File photo.
Renu Mandhane has visited Ontario’s provincial jails in northern Ontario where inmates largely identity as First Nation.
In fact, Mandhane visited the Thunder Bay, Ont. jail last Tuesday in her official role as the chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
“I did a walk through and I asked the superintendent there how many of the folks were Indigenous and he said about 75 per cent of the population,” said Mandhane on Nation to Nation Thursday.
“I’ve been to the Kenora jail where they told me it was close to 100 per cent.”
Mandhane also previously dug into Ontario’s child welfare population finding First Nations children represent a higher rate of children in care compared to other races.
There’s a connection between child welfare and jail – something she calls the “child welfare to prison pipeline.”
“Many of the people I spoke to Tuesday talked about their experiences of institutionalization and that those experiences started in the child welfare system where they weren’t given the capacity to really live an independent life and to get an education,” said Mandhane.
Another report this week said the number of the Indigenous inmates in federal prisons across Canada is at an all time high with 30 per cent identifying as Indigenous.
No one knows the total number of First Nations, Metis and Inuit children in child welfare but it’s believed to be at least over 40,000 across Canada.
Mandhane also sounded the alarm earlier this week on provincial jails saying they were in crisis.
One of the causes behind the crisis, she said, was due to overcrowding and speaks to this in her interview with host Todd Lamirande.
Nation to Nation also speaks to the co-host of Ottawa’s Inuktitut-language radio show and how she who is, or isn’t, on her list to be guests on the show.
“I probably wouldn’t want him on my show,” said Jessie Kangok, referring to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “So he’s probably not on my list.”
Also, is the Metis National Council in danger of breaking up?
Manitoba Metis Federation President David Chartrand blames Ontario for giving non-Metis people citizenship.
“Always prevented anybody from stealing our identity. Now we have the wolf at the door. We gotta stop that,” he said.
Catch all the interviews below.
I’ve been fighting for over a year now to get my children back home. CFS arent willing to give them back. They are using my children as punishment because I swore at a social worker! My children ages 4-8-11 are in a group home telling me about the other aboriginal children in the other units…
They should’ve been home by now, and yet this social worker decided she was gonna ounish me. Causing more trauma for my children.
#ItsNotRight
Even my children are acting out and that’s not normal.
I’ve had enough and fired off an email to so many people within children services hoping to get an answer as to why their not following their practices they say they are .
APTN I have a story for you!