Newest Episode of Arrêt sur le Droit Podcast about Governmental Autonomy for Indigenous People

Arrêt sur le droit is a French-language podcast whose goal is to help people better understand decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada. 

 It is co-produced by the Bar Association of Montreal and CAIJ (the free legal information portal of the Quebec Bar Association) in collaboration with the Supreme Court of Canada.

The most recent episode deals with the rights of Indigenous people to self-government.

Arrêt sur le droit is hosted by Michel Désautels who for years was one of the top current affairs hosts of the public broadcaster Société Radio-Canada. 

His guests for this episode are lawyer Caroline Daniel and professor Ghislain Otis.

CanLII's Commitment to Honouring Truth and Reconciliation Day

Today is Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to mark the legacy of the country's Indian residential schools where multiple generations of Indigenous children were subjected to forms of physical and psychological violence to assimilate them.

CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute, has a number of initiatives to share information about Indigenous legal issues and promote Indiegenous voices:

"As part of this commitment, we have recently published the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) on CanLII. The TRC report, a landmark document, sheds light on the systemic abuses Indigenous peoples suffered in Canada’s residential school system. It also provides a clear call to action for individuals, institutions, and governments across Canada to work toward reconciliation. By making this report widely available on our platform, we hope to contribute to the ongoing education and awareness necessary to foster meaningful change."

"We are also working on a project to expand our collection of Aboriginal law through our recent acquisition of the Canadian Native Law Cases (CNLC). Published by the University of Saskatchewan’s Indigenous Law Centre, the CNLC encompasses a large number of court decisions involving Indigenous peoples issued between 1763 and 1978. This project is a significant step in ensuring that the history of Indigenous peoples’ interactions with the Canadian legal system is better documented, more comprehensive, and freely available to all on CanLII."

Recent Justice Canada Publications from the Government of Canada Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List is a list of publications by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government that were catalogued in the previous week. 

Some of the documents in the most recent list include the following material from Justice Canada:

• Justice in Official Languages - Newsletter (Summer 2024): "The year 2024 is in the midst of a transitional period for official languages in Canada. Since the new Action Plan for Official Languages was unveiled on April 26, 2023, and the Act to Amend the Official Languages Act (OLA) was given Royal Assent on June 20, 2023, the justice in Official Languages sector has had to adapt and innovate more than ever. We hope this issue of the Newsletter will shed some light on this period of change and help you discover the sector trends driving our work. We would also like to recognize the efforts of all of those who are working so hard to make access to justice more equitable for members of official language minority communities (OLMCs). Their efforts are not going unnoticed. This issue begins with an article summarizing the new priorities of the Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund (Support Fund) for the five-year period from 2023 to 2028. In particular, you will learn about the new investment priorities, which focus on two main areas: supporting OLMCs and supporting the justice system. These priorities are designed to meet the needs identified by OLMCs and other justice sector stakeholders."
• Developing an Indigenous Justice Strategy: A compilation of thought papers by Indigenous legal experts: "In 2021, Justice Canada received funding to support First Nations-, Inuit- and Métis-led engagements (2022– 2024) to gain insight from communities and organizations on how to address systemic barriers in the criminal justice system. In addition, Justice Canada led a series of distinctions-based and regional engagement sessions (2022–2023) to identify concrete actions that could be undertaken in the areas of crime prevention, policing and diversion, courts, corrections, and reintegration (...) In addition to supporting community engagements, Justice Canada commissioned a series of thought papers written by Indigenous legal experts, to help identify what an Indigenous Justice Strategy in Canada could and should include. The authors were asked to provide aspirational visions for the future—a path forward, using strength-based approaches to complement and expand previous work by researchers, inquiries, and commissions that have documented challenges and problems with the justice system. The purpose of these papers was to help facilitate a decolonizing approach to informing an Indigenous Justice Strategy, by providing a space for diverse Indigenous perspectives that respects Indigenous values, philosophies and knowledge."
• Out-of-court dispute resolution for families experiencing separation or divorce in Canada: "In the area of family justice, using the courts to resolve disputes upon separation or divorce for such issues as each parent’s decision-making responsibilities and time with their children, child and spousal support and division of property has proven to be expensive, lengthy and difficult for the parties. As such, governments have long tried to encourage the use of mediation or conciliation – dispute resolution outside of the courts – to resolve issues (...) In 2023 the Department of Justice Canada contracted with Catherine Tait Consulting to research government-funded out-of-court dispute resolution services provided in Canada that assist families experiencing separation and divorce (...) This report outlines the research findings. The two next sections describe the research scope and methodology. This is followed by a summary of the commonalities and differences among programs, focussing on the programs’ scope, service delivery model, response to and impacts of the pandemic, other recent changes impacting the programs and their service volumes, success indicators and data collection. "

Canadian Prison Law Conference: Rights, Remedies and Decarceration

The Canadian Prison Law Association is partnering with the Peter A. Allard School of Law to organize the Canadian Prison Law Conference: Rights, Remedies and Decarceration in Vancouver on October 4-6, 2024.

