Inuit overrepresented in federal prisons’ COVID-19 cases
“They were afraid, they were stressed, they were kept in isolation”
The majority of COVID-19 cases involving Inuit were found at the Federal Training Centre, where 13 of its 30 Inuit inmates tested positive for the virus this past spring. (Photo courtesy of the Correctional Service of Canada)
The Office of the Correctional Investigator has raised the alarm over the high number of COVID-19 infections among Inuit inmates in federal penitentiaries.
Most of those cases have been clustered at the minimum-security Federal Training Centre in Laval, Que., which houses a unit for Inuit men—almost half of whom have tested positive for COVID-19 since March.
The result of that has been almost-total segregation of those inmates, a Montreal lawyer said, and a temporary loss of the cultural and Inuktitut-language services those inmates would normally receive.
“It should be noted that there is an over-representation of Inuit inmates who contracted the virus, compared to their representation in the incarcerated population,” the correctional investigator’s June 19 report said.
“Specifically, while Inuit individuals account for less than one per cent of the total incarcerated population, they represent five per cent of all COVID-19 cases in federal corrections.”
The majority of COVID-19 cases involving Inuit were found at the FTC, where 13 of its 30 Inuit inmates tested positive for the virus, the Correctional Service of Canada said in a June 23 email to Nunatsiaq News.
FTC has seen a total of 162 confirmed COVID-19 cases and one COVID-19-related death since the pandemic started. All but one of those individuals has now recovered, CSC said.
Inuit offenders are also periodically housed at two other federal Quebec institutions that have seen COVID-19 outbreaks: Joliette Institution for Women penitentiary—where CSC said there are currently no Inuit inmates—as well as at the maximum-security Port-Cartier Institution.
One Inuit inmate at Port-Cartier tested positive for COVID-19 in recent months but has since recovered, CSC said.
Although these prisons are no longer reporting new cases, they are “still considered outbreak sites,” the Office of the Correctional Investigator noted in its report.
There are 141 Inuit incarcerated in federal institutions or healing lodges across the county.
“I would say it’s been like hell”
Alexandra Paquette, a Montreal-based lawyer who works with Inuit detainees being processed through the federal system, said the government’s delayed response to the COVID-19 outbreak has created undue stress for inmates.
In response to the outbreak at FTC, Paquette said correctional officials segregated inmates for up to 23.5 hours a day, leaving them a half-hour to have outdoor time, take a shower or call family.
“I would say it’s been like hell,” Paquette said of the experience Inuit inmates would have had during the height of the outbreak at FTC.
“They were afraid, they were stressed, they were kept in isolation,” she said. “We’re talking about 23 and a half hours a day in a cell, alone, without any program, no access to family members … no access to any cultural activities, which is their right.”
“If you did a psychological followup with them, I’m pretty sure they’d have [a] post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis.”
Those are just some of the issues that prompted a class action over CSC’s handling of the pandemic at Quebec institutions, filed in April.
The filing is on behalf of all federal inmates incarcerated in Quebec since mid-March, alleging that federal prison authorities did not implement adequate measures to protect inmates from an outbreak.
Makivik Corp.’s cultural programming in penitentiaries on hold for now
The Correctional Service of Canada has a partnership with Makivik Corp. for the provision of translation and cultural programming for Inuit inmates in Quebec’s federal penitentiary system—the vast majority of which has been put on hold since mid-March.
Throughout the outbreak, however, CSC said it communicated information to Makivik, which helped arrange some phone interpretation between inmates and medical staff, as needed.
Makivik declined Nunatsiaq News’ request for an interview but sent this comment via email on June 23.
“With respect to the report issued by the office of the correctional investigator and more specifically the over-representation of Inuit COVID-19 cases, we are not able to offer any reasoning other than the fact that Inuit are usually detained together in a specific wing,” Makivik said.
“As it is cultural practice to shake hands and not to necessarily keep a distance between themselves, we believe this could have been a contributing factor to the higher amount of cases among the Inuit men.”
So. First of all good ol saying don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. Secondly, most federal Inuit inmates are there for serious sexual offences. They request segregation as they know they won’t survive otherwise. Also, people who are coming home from medical travel are also literally under segregation almost 24 hours a day in quarantine. They did nothing wrong except get sick. I’m really tired of the whining from inmates. Regardless if they are Inuit. These people broke the law and are being punished for their actions. They are not going to a country club.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission says:”Every person on Canadian soil, whether they are in our prison system or in our immigration system, deserves to be treated with humanity and dignity, and to have full access to Canada’s human rights protections.”
I ask Oh Well to educate himself/herself about systemic racism in Canada. And about the over representation of Indigenous populations in Canadian prisons. Look up the social determinants of health and read about it.
Try and open your mind – let in some knowledge… and maybe you will not post such uninformed biased comments in the future. I have to wonder at the wisdom of posting such comments…I found them offensive.
