Exploring Indigenous Youth Incarceration in Canada

Abstract

This project is focused on the issue of Indigenous youth incarceration in Canada. The primary goal of this study is to explore whether this prevalent problem is a product of social environment, such as poverty and reserve conditions, or if it is rooted in institutionalized racism in Canada. This study has centrally been a literature review of relevant statistical information and academic publications on this topic, as well as qualitative coding of selected sources. I have also utilized the case study of the Flying Dust First Nation in Saskatchewan in order to explore a microanalysis of an Indigenous community that contradicts prevailing negative social patterns in Canada. My central argument is that high rates of Indigenous youth incarceration in Canada are a product of the combined effect of complex social factors, as well as systemic racism in governmental structures. Through my qualitative research, I have found that some of the academic literature has further propagated stereotypical notions of Indigenous Canadians, as well as produced a distinct binary between Indigenous groups and the non-Indigenous, unmarked category of identity.