This report presents findings on the representation and outcomes of Indigenous people as accused in Canadian criminal courts. This is the first time that national statistics on Indigenous accused in criminal courts are reported in Canada.
This study addresses four key objectives:
Identify whether the criminal court process itself contributes to the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system (CJS);
Identify disproportionality in court outcomes of Indigenous accused, compared to White accused, at key stages/decision points of the criminal court process;
Identify whether other sociodemographic variables (e.g., sex and age group) affect the level of disproportionate outcomes experienced by Indigenous people at key stages/decision points of the criminal court process; and,
Identify areas that warrant further exploration and data development.
This study was a collaborative effort between the Research and Statistics Division at the Department of Justice Canada and the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics at Statistics Canada. The data used in this study were obtained through a data linkage whereby records from Statistics Canada’s 2016 Census of Population long-form (Census) and the Integrated Criminal Court Survey (ICCS) were linked together to obtain the Indigenous identity of accused. The linked data were used to generate two types of metrics: 1) proportions of Indigenous and White accused in criminal courts; and 2) the Relative Rate Index (RRI).