Executive summary

In the summer of 2023, the Government of Canada, through the Department of Justice Canada, embarked on the development of a Canada’s Black Justice Strategy to support an evidence-based approach and insight into how specific interventions can foster improved access to justice for Black People and to reduce the group’s overrepresentation in Canada’s criminal justice system. This initiative has been tailored to provide the Government with an understanding of the issues, concerns, suggested actions, and recommendations to enhance its ability to ensure a fair, equitable, responsive, and responsible justice system.

Truly Alive Youth and Family Foundation Inc (TAYFFI) was supported with funding by Department of Justice Canada to facilitate community consultation engagements for the province of Saskatchewan. Engagement questions related to policing, courts and legislation, corrections, social determinants of crime, and reintegration and re-entry of offenders into the community were prioritized. TAYFFI’s Project Working Group engaged a total of 265 individuals in four locations (including eight Black offenders within the Saskatchewan Federal Penitentiary in Prince Albert) through in-person and virtual focus groups and an online survey.

This report is an attempt to summarize ‘What We Heard’ during our engagement with Black People living in Saskatchewan and representatives of organizations, associations, and service-providing agencies that have intersectionality with the Black community. One key finding of the engagement is the near consensus of the significant bias and discrimination that exists against Black People who have interactions with the criminal justice system, from their first interaction with the police to how they are treated in the corrections settings. In addition, the findings include the need for a significant cultural shift within the criminal justice system, which requires explicit and ongoing commitment to cultural humility, safety, and competence at every level of the system.

This engagement is a first step that the Government can build upon to further investigate specific findings and recommendations across a variety of areas in the criminal justice system. With commitment to a collaborative approach to implementation, the findings of the report are expected to shape policy, operational and strategic decisions, and support assessments of targeted, social, community and system level shifts that need to occur to achieve an effective, responsive and sustainable Canada’s Black Justice Strategy.