Thank you for the question, sir.
I agree that there is that overincarceration of indigenous and other marginalized peoples in custody, but to me that stems from a societal issue in the case of indigenous people, with the residential school system that was in place for over 100 years. I speak specifically about the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, which opened in 1831 and closed in 1970.
There is that intergenerational trauma that has been passed down. The language was lost. The traditions were lost. People forgot how to say “I love you”. That's coming from survivors I have spoken with who were in the Mohawk Institute. That leads to addiction, poverty and lack of education, and then those affected by that turn to crime. It's sad to see, but we still have a responsibility to ensure the public safety of our communities, because 99% of the time the offender is indigenous and so is the victim.