Mr. Speaker, on November 28, 2013, I asked a question regarding our correctional system, which is having a very hard time rehabilitating Canadian prisoners.
The question had to do with the report by the Correctional Investigator, Howard Sapers, who revealed that a large number of prisoners who are members of minority groups, for example aboriginal offenders, leave prison without having accessed programs or having received the rehabilitation they absolutely need. The minister claimed that there was nothing to worry about and that the existing programs were quite adequate. I disagree.
This Conservative government continues to ignore the negative impact of its Safe Streets and Communities Act. By bringing in mandatory minimum penalties and harsher punishments for young people, the Conservatives have plunged us into a real crisis. The prison population is drastically increasing.
It has been established and documented that aboriginal people and visible minorities are over-represented in Canadian prisons. The number of aboriginal prisoners has increased by 46%. They now represent one-quarter of all inmates, but only 4% of the Canadian population.
The numbers are even worse for aboriginal women, who have seen an 80% rise. Nearly one-third of women in jail are aboriginal, although they represent just 5% of the women in this country.
Things are just as bad for visible minorities. The population of black, Hispanic, Asian and Indian inmates has grown by nearly 75%. Specifically, the number of Afro-Canadians in federal institutions has grown by 90% since 2003.
In his damning report, Mr. Sapers gave a detailed description of the cultural transformation occurring within our prison system and suggested that the federal government create a clearer, more culturally appropriate corrections policy to support the rehabilitation of people belonging to these groups. He recommended introducing culturally appropriate programs, hiring multilingual staff and establishing ethnicity liaison officer positions in Canadian institutions.
Despite the urgency of the situation, the minister brushed off the recommendations. Obviously, he needs a little reminder. Rehabilitation is one of the two main objectives of incarceration. If the government is truly committed to making our streets and communities safer, it has to reduce the risk of people reoffending.
Our priority should be to ensure that our correctional system can deliver effective rehabilitation programs. Aboriginal people and visible minorities have the right to culturally appropriate programs that take their identity and their community realities into account. We will not help them reintegrate into society by isolating them even more.
On the contrary, more often than not, because of the Conservative government's failure to act, they do not reintegrate successfully and end up reoffending. So many individuals left to their own devices continue to grapple with the same problems as before and end up back in court. By not breaking that vicious cycle, we end up wasting public funds.
Now that the minister has had several months to digest the numbers in Howard Sapers' report, does he understand the magnitude of the crisis?