Overrepresented: Indigenous Women as Profit Makers for the Canadian Judicial System

The frequency and severity of crime in Canada has been declining, however, the criminalization of Indigenous women is on the rise. How to account for this disparity? With sharp intelligence, inherent wisdom, and the grit of an investigative journalist, Annette Vermette offers new perspectives to academics and the general population regarding the overrepresentation of Indigenous women in prison in Canada. Statistically, Indigenous women are arrested more frequently than those in other demographics, and their prison sentences tend to be longer, indicating that discrimination and colonialism are alive and well in Canada, despite reconciliation efforts.

Research shows that neither the offenders nor their communities-nor the victims of crime, for that matter-obtain positive outcomes or necessary healing as a result of incarceration. Vermette investigates the possible political and economic motivators responsible for these skewed rates of incarceration and conceptualizes a new paradigm for justice in Canada using Two-Eyed Seeing-an approach in which one sees from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledge, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledge. The passion, wisdom, and expertise required to generate vital social change already exists. The path is before us. We only need to open our eyes.