Thank you very much, Chairman, and thank you, committee members, for inviting us to appear so early in the session. I really appreciate the opportunity to provide this briefing and answer your questions.
Of course, I am joined by Dr. Zinger, executive director of my office, who will make some remarks within mine. Feel free to direct questions to either of us.
We're going to give you a background briefing on our role, mandate, and priorities. Then, with respect to the specific concerns of this committee, I'll try to highlight some of the gaps and challenges facing indigenous people in federal corrections today and point to some directions for reform.
The Office of the Correctional Investigator was established in 1973 on the recommendation of a commission of inquiry that looked into the bloody five-day riot at Kingston Penitentiary back in 1971. A main finding of the inquiry centred on the lack of an effective and impartial outlet to redress inmate complaints and grievances.
In 1992, the office's mandate was entrenched into legislation—part III of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. It's interesting that the lack of an effective and expeditious grievance process continues to be a number one concern of the office.
Under part III of the CCRA, the office is mandated to conduct investigations into the problems of federal offenders related to decisions, recommendations, acts or omissions of the Correctional Service of Canada.
The office is an oversight, not an advocacy, body. Staff members don't take sides when resolving complaints against the Correctional Service. The office independently investigates legitimate complaints and ensures that federal offenders are treated fairly and in compliance with the legal and policy frameworks. We view corrections through a human rights lens and we make recommendations to the Correctional Service to ensure safe, lawful, and humane correctional practice.
My staff has complete and unfettered access to all federal facilities, CSC documents, staff, and offenders. I consider offender access to my office, including ensuring staff presence and visibility, to be a priority when fulfilling my mandate. Investigative staff regularly visit federal institutions to meet with both offenders and staff, and I can tell you they are a very busy group.
With respect to the issues and concerns of this committee, in January of this year, my office reported that the federal correctional system had sadly achieved an ignominious milestone, with 25% of the inmate population in federal penitentiaries now comprising indigenous people. That percentage rises to more than 35% for federally incarcerated women.
To put these numbers in some perspective, between 2005 and 2015, the federal inmate population grew by about 10%. Over the same period, the aboriginal inmate population increased by more than 50%, while the number of aboriginal women inmates almost doubled, being one of the fastest growing subpopulations in federal custody. My office estimates that indigenous people are incarcerated at a rate seven to ten times higher than the national average.
For young indigenous people, the criminal justice system has become what residential schools were for their parents and grandparents. In 2014-15, aboriginal youth between the ages of 12 and 17 accounted for 33% of all admissions to youth custody in Canada. Indigenous girls accounted for 44% of female youth admitted to custody last year. Unfortunately, many of these people find their way into the adult correctional system.