Concluding Remarks

There is still much work to be done on reconciliation for indigenous peoples in the criminal justice system. Even though steps have been taken (such as Gladue), the number of First Nations incarcerated individuals has increased in part due to inaction in response to "calls to action" (see fig. 6 in which it shows the words related most to "justice" within the TRC) and the failure to recognize Indigenous offenders as both victims and offenders.

Using section 718(e) and restorative justice practices in sentencing (1996), Parliament has attempted to address the issue of disproportionate imprisonment of Aboriginal peoples (Roach, 2014, p. 584). However, this idea of the “aboriginal discount” has been a concern for trial judges in using Gladue – and there is often a need for a direct causal connection between residential school attendance/abuse and the offense for it to be a factor. This invalidates the destruction the residential school system did to the indigenous communities as a whole, which, continues to cause into lower incomes, high unemployment rates, as well as high substance abuse rates, lower levels of education attainment, and higher levels of children in custody all of which contribute to higher incarceration rates (Roach, p. 588).  

The Canadian justice system has continuously failed to understand the full scope of the damage it’s done and continues to do to these communities consistently refusing justice for survivors claims for loss of language, family attachment, culture, etc. Due to the statute of limitations and has “generally only allowed claims based on sexual abuse” (p. 568). While the Canadian government has moved forward there is still a long way to go for reconciliation in terms of indigenous justice and the justice system.