Minority groups are jailed at higher rates than other Nova Scotians.
That’s according to new numbers that show even though African Nova Scotians make up 2% of the population they account for 16% of people in custody.
Aboriginals are also over-represented at 4% of the population but 12% in prison.
NDP Justice critic Marian Mancini says government’s own data shows the disproportionate numbers but she hasn’t heard how they plan to address the problem.
“What we need to have [is] a full conversation about is why is this happening?”
Mancini says she wants to work with the government to keep people out of the prison system.
She says poverty, substance abuse and family history of incarceration should be factors courts look at when considering a sentence.
Meanwhile, activist El Jones says she isn’t surprised to hear the numbers.
Jones knows from her work with prisoners that minorities are over-represented.
She says Nova Scotians need to start acknowledging racism in the justice system.
“Canada has this myth of the Underground Railroad, and we were the Promised Land, and this doesn’t happen here – we’re very diverse. So even though we see these disproportionate numbers it’s like we can’t compute them because we think that mass incarceration is an American problem.”
Jones doesn’t see those numbers changing until the underlying causes of poverty, unemployment and access to education are addressed.
