Why Have Canadian Legislators, Police, and Courts Responded to Indigenous Resistance With Such Force?

TOPIC 2: WHY HAVE CANADIAN LEGISLATORS, POLICE, AND COURTS
RESPONDED TO INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE WITH SUCH FORCE?
Legal Studies 202
Bhupinder Kaur Walia
University of Waterloo
March 30th 2020

TOPIC 2: WHY HAVE CANADIAN LEGISLATORS, POLICE, AND COURTS
RESPONDED TO INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE WITH SUCH FORCE?
Introduction
It has mentioned that the police, legislators and the courts have responded with particular force
towards the indigenous resistance. This radical response is aimed at dealing with this issue. It is however
to be seen how the current reaction will be different from that of the previous years as far as its
effectiveness is concerned. Studies have revealed the existence of a lot of controversies in regard to the
issue at hand (Dunn, 2015).
Response to Indigenous Resistance Historically
The overrepresentation of the aboriginal people in the criminal justice system has been described
by the Supreme Court of Canada as "a crisis that is faced by the criminal justice system. Mainly it is
considered that the problem of aboriginal over-representation is confined to Western Canada. However, it
needs to be noted in this regard that Ontario ranks third, when it comes to the over-representation of the
original people throughout the country. According to the data, the number of aboriginal youth present in
the correctional facilities of Ontario is much higher than that of the aboriginal adults. Even if due to the
introduction of sentencing amendments made recently as well as the decisions of the Supreme Court of
Canada, there has been a decline in the overall jail population, still the drop in the number of aboriginals
is much less than the non-aboriginals. This position is the same in case of the adult and youth justice
fields. This fact suggests that the overrepresentation of the original people is going to be a problem in the
coming years.
Under the circumstances, first of all it becomes necessary that the major causes of the problems need
to be understood. Some of the factors that can be mentioned in this regard are: The cultural clashes, social
economic and according to Vivanco (2019), the history of colonialism among other factors (Lupien,
2020).
For dealing with this issue, first of all it is important to evaluate and determine its root cause. Even if
overrepresentation of the aboriginal people in the criminal justice system of Canada can be an example of
the problems faced by the aboriginals with the criminal justice system, there are several ways in which
over policing and other policing has proved to be equally serious. In this regard, over policing describes
the practice adopted by the police to target the people of a particular racial or ethnic background or the
people who are living in particular areas. Therefore, it can be said that the aboriginals are clearly over
policed. There is a particular history of over policing in case of the aboriginals (Durand& John, 2018).
Historically the government in Canada has used the police force for pre-emptively trying to resolve
the disputes related with the rights of aboriginals. This is mainly through the frequent arrests of the
persons trying to exercise these rights before the determination of the validity of their claims. In addition,
the police force is being used by the government assimilation objectives of the government by
apprehending children for the purpose of making them attend residential schools and later on for
supporting child welfare agencies. The use of police force poses some cons and pros. At the same time
the police force is also being used by the government for supporting some of the most egregious
provisions mentioned in the Indian Act.
As a result of over-policing there has been a feeling of growing distrust of the police among the
aboriginals. Some people no longer perceive the police as a source of security but rather as a threat.
Similarly, the police hold attitudes which categorize the aboriginals as dangerous, violent and prone to

TOPIC 2: WHY HAVE CANADIAN LEGISLATORS, POLICE, AND COURTS
RESPONDED TO INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE WITH SUCH FORCE?
criminal behavior. Such attitudes are not counter directed with the help of aboriginal awareness programs
similar activities (Petteruti, 2009).
The aboriginal people are also under-policed. Not only are the aboriginals overrepresented in criminal
justice system as the accused, but also as victims. However, the aboriginals are generally considered by
the police as less worthy victims. Therefore, it is possible that their requests for assistance may be
downplayed or ignored by the police. This attitude is also reflected by the government who regularly
disregards the importance of aboriginal rights, claims and also ignores their grievances. In the same way
that the over policing significantly affects the attitude of the aboriginals towards the police; a significant
role is also played by other policing in creating distrust for the police among the aboriginals. Therefore, it
can be said that over policing and other policing are simply the two sides of a coin (Dempsey et al.,
2018).
Factors Responsible for the Forceful Nature of This Response
Firstly, the Euro Canadian-made systems are thought to have been the major cause of the clash
between the two cultures. However, in their eyes it is should not have required legitimacy. Therefore, it is
considered as a very repressive system and has an attempt made for ensuring the continued dominance of
the Euro Canadian society. If at all such occurrences are to be curbed and prevented then the possible and
timely attempts that are to be made for reforming the criminal justice system should be capable of dealing
with this basic fact, which is the continuous subjugation of the aboriginals (Farneth, 2016)). Failure to
which this kind of trend in discriminating against the Aboriginals is likely to continue. This may lead to
further worsening of the well-being of the Aboriginals.
Secondly, the over policing and under policing of the aboriginals that continues up to date may
have caused the forceful nature of the response. This has greatly impacted the manner in which the
aboriginals and the non-aboriginals see each other. In Re Williams, the jurors’ decision on a matter also
depended on whether was an aboriginal or not. This fact has been upheld by the Supreme Court. In the
judgment delivered by the Supreme Court, it was not said that the non-aboriginals were racist, but it was
indeed said that the stereotypes have an impact on the perceptions of the non-aboriginals and also allow
them to consider others as less equal than to tolerate the treatment of these people in a manner which is
not going to be tolerated for themselves or their family or friends (Nettelbeck et al., 2017).
The negative perception that exists between the police and the Aboriginals may be a cause of the
forceful response. As discussed above, the police view the natives as bad people and so does the latter
view the former. In case of interaction between the two, the negative attitude prompts the police to even
wage excessive force on the Aboriginals.
The common perception proves the existence is a discrepancy between the natives and the non-
natives. This can be clearly explained using an example based on the conduct of the police as far as
arrests, patrols and detentions are concerned. For example, it has been seen that the police officers
frequently visit bars associated with natives as compared the private clubs that are generally visited by the
non-natives, who is my opinion are seen as more superior. This implies that the police are more
suspicious of the natives than the non-natives. As compared to the mainly white communities, the remote
native communities also have more policing (Kuehn & Corrado, 2011). These and many more actions
raise concerns over the racism by the police.
Arguments in Support of These Explanations