To right historical wrongs : race, gender, and sentencing in Canada

Following the Second World War, liberal nation-states sought to address injustices of the past. Canada’s government began to consider its own implication in various past wrongs, and in the late twentieth century it began to implement reparative justice initiatives for historically marginalized people. Yet despite this shift, there are more Indigenous and racialized people in Canadian prisons now than at any other time in history. Carmela Murdocca examines this disconnect between the political motivations for amending historical injustices and the vastly disproportionate reality of the penal system – a troubling contradiction that is often ignored. "Following World War II, liberal nation-states sought to address injustices of the past. In keeping with trends in other countries, Canada's government began to consider its own implication in various past wrongs, and in the late twentieth century it began to implement reparative justice initiatives for historically marginalized people Contents 6 Preface and Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 16 1 Culture and Reparative Justice 41 2 From Incarceration to Restoration 70 3 Her Aboriginal Connections 94 4 Racial Injustice and Righting Historical Wrongs 129 Conclusion 186 Notes 201 Bibliography 240 Index 259 A bold questioning of culture-based reparative justice initiatives - the political culture that inspired them and their efficacy in an age in which historically marginalized people are disproportionately represented in Canadian prisons.