This is a question I would have put to the minister, but in his absence, anyone who wishes may answer.
The Office of the Correctional Investigator's latest annual report concluded that the federal prison system has practices that discriminate against aboriginal offenders. For example, it found that the Correctional Service of Canada routinely classifies first nations, Métis, and Inuit inmates as higher security risks than non-native inmates. It also found that aboriginal offenders are released later in their sentences than other inmates and that they are more likely than other offenders to have their conditional release revoked for technical reasons. The report also says that aboriginal inmates often do not receive timely access to rehabilitative programming and services that would help them return to their communities.
Do you accept the correctional investigator's findings? If so, how do you intend to respond to them? More generally, how do you intend to respond to the problem—and it is a more than serious prejudicial issue—of the overrepresentation of aboriginal people in the prison system?