Letter to the Editor: Balanced Gladue campaign a step in right direction

Dear Editor:
After reading Marie Burke's "More awareness needed about Gladue decision" in your April issue, I wondered why legal experts were solely focusing on the application of the Gladue principle to Aboriginal offender's court sentencing but not to their security classification and penitentiary placement? Given that Aboriginal rates of incarceration are increasing, it would make sense for our leaders to ensure the Gladue principle is equally applied by Correctional Service Canada when it decides where Aboriginal offenders are to serve their sentence.
Under paragraph 35 of CSC's Commissioner Directive 705-7, it states that "staff will be sensitive to the spirit and intent of Gladue" by considering the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders when determining their security classification. Contrast to this CSC policy with comments made in the Correctional Investigator's 2006/07 Report: "Aboriginal offenders are disproportionately placed in higher-security institutions, which have limited or no acccess to core programs designed to meet their unique needs." The investigator then goes on to explain the consequences of this action. "The absence of programming limits the opportunity for transfers to lower-security institutions, which in turn diminishes the chances of timely and safe conditional release."
If this is the case, then it is obvious that CSC, like the courts, is callously ignoring the Gladue principle. Yet, how many workshops facilitated by Aboriginal legal experts have there been to analyze CSC's responsibility (or lack thereof) of applying the Gladue principle? How many CSC staffers even know what the Gladue principle is, let alone that they are supposed to use it when selecting appropriate cultural programming for Aboriginal offenders and when considering their requests for transfer to a lower-security prison? Quite frankly, I am frightened of the possible answers. In my view, the Gladue decision has come to be so construed as simply a principle for sentencing purposes, that it is rarely, if ever, used for correctional purposes. As a result, Aboriginal offenders are not only poorly sentenced in the courts, they are poorly treated in the prisons and not only over-represented but also over-classified. To address this issue, a more balanced Gladue Awareness Campaign, one that focuses on its application in the courts as well as in the prisons, would be a step in the right direction.
Sincerely,