The event will include topics such as "Indigenous self-determination and Indigenous justice practices, life sentences, solitary confinement in its many forms, enforcing human rights in places of detention, abolitionist legal strategies, constitutional rights and remedial possibilities, prison law and legal education, and more."

The conference program can be found online.

Recent Government of Canada Publications from the Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List is a list of publications by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government that were catalogued in the previous week. 

Some of the documents in the most recent list include:

• Missing records, missing children : interim report of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples: "Despite progress on uncovering the truth surrounding residential schools, grey areas remain. The committee’s recent work found that many questions remain unanswered regarding the transfer of records about residential schools to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. As such, the committee decided to do a focused study to hear from federal, provincial, and territorial governments as well as from Catholic entities who have not yet fulfilled the requirements stipulated under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement to remit records. Records are scattered across the country with no way of finding them other than traveling to a location and physically searching through dense linear feet of paper records. Indigenous families must conduct such searches to determine what happened to their children who went missing while attending the schools, or who went missing from health or social services institutions administered by provincial or territorial governments. This report, entitled Missing Children, Missing Records, makes 11 recommendations to improve access to residential school records. The key message is that the Government of Canada needs to support Indigenous communities to locate and access residential school records. The committee believes the federal Documents Advisory Committee is an important initiative and recommends that its work be funded and supported by dedicated staff to ensure it can meet its mandate."
• Emergency Preparedness and Response in Canada for People Living with Dementia (Public Health Agency of Canada): "This public opinion research report presents the results of online focus groups/dyads and in-depth interviews conducted by Narrative Research on behalf of Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to better understand the current state of emergency preparedness and response guidance and the adequacy of measures to protect and support people living with dementia during emergency situations, with a particular focus on how to better prepare for future climate-related emergency situations. The research included a total of 25 online focus groups of various sizes, two dyad and 11 indepth interviews conducted from January 25th to February 23rd, 2024, divided into the following categories: people living with dementia who confirmed their ability to participate, unpaid caregivers to people living with dementia, and paid care providers who care for and interact, either directly or indirectly, with people living with dementia in a professional capacity, including paid care and support personnel, first responders, and government/logistical planners. Good geographic coverage was achieved across Canada and various community sizes were represented, including large urban, small/medium size urban, and rural areas."
• Report of the second legislative review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (Health Canada): "In Canada, responsibility for health-related matters such as tobacco control is shared between the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. The Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA) is the federal legislation that regulates the manufacture, sale, labelling and promotion of tobacco and vaping products. Each province and territory also has laws and regulations in place for tobacco control. These pieces of legislation work together with other tobacco control tools such as policy and programs, to address tobacco-related disease and death. As written in the legislation, the TVPA’s overall purpose is to 'provide a legislative response to a national public health problem of substantial and pressing concern and to protect the health of Canadians in light of conclusive evidence implicating tobacco use in the incidence of numerous debilitating and fatal diseases'. It supports four specific objectives related to tobacco products: to protect young persons and others from inducements to use tobacco products and the consequent dependence on them; to protect the health of young persons by restricting access to tobacco products; to prevent the public from being deceived or misled with respect to the health hazards of using tobacco products; and to enhance public awareness of those hazards. The TVPA includes a requirement for a legislative review of its provisions and operation to take place every two years. This review assessed whether progress was made towards achieving the tobacco-related objectives of the TVPA and whether the federal response, from a legislative perspective, is sufficient in addressing tobacco use in Canada."

Canadian Bar Association Podcast on Indigenous Self-government in Child Welfare

The most recent episode of The Every Lawyer, a podcast series of the Canadian Bar Association, features Professor Naiomi Metallic of Dalhousie University in Halifax discussing Bill C-92, an Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families:

"An in-depth look at Bill C-92, an Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, with Professor Naiomi Metallic, which turns into a broader discussion on legislative reconciliation and the ‘braiding together’ of existing legal orders."

