{"id":101168,"date":"2026-01-16T09:45:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T14:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=101168"},"modified":"2026-01-16T09:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T14:45:35","slug":"staggering-disparity-as-indigenous-adults-overrepresented-in-prisons-by-10-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/staggering-disparity-as-indigenous-adults-overrepresented-in-prisons-by-10-times\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Staggering&#8217; disparity as Indigenous adults overrepresented in prisons by 10 times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Brieanna Charlebois A new report by Statistics Canada says Indigenous adults were incarcerated at a rate 10 times higher than non-Indigenous adults in six provinces, a disparity that justice advocates called staggering, and a roadblock to reconciliation. The agency&#8217;s new measure, called the overrepresentation index, was used to make the finding for First Nations, Inuit and M\u00e9tis people in British Columbia, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta in 2023\/2024. Indigenous legal experts and advocates were not shocked by the findings, but say it shines a light on systemic issues that persist after centuries of colonization. &#8220;The numbers in this report are staggering, but not surprising,&#8221; Kory Wilson, chair of the BC First Nations Justice Council, said in a statement Wednesday. &#8220;Indigenous people are not inherently more criminal \u2014&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F16%2Fstaggering-disparity-as-indigenous-adults-overrepresented-in-prisons-by-10-times%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Brieanna Charlebois A new report by Statistics Canada says Indigenous adults were incarcerated at a rate 10 times higher than non-Indigenous adults in six provinces, a disparity that justice advocates called staggering, and a roadblock to reconciliation. The agency&#8217;s new measure, called the overrepresentation index, was used to make the finding for First Nations, Inuit and M\u00e9tis people in British Columbia, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta in 2023\/2024. Indigenous legal experts and advocates were not shocked by the findings, but say it shines a light on systemic issues that persist after centuries of colonization. &#8220;The numbers in this report are staggering, but not surprising,&#8221; Kory Wilson, chair of the BC First Nations Justice Council, said in a statement Wednesday. &#8220;Indigenous people are not inherently more criminal \u2014... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F16%2Fstaggering-disparity-as-indigenous-adults-overrepresented-in-prisons-by-10-times%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Staggering&#039; disparity as Indigenous adults overrepresented in prisons by 10 times - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/staggering-disparity-as-indigenous-adults-overrepresented-in-prisons-by-10-times\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;Staggering&#039; disparity as Indigenous adults overrepresented in prisons by 10 times - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Brieanna Charlebois A new report by Statistics Canada says Indigenous adults were incarcerated at a rate 10 times higher than non-Indigenous adults in six provinces, a disparity that justice advocates called staggering, and a roadblock to reconciliation. The agency&#8217;s new measure, called the overrepresentation index, was used to make the finding for First Nations, Inuit and M\u00e9tis people in British Columbia, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta in 2023\/2024. Indigenous legal experts and advocates were not shocked by the findings, but say it shines a light on systemic issues that persist after centuries of colonization. &#8220;The numbers in this report are staggering, but not surprising,&#8221; Kory Wilson, chair of the BC First Nations Justice Council, said in a statement Wednesday. &#8220;Indigenous people are not inherently more criminal \u2014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/staggering-disparity-as-indigenous-adults-overrepresented-in-prisons-by-10-times\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-16T14:45:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/staggering-disparity-as-indigenous-adults-overrepresented-in-prisons-by-10-times\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/staggering-disparity-as-indigenous-adults-overrepresented-in-prisons-by-10-times\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"&#8216;Staggering&#8217; 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