Section 3. Findings

The survey composed of 9 questions, multiple choice, was distributed in English and French to DESTA re-entry and advocacy inmates. Each question allowed the respondent an option to explain their selected response. The purpose of this section is to present the results of the survey as well as contextualize the research findings through the responses from the community roundtable discussion. To begin, the profiles of all respondents provide context to the research findings. This is followed by the survey questions and answers received and themes developed from the roundtable discussions, allowing for the grasping of key recommendations and significant implications. For the survey questions, respondents were asked to rank their top three recommendations across the different thematic areas.

3.1 Profiles of respondents

3.2 Survey Results for Policing

For the question on policing, respondents had to choose the top three of the following recommendations:

The top three recommendations which respondents chose were:

The respondents were also asked to provide any additional recommendations and the following recommendations were collected:

3.3 Survey Results for Courts and Legislation

For the question on courts and legislation, respondents had to choose the top three of the following recommendations:

The top three recommendations which respondents chose were:

The respondents were also asked to provide any additional recommendations and the following recommendations were collected:

3.4 Survey Results for Corrections

For the question on corrections, respondents had to choose the top three of the following recommendations:

The top three recommendations which respondents chose were:

The respondents were also asked to provide any additional recommendations and the following recommendations were collected:

3.5 Survey Results for Reintegration and Re-entry

For the question on reintegration and re-entry, respondents had to choose the top three of the following recommendations:

The top three recommendations which respondents chose were:

The respondents were also asked to provide any additional recommendations and the following recommendations were collected:

3.6 Results of the Roundtable Discussion

In order to obtain more contextualized and deepened understanding of Black community members’ experiences with Canada’s criminal justice system, a community roundtable discussion was hosted through DESTA’s KYR event. The aim of the community-led consultation was for the voices of Black communities to assist in further developing a more comprehensive image of their experiences with Canada’s criminal justice system, potentially contextualizing the survey responses. This section summarizes the discussion from the community members who registered and consented to participating in the roundtable consultation. The discussions addressed the main five pillars of Canada’s Black Justice Strategy Framework:

Three themes emerged from the community’s responses and with regard to the above-mentioned pillars 1) the need for law enforcement accountability; 2) the need to focus more on institutional change rather than solely on community-level changes; and 3) a frustration with data collection by government projects from Black communities. Much of the mentioned themes were driven from the majority of respondents’ expressed desire for a sense of belonging in their country as well as them feeling fearful and powerless when reporting their own cases to law enforcement.

The issue of provincial and country laws not holding those with judicial and law-enforcing power accountable for acts of racism is raised by a majority of the community respondents as largely contributing to Black people’s frequent and unpleasant experiences with the criminal justice system. Respondents spoke about the need for deliberate acts of racism, especially when committed by a police officer, to face criminal charges. Given that Black and Aboriginal populations are incarcerated at a significantly higher rate than other ethnic groups, most of the respondents believed negative experiences with the criminal justice system to be rooted from systemic racism. All respondents found the key recommendations commonly suggested from studies on addressing the overrepresentation of Black people in the criminal justice system (refer to Appendix A of the CBJS Framework) to be one-sided and interpreting the Black body and Black community as “deficient”. Respondents expressed that the recommendations should be investigative of policing practices (i.e., policies for parole officers and repercussions for racial profiling and ideologies from law enforcement), institutional culture (e.g., prejudice and discriminative practices within schools, hospitals and hiring practices), and the legal systems and documents of Canada (i.e., constitutional recognition and protection of Black groups), all of which they described as dismissive to regarding Black people fairly or as human beings. Some of the respondents found such recommendations to be posing a burden on Black communities to fix the issues of systemic racism rather than the system itself. Finally, several community respondents provided narratives of their negative encounters with police officers and how they feel unsafe to report crime to law enforcement. Such fear and negativity surrounding acts that require interaction with law enforcement were mentioned in relation to Black people often being preconceived as the one in the wrong or experiencing harassment and retaliation without any real protection.

In the case of data collection, respondents provided examples of the many times they have been consulted by the government, yet still have seen no new or tangible solutions developed beyond fixing economic and mental health issues within Black communities. Some described the data collection practices of the government as Black communities being “overly consulted” with zero implementations made for the community and zero changes within laws. Several community respondents mentioned a frustration with the government creating projects of community mobilization during heightened moments of tragedy in Black communities but lacking in the timely provision of data results back to the community. This often leaves the community that was consulted feeling uninformed to the true use of their divulged narratives, views, and experiences. Additionally, all respondents expressed a desire for a more structured way of consulting communities for data. Such structure would consider the timeliness and costs of engaging large community groups on sensitive experiences and further keeping them informed on the final results and implementations of such findings.

According to community respondents, systemic issues within the criminal justice system begin with Black youth not being allowed to exist as youth. Many of the respondents provided examples of their children growing up in neighborhoods where law enforcement was ordered to place locks on the basketball courts, thus enacting oppressive rules and stringent timing for when children could play. In many cases, respondents described their childhood and current children as being seen as delinquent and treated like adults being groomed for incarceration. The intentional and systemic act of policing activities of fun, leisure, sport and community within Black neighborhoods was expressed by several respondents as a catalyst to the many Black youth joining gangs and committing crimes, as they believe them to be in search of a sense of belonging.

Additionally, many respondents mentioned the absence of adult supervision in Black homes as another catalyst for youth’s involvement with the criminal justice system. Many owed this absence to Black single-parent households and job insecurity in neighborhoods with a large Black population. With little adult supervision and recreational and community activities locked away, many Black youth are left without positive role models, examples and opportunities in their environment and have great chances to turn to criminal behavior and groups.