"For those interested in advocacy, Prof. Metallic also makes the case for academia as THE place to change the law, and with it, society (...)"

"Professor Naiomi Metallic, divides her time between practice and teaching at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law where she holds the Chancellor’s Chair in Aboriginal Law and Policy. She was part of the legal team that intervened on behalf of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society led by Cindy Blackstock, a longtime advocate for child welfare and Indigenous children’s rights. The SCC referenced Prof. Metallic’s article, Aboriginal Rights, Legislative Reconciliation and Constitutionalism (dal.ca) , in their Reference re An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, and she is this year’s winner of the CBA’s Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Law."

Recent Government of Canada Publications from the Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. 

It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

Some of the documents in the most recent list include:

• Former Indian Residential Schools Environmental Scan: Status of Sites and Buildings (Indigenous Services Canada): "The Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement was the result of a national class action litigation on behalf of former students of the Indian Residential Schools system. Implementation of the Settlement Agreement began on September 19, 2007 and addresses the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools (...) n May 27, 2021, Tk'emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation in British Columbia announced that a search by ground penetrating radar identified 215 unmarked burials of children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. This was a confirmation of known stories for Indigenous peoples, and a tragic reminder of the history and legacy of residential schools. Following this confirmation, federal departments deployed efforts to support communities, Survivors and families (...) To further support Survivors and communities in addressing the legacy of residential schools, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) undertook the IRS Environmental Scan in 2022-2023. The IRS Environmental Scan includes contemporary information on location, ownership, and condition of residential school buildings and sites building on publicly available data sets ... and publicly available information."
• Working with victims of hate (Justice Canada): "This chapter first focuses on the definition of hate crimes, to give support workers an idea of the scope of what might happen to victims. The chapter then moves to professional issues one should consider when working with any victim, but especially victims of hate crimes. This highlights general issues that support workers need to understand when dealing with sensitive issues around culture, prejudice, and society. In our current cultural context, one cannot ignore the role of the internet and social networks as a  medium for hate and hate groups as well as supports for perpetrators. Finally, the chapter concludes with a focus on the psychological impact of being a hate crime victim, including suggestions on what support workers might do to help victims."

New British Columbia Law Institute Primers on Indigenous Law

This is a follow-up to the post from August 21, 2023 called British Columbia Law Institute Primers on Indigenous Law.

The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) has been publishing information on the province's adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

Since last August, the BCLI has published 3 new primers as part of its series on how to bring the laws in into alignment with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

They are:

• Legal Pluralism in Canada
• Legal Pluralism: Indigenous Legal Orders & Other State Jurisdictions
• Legal Pluralism: Indigenous Legal Orders & Canadian State Law

Recent Government of Canada Publications from the Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. 

It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

The most recent list had a few documents that attracted my attention:

• Organized crime involvement in vehicle theft in Canada (Criminal Intelligence Service Canada)
• Every voice counts: Anti-racist transformation from the inside out (Canadian Human Rights Commission)
• Evaluation of the British Columbia Exemption to Allow for Personal Possession of Small Amounts of Illegal Drugs (Canadian Institutes of Health Research)
• Indigenous Mobility and Canada’s International Borders: Reflecting back and looking forward (Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada)

Recent Government of Canada Publications from the Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. 

It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

The most recent list had a few documents that attracted my attention:

• Applying R v Gladue : the use of Gladue reports and principles: "In 1996, section 718.2(e) was added to the Criminal Code, which introduced the principle of restraint in the use of imprisonment during sentencing with particular attention to the circumstances of Indigenous offenders ... The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC), in 1999, first interpreted section 718.2(e) in R v Gladue.⁠ Through this case, the SCC clarified that judges need to consider the unique systemic factors which may have played a part in bringing an Indigenous offender before the courts. To support courts in applying what are now considered Gladue sentencing principles in their decision-making, judges require relevant information about the Indigenous offender before the court. This information can be provided through comprehensive Gladue reports, which include information about an Indigenous person’s background and experiences with colonization, intergenerational trauma, racism, and discrimination ...This study was undertaken by the Department of Justice Canada to better understand how Gladue reports are being prepared across the country and how they and Gladue principles are being considered by the courts."
• National risk profile : a national emergency preparedness and awareness tool: "The National Risk Profile (NRP) is Canada’s first strategic, national-level risk assessment. This report is based on input and evidence from whole-of-society stakeholders across Canada, and provides a foundation for understanding disaster risk from the three costliest hazards facing Canadians: earthquakes, wildland fire, and floods. It aims to broaden public awareness of disaster risk, identify gaps in the Canadian emergency management system at a national-level and provide evidence to support existing federal risk assessment and climate change adaptation efforts."
• Canada Centre 2023 conference on countering radicalization to violence : what to measure, how to prevent: "At a time of converging drivers and vulnerabilities that are propelling extreme, grievancefueled forms of violence, Public Safety's Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence (Canada Centre) designed its fourth international conference on countering radicalization to violence (CRV) around the theme of ‘What to measure, how to prevent.’ The idea was to emphasize the importance of research, evaluation, and knowledge exchange between experts and practitioners for adapting prevention to this complex environment.  What follows are select highlights, with further detail about particular sessions and presentations available from the Canada Centre upon request."
• ArriveCAN : independent auditor's report: "Overall, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and Public Services and Procurement Canada repeatedly failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development, and implementation of the ArriveCAN application. As a result of the many gaps and weaknesses we found in the project’s design, oversight, and accountability, it did not deliver the best value for taxpayer dollars spent. The enduring benefit of the ArriveCAN application is that it remains available for customs and immigration declarations. As of October 2022, ArriveCAN is no longer used to collect travellers’ contact and health information."

