403 search results for
Policing and the criminal justice system
Recommendation 70:
Allow prisoners to have uses of force against them reviewed at the national level upon request and without having to go through the grievance process.
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Recommendation 143:
All police forces should implement Sex Work Enforcement Guidelines similar to those in Vancouver that support the safety of sex workers in police interactions.
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Recommendation 133:
All levels of government must recognize the inherent and constitutionally protected right of Indigenous people to establish and control Indigenous justice systems. All levels of government must also fund the establishment of Indigenous law institutes to support the restoration and advancement of Indigenous legal systems.
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Recommendation 158:
All levels of government must commit to using non-incarceration measures especially for poverty-related minor offenses. Governments must also provide sufficient and stable funding to Indigenous communities and organizations to provide alternatives to incarceration including community-based rehabilitation, diversion, community courts, and restorative justice methods geared towards Indigenous women.
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Recommendation 36:
All levels of government and police forces must end the criminalization of Indigenous peoples who are asserting their jurisdiction and rights to lands and resources.
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Recommendation 176:
All day-to-day programs and services at remand, provincial, and federal facilities must be accessible, timely, and long term with the goal of decarceration and successful reintegration. Access must be unconditional, not contingent on classification, and not withdrawn as a punitive or disciplinary measure. Guaranteed programs and services must include:
- Independent prison legal services.
- Independent healthcare in accordance with the U.N. Mandela rules including 24/7 appropriate healthcare; mental health counselling; access to gender-affirming surgery; detox on demand; heroin-assisted and injectable hydromorphone treatment; and safe needle exchange and tattooing program.
- Culturally appropriate and non-punitive healing programs that understand physical, mental, spiritual, and sexual traumas as intergenerational collective traumas caused by colonization.
- Free phone calls.
- Nutritious food.
- Library, reading materials, and computer literacy.
- Increased visitation, including increased hours, more opportunities for physical contact, and decreased security checks for visitors.
- Access to meaningful employment and higher prisoner pay.
- Support for release planning.
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- Accessibility ,
- Accessible services and technology ,
- Corrections ,
- Culture and language ,
- Decolonization and Indigenous rights ,
- Education and employment ,
- Food insecurity ,
- Health ,
- Health, wellness and services ,
- Income insecurity and benefits ,
- Indigenous issues in policing and justice ,
- Policing and the criminal justice system ,
- Poverty and economic inequality ,
- Substance use
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Recommendation 34:
We call upon the governments of Canada, the provinces, and territories to undertake reforms to the criminal justice system to better address the needs of offenders with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), including:
- Providing increased community resources and powers for courts to ensure that FASD is properly diagnosed, and that appropriate community supports are in place for those with FASD.
- Enacting statutory exemptions from mandatory minimum sentences of imprisonment for offenders affected by FASD.
- Providing community, correctional, and parole resources to maximize the ability of people with FASD to live in the community.
- Adopting appropriate evaluation mechanisms to measure the effectiveness of such programs and ensure community safety.
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Recommendation 49:
Adopt an explicitly trauma-informed approach to interventions.
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Recommendation 7:
Academic scholarship and policy papers focused on children’s rights to representation point to the need for increased funding from government sources, to provide consistent and dependable counsel for children (Bala & Birnbaum, 2019; Byrne & Lundy, 2019; Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children, 2016; Collins, 2019). However, it is also notable that none of this literature provides specific guidance as to where extra funding should be sourced or how new programming may be implemented to maintain both efficient and effective legal assistance for children to facilitate the expression of their views in a legal setting. In particular, the CBA Alternative Report (2020) suggests that in B.C., absolutely no funding is set aside for children’s representation (p. 33). This is particularly problematic in relation to immigrant, refugee, and Indigenous children (CBA, 2020). This may be the case for two reasons: 1) an overall lack of resources (particularly given the current local and international economic climate in the wake of Covid-19 – see Garlen, 2020); and/or 2) a lack of awareness at the federal level of the critical importance of this issue, and the ‘domino effect’ of reduced rights for vulnerable populations. As a result, it is recommended that policy organisations focused on this issue work to demonstrate whether and how additional funding can be allocated to children’s legal representation. In New Zealand, for example, the Family Court (Supporting Families in Court) Legislation Bill forms part of a $62 million package that restores the right to legal representation at the start of a care of children dispute in the Family Court (Government of New Zealand, 2020, p. 1). Enhanced attention and funding at the federal level can only benefit both those organisations focused on this area, as well as beneficiary populations.
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Recommendation 6:
A Provincial Policy on police attendance at overdoses which includes:
- a directive not to attend at drug overdose calls, except where requested by Emergency Health Services—usually in the event of a fatality or threats to public safety; and
- a clear statement that the role of law enforcement at the scene of a drug overdose is to deliver first aid if they are the only responders available, or to protect the safety of Emergency Health Services and members of the public, not to investigate the individuals or circumstances at the scene unless police determine that there is an urgent public safety concern, for example, if violence is occurring at the scene.
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