Conclusion Page 4

Conclusion

In conclusion, the government still has not made sufficient progress in addressing the needs of the indigenous within the criminal justice system. In a more advanced world, the racialized treatment of indigenous people, as well as all other visible minorities, must be done away with in order to ensure that reconciliation can progress smoothly. The methods by which the criminal justice system can acknowledge the precedents set by the indigenous are also very clear. The sentencing circle has already been proven to be effective, as well as a prominent money-saving procedure. Manitoba’s Hollow Waters, a single community consisting of over 1000 people, employed these sentencing circles and was able to save as much as $13 million over the span of 10 years, according to Tom Blackwell of the National Post (Blackwell, 2003). Figure 6, shown below, illustrates the overlapping connections between the 4 groups represented by Hollow Water’s sentencing circle. My argument implies that reconciliation cannot be achieved while there is a present societal gap between indigenous and non-indigenous people, as evidenced by the disparity between their incarceration rates. This same logic applies to all other aspects of indigenous reconciliation. The gap must be closed in order for reconciliation to truly be achieved.