Recent Government of Canada Publications from the Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. 

It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

The most recent list had a few documents that attracted my attention:

• Consultation on copyright in the age of generative artificial intelligence (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) 
• Ten Years since Spirit Matters: A Roadmap for the Reform of Indigenous Corrections in Canada (Office of the Correctional Investigator)
• MAID and Mental Disorders: The Road Ahead (Report of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying, House of Commons)
• Canada’s Sanctions Regime: Transparency, Accountability and Effectiveness (Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, House of Commons)

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Upcoming Webinar on How to Create a Respectful Land Acknowledgement Statement

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST on How to Create a Respectful Land Acknowledgement Statement:

"Understanding and committing to the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is an important function of all leaders. Learning the history of land acknowledgements is an important step in the path to reconciliation to help deepen our knowledge of other calls to action and can help to move reconciliation forward. Members will learn how to draft a land acknowledgement that is both thoughtful and aligned to their organization's role in the reconciliation process."

The speaker will be Jaimie Kechego, the Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy Project Coordinator for the Centre for Teaching and Learning. She is Anishnaabwekwe from Deshkaan Ziibing (the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation reserve) located near London, Ontario.

Recent Justice-Related Documents from the Government of Canada

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

Here are a few recent additions of justice-related documents:

• Child to parent violence and aggression : reviewing the research: "Child-to-parent violence and aggression (CPVA) is described as a form of family violence characterized by a pattern (as opposed to a single incident) of violent and aggressive behaviours in children and youth Footnote1 towards their parents or primary caregivers. These behaviours may have several consequences, including: triggering fear, grief, and other emotions; experiencing a loss of control; negatively impacting both individual and family well-being; and generating new behaviours in parents, siblings and other family members or caregivers in order to avoid physical violence or verbal altercations (...) This report synthesizes the findings of a scoping review that resulted in 162 peer-reviewed articles on CPVA that were published between January 2009 and March 2022 as well as an analysis of statistical information on victims (parents or siblings) of youth violence in Canada between 2009 and 2021."
• Perceptions of the Canadian youth criminal justice system : key findings from the 2022 National Justice Survey: "The National Justice Survey (NJS) is a public opinion research survey that is administered on an annual basis to explore the perceptions and knowledge of justice-related issues of people living in Canada. Findings from this survey are used to inform policy and program development. This report focuses on youth justice-related issues and examines respondents’ perceptions and knowledge of the youth criminal justice system (YCJS)."
• Understanding family violence in diverse communities : what subject-matter experts think family law legal advisers should know: "This report summarizes five thought papers written by subject-matter experts to assist family law legal advisers in identifying and responding to family violence in diverse communities. The thought papers focused on the following population groups: racialized groups; 2SLGBTQI+ individuals; Muslim communities; newcomers; and people with disabilities."
• Experiences of Indigenous families in the family justice system : a literature review and perspectives from legal and frontline family justice professionals: "This report aims to contribute to the understanding of the experiences of Indigenous families (specifically, unmarried or married couples with children) dealing with separation and divorce, who are going through the family justice system (FJS). This includes both identifying needs specific to Indigenous people going through the mainstream FJS and developing a better understanding of Indigenous approaches to resolving family conflicts. This preliminary information will help to identify specific challenges faced by and opportunities available for Indigenous families going through separation and divorce, and those who work with them. The research can inform future efforts to respond more effectively to the needs of Indigenous families and communities, as well as opportunities to welcome more effectively the gifts of Indigenous Knowledge Keepers through subsequent policy development, consultation, and research activities in relation to family law and family justice."

