2
affecting First Nations (R v. Williams, 1998 782 (SCC), [1998] 1 SCR 1128 [Williams];
see also Willcott v. Freeway Transportation, 2019 CHRT 29 () [Willcott], at para. 234;
Nielsen v. Nee Tahi Buhn Indian Band, 2019 CHRT 50 () [Nielsen], at para. 136).
[6]
In First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada et al. v. Attorney General
of Canada (for the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada), 2016 CHRT 2 ()
[Family Caring Society 2016], at paragraph 402, the Tribunal repeated that the social,
political and legal contexts must be taken into account in its analysis when determining
whether there has been discrimination in a substantive sense.
[7]
In the context of Indigenous peoples, stereotyping and prejudice resulting from
colonialism, population displacements and the residential school system are all relevant
(same reference; see also R v. Turpin, 1989 98, [1989] 1 SCR 1296, at page 1332;
Corbière v. Canada (Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada), 1999 687,
[1999] 2 SCR 203, at para. 66; Lovelace v. Ontario, 2000 SCC 37, [2000] 1 SCR 950, at
para. 69; R. v. Kapp, 2008 SCC 41 (), [2008] 2 SCR 483, at para. 59 [Kapp]).
[8]
Although the decision was a criminal and penal matter, the Supreme Court’s reasons
in R. v. Ipeelee, 2012 SCC 13 () [Ipeelee], at paragraph 60, are, without doubt, entirely
relevant in the circumstances. The Court wrote the following:
Courts have, at times, been hesitant to take judicial notice of the systemic and
background factors affecting Aboriginal people in Canadian society (see, e.g.,
R. v. Laliberte, 2000 SKCA 27, 189 Sask. R. 190). To be clear, courts must
take judicial notice of such matters as the history of colonialism, displacement,
and residential schools and how that history continues to translate into lower
educational attainment, lower incomes, higher unemployment, higher rates of
substance abuse and suicide, and of course higher levels of incarceration for
Aboriginal peoples. These matters, on their own, do not necessarily justify a
different sentence for Aboriginal offenders. Rather, they provide the
necessary context for understanding and evaluating the case-specific
information presented by counsel.
[Emphasis in original.]
[9]
The Tribunal recognizes the suffering that First Nations, their communities, and their
families have experienced and continue to experience to this day. The Tribunal salutes their
strength and their courage in this pursuit of justice and healing, on a path towards truth and
reconciliation.