays before their cases were processed though were more likely to receive custodial sentences (Hamilton and Sinclair, 1991 :549-550). The Province of Alberta: Justice on Trial Following Manitoba, the provincial government of Alberta commissioned a task force to examine the treatment Aboriginal peoples received within their criminal justice system. VVith a Native birth rate double that of the non-Native population, the Alberta government projected that if current trends persisted forthe next eighteen years, substantially more Native youth could experience contact with the justice system unless substantive changes occurred. Though the Alberta inquiry did not focus exclusively on Native youth, large quantities of anecdotal and statistical information relevant to Native children were obtained from the various community meetings and short interviews conducted in youth detention centres. The most striking statistic found was that similar to Manitoba, Native youth in Alberta were vastly over-represented in custodial facilities. For example, during 1989 approximately 1,450 Aboriginal youth received cus332 Michael P. MacDonald todial dispositions and on average Native youth accounted for about 36% of the custodial resident population (Cawsey, 1991:18-57). The task force further uncovered a disproportionality in the number of Native youth receiving sentenced dispositions compared to non-Natives. Between 1986 and 1989, sentenced admissions for Native young offenders increased by 18.2% while admissions for non-Natives decreased by 8%. The reality of this is that Native youth living in the province of Alberta have a much greater chance of receiving a custodial disposition than their non-Native counterparts. Furthermore, it was discovered that 93% of all youth participating in alternative measures programs were not ofAboriginal descent (Cawsey, 1991 :8-57). These findings strongly suggest a reluctance on the part of justice system personnel to divert Native youth from formal processing. Another disturbing finding was that based on offense characteristics for 1989/90, 53% of Native custodial residents were property offenders while only 4.8% had committed offenses against persons with 11 % being against the administration of justice. The remaining youth had committed offenses against various other statutes (Cawsey, 1991 :18-57). Contrary to media and public perceptions that young offenders are not punished frequently or harshly enough for their crimes, such data indicate that youth correctional facilities still largely house non-serious property related offenders. This supports Markwart's (1992) critical question ofwhy young offenders, including Native youth, are routinely being incarcerated for non-violent offenses when the Young Offenders Act [YOA) supposedly follows the principle of least interference? The Alberta report also highlighted a myriad of social problems Aboriginal youth suffer. The infant mortality rate, for example, was four times that of non-Natives and life expectancy for Native children was ten years shorter than their non-Native counterparts. Complimenting this was the fact that when Native youth reached adolescence there was a 50% chance they would not complete grade nine and were more likely to receive a custodial sentence at some point in their lives than graduate from secondary school. Aboriginal youth were also three times more likely to be committed to a youth correctional centre than non-Native youth. Finally, the suicide rate for Aboriginal children was estimated to be approximately five times that of comparable non-Native youth and the chance of an Aboriginal child dying from tuberculosis was 27 times that of a non-Aboriginal (Cawsey, 1991 :856,8-57). Presented with the existing dismal profile, the inquiry attempted to provide possible explanations for the disproportionate number ofAboriginal offenders entering the youth justice system as well as options for addressPerceptions of Racism in Youth Corrections 333 ing certain social problems that may affect criminal behaviour. First, from a policy perspective, the criminal justice system in Alberta had no apparent and/or identifiable philosophy or mandate to coordinate the myriad of ministries, programs and facilities that were designed to service and process Native youth. Further, there was no integrated approach for addressing Aboriginal social, political, criminal and/or economic problems (Cawsey, 1991).