I wanted to do something justice related, as there is a lot of focus in the news currently about reforming the current system and how it unfairly and disproportionately targets POC. While the conversation mostly centers around Black people in the United States, it is also a massive issue in Canada, especially in regard to BIPOC youth.
The focus of my project will about the overrepresentation of Indigenous people, particularly youth, within the Canadian criminal justice system, and how that affects families and the future of their communities, as well as action that can be taken to change it.
The audience I would like to focus on with this project is people who are largely ignorant to or misinformed about the structural and systemic racism that results in this issue, primarily white and other non-indigenous people.
I would like to visualize statistics from my research, such as the fact that Indigenous youth are 8 times more likely to be in custody than non-Indigenous youth. I’m currently considering something environmental, as I find physical disruptions in familiar environments cause people to pay attention more. I’m still working on brainstorming the most efficient and effective way to communicate this issue to the chosen audience.
Some sources I’ve used for research include:
https://www.crcvc.ca/docs/victimization.pdf
https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/yj-jj/yj2-jj2/yj2.pdf
https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/gladue/p2.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/youth-incarcerated-indigenous-half-1.4720019
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/22/one-third-canada-prisoners-indigenous-report