The president of the Aboriginal Affairs Coalition of Saskatchewan says we can do better when it comes to the justice system and Aboriginals.
Kim Beaudin is calling on Premier Brad Wall to conduct a provincial justice review to get to the bottom of the numbers that show 80 per cent of Saskatchewan’s inmates are Aboriginal.
He adds this review needs to look at why there has been a 90 per cent increase in incarceration rates for Aboriginal women over the last 10 years.
Beaudin says the Wall government could save millions of dollars if it took a leadership role in fixing the problems.
He blames discrimination, poverty and alcoholism in part but says there is a lot more to the story.
Earlier this month, Canada’s correctional investigator released a scathing report on how poorly Aboriginals are treated in Canada’s penal system.