Indigenous people continue to be overrepresented in Canada’s criminal justice system as both victims and those accused of crime. This fact sheet presents a statistical overview of the key areas of overrepresentation of Indigenous people at different stages of the criminal justice system.
Although the collection of national data on the Indigenous identity of those in contact with the criminal justice system has improved over time, there continues to be limited data with respect to distinctions-based breakdowns (i.e., First Nations, Inuit, Métis).
This fact sheet summarizes available data from a variety of sources, including Statistics Canada (i.e., General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization), the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS), the Homicide Survey, and correctional surveys), the Department of Justice Canada’s National Justice Survey (NJS), Public Safety Canada, and the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI).