My apologies.
We know that these populations do not have a greater propensity for criminal behaviour than their white counterparts, but the overrepresentation is, again, due to systemic racism and pathologizing.
I think it's important to note that I am not advocating for the ideological indoctrination of judges; rather, our research has demonstrated the importance of identifying systemic bias in the legal system and the differential impact on rights holders to access justice in accordance with their charter rights.
It is important that the committee incorporates the intersectional framework developed by the Black legal scholar Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, who has written extensively on how court processes must be informed by the nuanced, evidence-based understanding of how historical, legal and social inequities harm rights holders who experience both racism and sexism.
Intersectionality has been judicially recognized across multiple Anglo common-law jurisdictions. Moreover, scholars have documented that Canadian legal frameworks have been embedded with preconceived biases and myths throughout, especially during trials and sentences.
As noted by the legal scholar and historian Dr. Constance Backhouse, there is a “professional culture of whiteness” in the Canadian legal profession, resulting in judges who are “not well-equipped to address racism claims.” Inaccurate and demeaning myths result in the systemic criminalization of Black, indigenous and/or racialized Canadians and compromise our charter rights.
I would invite the committee to consider the following recommendations. I think it's important that the proposed anonymous complaints mechanism remain, because it is essential due to the power imbalances between the judiciary and laypeople.
I think the members of the judiciary, review panel members and screening officers must undergo mandatory training to ensure sound technical knowledge and competencies in areas such as gender-based and racial bias, intersectionality, indigenous cultural sensitivity and humility and training that's developed by elders and knowledge keepers and delivered by indigenous trainers. It's important that they have trauma-informed training and a complaint process that is based on transformative accountability and justice principles.
It's also important to ensure an independent, impartial and representative review panel, and have review panel members disclose any perceived or actual conflict of interest in relation to the complainant. Then, to ensure—