Release of the Saskatchewan Indigenous Subject Headings

 Saskatchewan Libraries have released the Saskatchewan Indigenous Subject Headings:

"The goal of the Saskatchewan Indigenous Subject Headings (SK ISH) project has been to work with Indigenous Peoples and groups in Saskatchewan to determine what terms are preferred. These terms have been translated into subject headings for use by libraries across Saskatchewan (...)

• Starting in early 2020, a working group of Saskatchewan library staff, under the leadership of the Multitype Library Board, began to examine how subject headings related to Indigenous Peoples in Saskatchewan could be updated to be more inclusive and respectful. 
• This working group believed that engagement with Indigenous people was vital to inform, support and facilitate the development of appropriate subject headings, within a Saskatchewan context. 
• Saskatchewan Indigenous library staff formed an outreach group to guide the planning of engagement sessions. 
• Facilitators were contracted to lead engagement sessions in a safe and respectful manner. Elders, kêhtê-ayak, Old Ones, and many other members of Saskatchewan Indigenous communities shared their thoughts and experiences in two rounds of engagement sessions. 
• A technical group of library sector partners translated what was heard during engagement into subject headings. These subject headings were vetted during the second round of engagements"

The website has links to a spreadsheet of subject headings, a guide with tips for getting started in implementation and additional information that explains more of the project’s background.

Recent Library of Parliament Legislative Summaries

The Library of Parliament in Ottawa has recently published a number of legislative summaries of important federal bills.

Among them are:

• Legislative Summary of Bill C-42: An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act: "The bill strengthens the government’s commitment to the implementation of a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry of corporations governed under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA)2 in furtherance of its efforts to bolster Canada’s anti–money laundering and anti–terrorist financing regime (...)"
• Legislative Summary of Bill S-13: An Act to amend the Interpretation Act: "The bill amends the federal Interpretation Act 2 to include a non-derogation clause on upholding Aboriginal and treaty  rights of Indigenous peoples recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. A non-derogation clause is a statement in a law that indicates the law should be interpreted to uphold, and not diminish, other pre-existing rights. Bill S-13 aims to ensure that all federal legislation is interpreted to uphold constitutionally protected Aboriginal and treaty rights."
  "

CanLII Resources for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

September 30th marks Truth and Reconciliation Day, an occasion to reflect on the painful legacy of residential schools.

From the 19th century until very recently, in total, about 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their communities and forced to attend remote boarding schools run by Christian congregations under government contract. Countless children were abused physically or sexually.

The assumption behind the system was that Indigenous Canadian cultures were unable to adapt to modern industrial society. The schools were intended to aggressively assimilate the children and Christianize them. Children were frequently punished for speaking their ancestral tongues and their culture was denied.

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its findings after its years-long investigation into the many abuses against Indigenous children at the schools.

CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute, has been adding Indigenous-related resources to its collection of freely available legal commentary.

To mark Truth and Reconciliation Day, it has listed a selection of materials readers may find useful.

British Columbia Law Institute Primers on Indigenous Law

The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) has published two primers that provide information on the province's adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

They are:

• The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act: "The 2019 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act requires all laws in British Columbia to be brought into alignment with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The BCLI has launched its Reconciling Crown Legal Frameworks Program to support the research and innovations required to implement this legislation. This is the first of a series of primers designed to provide information about some of the law reform issues related to this legislation."
• Indigenous Laws: "Bringing BC laws into alignment with the UN Declaration requires an  understanding of Indigenous law. Crown governments, courts, lawyers, and members of the public will increasingly be expected to understand the content and meaning of Indigenous law as the Declaration Act is implemented.  ‘Indigenous laws’ are the principles and processes that Indigenous Peoples and communities use and have  always used to govern themselves. While it is often used interchangeably with ‘Aboriginal law’ (which is  Canadian law about Indigenous issues), it is distinct, and should be understood as deriving from  Indigenous Peoples’ societies and histories."