No one is advocating that their human rights be denied. They weren’t sentenced to federal prisons because they are Inuit, they did commit serious offenses. If you know anything about sentencing in Nunavut you’ll know the bar is actually quite high to cross that threshold.
These are not Inuit from Nunavut. These are people from nunavik. Hence “makivik”. Really doesn’t matter from where they are, though. Considering nunavik also raises its bar pretty high and these are mainly repeat offenders that we have in there. Problem is, they should abide by the laws they wrote to the full extent. They did write the laws after all. Doesn’t matter the crime, people still have rights as prisoners. Don’t like it? Move to America or a third world country.
I read your comments (Russell) and reread Oh Well’s comments. What was so offensive about what the poster said? Read Observation Post – this poster is correct. The bar for sentencing in Nunavut is high. So I think you (Russell) should be more informed. It appears from your comments that you if do not go with the flow, then all of a sudden comments are not welcome and branded harsh, racist etc.
I am not totally convinced about systemic racism. Prejudice, bigotry of course exists.
For the record, I probably would have been branded a heretic in the middle ages also.
“I am not totally convinced about systemic racism.” That’s a racist comment.
Please listen to the multitude of documented accounts from black, indigenous and other racialized people of how they are treated by police, doctors, coworkers, bus drivers, teachers, etc. You don’t have to look hard to find them, sadly they’re everywhere and they’re real. Have you seen the video of George Floyd face down on the ground with a police officer’s knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds that ended with his death? If you don’t believe a video, there are statistics. The stats are real too.
I usually ignore prejudiced comments but I’ve come to learn that being anti-racist means I need to challenge these comments when I see them. I don’t want my silence to be interpreted as agreement.
To your comment, “Have you seen the video of George Floyd face down on the ground with a police officer’s knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds that ended with his death?”, I would ask if you’ve seen the video of the murder of Daniel Shaver by a police officer?
That is absolutely not a racist thing to say. A debate / discussion over an issue with an alternate view point does not make it racist especially when it was not a hard statement. It is mind boggling that you would try to conflate George Floyd’s death with representation of Inuit inmates. Maybe save your narrative and actually engage in conversation.
How about starting with Statistics Canada since you said there’s statistics. Violent crime is SEVEN times the national rate per capita, highest rate in all of Canada. Nearly all of Nunavut is 84% Inuit. I wonder why there’s more Inuit in prison.
Maybe Nancy and Kim don’t actually live in Nunavut. They don’t see their co-workers coming to work with black eyes or not showing up at all because they have to go Yellowknife to get their jaw put back together with strings.
There’s significantly more crime here, you see it everyday and the statistics only confirm it. There’s higher representations of Inuit per capita in prisons because there’s more crime committed. It’s not hard to wrap your head around.
If you have looked at any case law at all you will see that Nunavut has some of the lowest sentencing consequences for criminal actions in the country. Its not rocket science that you see also a larger percentage of repeat offenders than the rest of the country.
Nunavut has some serious problems. Everything statistics wise is drastically worse off than the rest of Canada. Combined that with a complete reliance on social assistance and the worst school attendance rates in the country and you have a perfect storm that will only continue to produce violent offenders.
You may have had a valid point to make, but as soon as you said that someone saying that they weren’t convinced by the existence of system racism is themselves racist you lost all credibility. Many people hold this opinion and find the concept of systemic racism lazy thinking that absolves individuals of agency.
This isn’t about Nunavut. This is about Nunavik. And “over representing” means just that.. systemic prejudices against a certain race, and since it is racial prejudice, it is defined as racist.
Not is isn’t, it depends on the reason for over-representation. You have greatly over-simplified this conversation.
Let’s take a guess. All of them smoke?
You cannot smoke in federal prisons. And if they do, the prison can get another class action.
This assumption is loaded with judgement and ignorance. Smoking does not cancel the right to be treated with dignity. Also, smoking is banned in jails.
I usually ignore prejudiced comments but I’ve come to learn that being anti-racist means I need to challenge these comments when I see them. I don’t want my silence to be interpreted as agreement.
Thanks for commenting on this. Had you not voiced your opinion I am sure the world would have looked on you as complicit in the systems of racism that gave rise to these insidious comments. You have absolved yourself nicely here. Anyone else want to wash away their sins while they still have time? Quick, we are watching you!
If makivik was also behind this, we need to file class action with them also. The people of nunavik deserve justice. These are family members. Loved ones. No matter what they did, makivik shouldn’t have been behind the harsh treatment of its own people.
Most of those cases have been clustered at the minimum-security Federal Training Centre in Laval, Que., which houses a unit for Inuit men—almost half of whom have tested positive for COVID-19 since March.
————–
Might be some over reaction here.
If you house Inuit men together in prison, which I think is a good thing, this is the risk you take with infectious disease. It will then spread fast through the group that houses together.
This is a common complaint among prisoners……. But I think we have to see it for what it is.