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Racism in Canada is something that the average Canadian believes exists only in other countries. After all, Canadians never took part in slave trading or in many of the religious and racist wars that have been fought in history. As a matter of fact, that is one of the reasons why Canada is so well respected as a peacekeeping nation. We are well respected in the international community and locally. Even the Americans seem to like us. However, there is a dark side to a large part of the Canadian population when it comes to racism. For hundreds of years now, we have treated our native North American people like they were a retarded brother or sister, one that could not be trusted to look after themselves. As a result of this attitude, many of our non-native citizens regard our native population as a bother.
The stereotype of the "useless Indian" living off the hard work of others is so common amongst the common Canadian, that the average native is judged and convicted long before trial in the event they happen to end up being charged. Native people have no reason to expect nor hope for a fair trial, as they are being judged by people who may hate them for the color of their skin or believe them guilty simply because of their heritage. For example, "Widespread anti-aboriginal racism is a grim reality in Canada and Saskatchewan", Mr. Barclay said in a 20-page ruling. "It exists in Canada openly and blatantly in attitudes and actions of individuals. It exists privately in the fears, in the prejudices and stereotypes held by many people and it exists in our institutions." The institutions referred to in this statement include our prisons, parole board, police forces, courts and both provincial and federal governments.
The reason for this is fairly obvious once you look at the native population in comparison with the non-native population. Sault Ste. Marie, for example, has approximately 4000 native people between 8 local reserves. It also has approximately 50 000 people in the city itself. This means that, in an average trial by jury, 2 native people will be called upon from every 25 people called. The odds are very good that a jury trying a native person will probably not have even one native member. So much for the theory of a jury of our peers. When you combine these previous statements and statistics with the following statements made by Madam Justice Beverly McLachlin, "To suggest that all persons who possess racial prejudices will erase those prejudices from mind when serving as jurors is to underestimate the insidious nature of racial prejudice and the stereotyping that underlies it" and " To require evidence that some jurors will be unable to set their prejudices aside is to ask the impossible...", you may reach some interesting conclusions. For example, the average person who is prejudiced may not even realize it, and if they do, may not be able to keep themselves from acting upon these feelings. When this is taken into account with the fact it would be difficult or impossible to prove someone is prejudiced beyond a reasonable doubt, it becomes imperative to act in the best interests of justice by removing anyone from jury duty who may be prejudiced against the accused.
However, this may still not be enough. A conversation was had between Mr. John Moore and Mr. Lorne Falls, Assistant Superintendent of the Sault Ste. Marie Jail while John was there. This is a verbatim transcript of this conversation, as written by John.
While I was in Mr. Lorne Falls office on an institutional charge by one of the guards at the Sault Jail. As I was in his office, we got into a heavy conversation about what some lawyers told him about Indian (Native) people while they were visiting their clients at the city jail. At the end of this conversation, Mr. Lorne Falls said, "Because you are an Indian, there is no way you will get a fair trial anywhere in Canada, even if you are innocent." Mr. Lorne Falls continued on to say, "I talked to a number of lawyers about your case. Those lawyers told me that because you are an Indian, you will never receive a fair trial in Canada." What an eye opener! my first experience with real racism in the Canadian Justice System. This is a system that is supposed to be fair to all of Canada's citizens.
This indicates that the problems in the Justice System may go much deeper than we think. Perhaps, in the future we may figure out a better way to ensure our citizens have a fair trial, but for now we must keep trying to improve the system we have. One method for this may be to ensure that at least one third of the jury is from the accused's own heritage. This would help keep a person from being convicted simply because of the color of their skin, and would still help maintain a fair trial system. I don't know what the answers are, but I do know we owe it to all our citizens, not just our "best" members of society, to always try and improve upon our treatment of our fellow Canadians, no matter what their heritage.
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