Recent Justice-Related Documents from the Government of Canada

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

Here are a few recent additions of justice-related documents:

• Financial industry forum on artificial intelligence : a Canadian perspective on responsible AI: "The rapid advancement, proliferation, and transformative nature of the artificial intelligence (AI) technology has accentuated the need to consider ethical, legal, financial and social implications of its development and deployment. This is where well-designed risk management practices come in, comprised of robust testing and evaluation frameworks, implementation of clear and transparent decision-making processes, and creation of mechanisms for accountability and redress in the event of harm (...) It was with this mindset of imagination and exploration in which the Financial Industry Forum on Artificial Intelligence (FIFAI) had operated — a gathering of Canada’s finest financial services experts in the application of AI, mixed with representatives from government bodies, and academia. We listened to leading AI experts and influential regulators from several countries, and then debated those learnings with the objective of safely harnessing AI potential to contribute significantly to Canada’s economy."
• Honouring the children who never came home : truth, education and reconciliation : interim report of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples: "This report begins with an overview of the history of residential schools in Canada and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). The report then discusses issues identified by witnesses which hinder Indigenous families from locating and bringing their children home, including access to records, measures to access and examine burial grounds, legal protections for burial grounds and unmarked graves and supporting the educational work of the NCTR. Based on this evidence, the report makes six recommendations that are focused on supporting Survivors, families and communities to find their missing children and finally bring them home. "
• Victims of Hate Crime, 2015-2021: "This fact sheet focuses on police-reported hate crime and, primarily, violent hate crime.2 A hate crime is defined in the UCR [Uniform Crime Reporting Survey] as a criminal violation  motivated by hate, based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, or any other similar factor."
• Sentencing in Adult Criminal Courts in Canada in 2020–2021: "This fact sheet is based on publicly available data from Statistics Canada. It examines data from 2020–2021 ─ the first year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, public health measures were put into place, which temporarily closed, postponed and/or restricted Canadian court proceedings. As a result, there was an unprecedented decline in the number of adult court cases, particularly in the first few months of 2020. It is important to keep this context in mind when interpreting the data in this fact sheet. "

Statistics Canada Article on Over-Representation of Indigenous Persons in Adult Provincial Custody

The Statistics Canada publication Juristat has published an article on Over-Representation of Indigenous Persons in Adult Provincial Custody, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

It found that the Indigenous incarceration rate was 8.9 times higher than the non-Indigenous incarceration rate in 2020/2021 in the five provinces covered (Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia).

Among the highlights:

• Indigenous men were most likely to experience incarceration, with almost one-in-ten Indigenous men aged 25-34 years experiencing incarceration over this period.
• In 2020/2021, the Over-Representation Index for Indigenous people was highest in Saskatchewan at 17.7 times higher than the non-Indigenous population, followed by Alberta (10.8), British Columbia (7.9), Ontario (6.3), and Nova Scotia (1.9).
• Over-representation increased in 2020/2021 by 14% from the previous year, when the over-representation index was 7.8.  Although, over-representation increased, the Incarceration rates for both Indigenous (down 18%) and non-Indigenous people (down 27%).
• The over-representation of Indigenous women in provincial correctional facilities (15.4 times higher than non-Indigenous women) was greater than for Indigenous men (8.4 times higher), in 2020/2021.
• In the three correctional services programs for which data are available, bail was used more frequently than remand for non-Indigenous persons. The ratio between average counts for bail and remand was 4.9 (that is for everyone one person in remand, almost 5 people were on bail), compared to 2.6 for the Indigenous population.

CBC Report Card on Implementation of Calls for Justice of National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Canada's public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), has created a report card on the implementation of the recommendations in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

According to the CBC:

"It’s been four years since the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released 231 calls for justice."

"Those calls tackled 18 areas needing reform, including education, justice and health."

"To date, only two of the 231 calls have been completed — and more than half haven’t even been started, according to CBC’s analysis."

"Here’s a look at the status of each of them."

That Inquiry final report was issued in June 2019.

After more than 3 years of meetings and gathering testimony, the Inquiry made 231 calls for action to government, institutions and the larger Canadian public to help address endemic levels of violence directed at Indigenous women and girls and what the report calls 2SLGBTQQIA (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual) people.

One of the supplementary reports explains the legal reasoning behind the Inquiry's declaration that the disproportionate levels of violence suffered by Indigenous women and girls in Canada could be considered a form of "race-based genocide (...)  empowered by colonial structures, evidenced notably by the Indian Act, the Sixties Scoop, residential schools and breaches of human and Indigenous rights, leading directly to the current increased rates of violence, death, and suicide in Indigenous populations".

Among its findings, the report stated that Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or to go missing than members of any other demographic group in Canada.

At the time of the release of the final report, the CBC website condensed the calls for action for easier understanding.