(In)-justice: An exploration of the dehumanization, victimization, criminalization, and over-incarceration of Indigenous women in Canada
| Author | Michaela M McGuire,Danielle J Murdoch |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14624745211001685 |
| Published date | 01 October 2022 |
| Date | 01 October 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
(In)-justice: An
exploration of the
dehumanization,
victimization,
criminalization, and
over-incarceration
of Indigenous women
in Canada
Michaela M McGuire and
Danielle J Murdoch
Simon Fraser University, Canada
Abstract
Indigenous women are vastly overrepresented in Canada’s federal prisons and repre-
sent the fastest growing prison population in Canada. This critical commentary utilizes
a decolonial framework to examine how being Indigenous and female increases one’s
risk of being victimized, murdered, and subject to colonial control by exploring the
connections between the construction of Indigenous women as less than human and
the use of carceral space to control, destroy, and assimilate this population. Specifically,
the authors apply Woolford and Gacek’s notion of genocidal carcerality to the intersec-
tional forces of systemic racism and discrimination that result in their overincarcera-
tion. Further, the article critiques the Indigenization of Canada’s federal correctional
service for failing to meet the needs of this population and for perpetuating an assim-
ilative and stereotypical portrayal of Indigenous women that perpetuates colonial harm.
Corresponding author:
Michaela M McGuire, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC
V5A 1S6, Canada.
Email: michaela_mcguire@sfu.ca
Punishment & Society
!The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/14624745211001685
journals.sagepub.com/home/pun
2022, Vol. 24(4) 529–550
Keywords
Canadian corrections, colonialism, Correctional Services Canada, decolonize, geno-
cide, incarceration, Indigenous corrections, Indigenous women, pan-Indigenous, racism
Introduction
Colonial harm has disproportionately affected Indigenous women since first con-
tact, perpetuating their ongoing victimization, criminalization, and over-
incarceration in settler-colonial states, including Canada, New Zealand, and
Australia (Monchalin, 2010; Monture-Angus, 1999a, 1999b).
1
Arguably, imposed
criminal justice systems (CJS) in these countries continue the settler state’s goals of
control, assimilation, and de-humanization (Chartrand, 2019; Cunneen and Tauri,
2017) and are “a form of ongoing colonial and gendered racial state violence”
(Murdocca, 2020: 32). It is beyond the scope of this article to examine
Indigenous women’s experiences and involvement in the criminal justice systems
in all three of these colonial states. As such, this critical commentary contributes to
the existing literature by examining the multitude of colonial harms that have
resulted in societal indifference and racism towards Indigenous women in
Canada. These colonial harms have led to their dehumanization, victimization,
and over-representation amongst federally incarcerated women in Canada.
Although the Canadian federal prisoner population–individuals sentenced to two
years or more of imprisonment–has remained relatively consistent over the past
decade, the Indigenous federal prisoner population increased by approximately
50% (Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI), 2019). The overrepresentation
of Indigenous persons in Correctional Service Canada (CSC; the federal correctional
authority in Canada) populations is particularly troubling for Indigenous women
who represent the fastest growing prison population in Canada. The population of
federally sentenced Indigenous women (FSIW) increased by 74% over the past
decade (OCI, 2019) with Indigenous women now representing 42% (n¼291) of
all federally sentenced women in Canada (OCI, 2020).
As the Correctional Investigator of Canada, the Ombudsman for federal
offenders, Dr. Ivan Zinger testified to a Standing Committee on Public Safety
and National Security, these Indigenous women “are offenders, [they have been]
first and foremost ...victims” of state imposed policies, racism, sexism, intergen-
erational abuse (i.e. physical, sexual, and emotional abuse), and trauma (McKay,
2018: p. 24). The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
and Girls (hereafter, the National Inquiry) in Canada (2019a, 2019b) characterized
this victimization, racism, discrimination, and brutal violence and oppression as
genocide.
2
Throughout this critical commentary we apply Woolford and Gacek’s (2016)
notion of genocidal carcerality to the intersectional forces of systemic racism and
discrimination that result in the overincarceration of FSIW. Woolford and Gacek
530 Punishment & Society 24(4)
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