Document Type
Article
English Abstract
The recent National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (the National Inquiry) identified “the ongoing criminalization of Indigenous women as … another iteration of residential schools or the Sixties Scoop.” Embracing these findings, this article aims to highlight the hidden and complex intergenerational and colonial nature of confinement for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Inspired by a holistic approach used by certain Indigenous scholars, this article makes an argument for viewing imprisonment as a harmful colonial tool that has been used against Indigenous Peoples in different ways throughout colonial history. In other words, imprisonment in prisons follows in the footsteps of other forms of removal from communities, including residential schools, segregated hospitals, the Sixties Scoop, and ongoing child welfare system apprehensions. This article elucidates how the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls should be incorporated in future policy responses to this issue in Canada, arguing that solutions for intergenerational incarceration should centre Indigenous-led justice initiatives, and focus on intergenerational healing.
Citation Information
Mussell, Linda.
"Intergenerational Imprisonment: Resistance and Resilience in Indigenous Communities."
Journal of Law and Social Policy
33.
(2020): 15-37.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/0829-3929.1396
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/jlsp/vol33/iss1/2