Indigenous peoples are vastly overrepresented in the Canadian criminal justice system. The Canadian government has framed this disproportionate victimization and criminalization as being an \"Indian problem.\"

InThe Colonial Problem, Lisa Monchalin challenges the myth of the \"Indian problem\" and encourages readers to view the crimes and injustices affecting Indigenous peoples from a more culturally aware position. She analyzes the consequences of assimilation policies, dishonoured treaty agreements, manipulative legislation, and systematic racism, arguing that the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the Canadian criminal justice system is not an Indian problem but a colonial one.

By (author): Lisa Monchalin

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Note to Instructors
Teaching Material that Challenges
In the Classroom

Introduction and Purpose: Understanding and Reducing Injustice

1. Introduction to Indigenous Peoples in Canada

2. Introduction to an Indigenous Perspective: Ideology and Teachings

3. Indigenous Governance and Methods of Addressing Crime

4. Historical and Contemporary Colonialism

5. Canadian Legal History: Interpretation of Indigenous Treaties and Rights

6. Indigenous Peoples and the State: Legal Manipulation and Indian Legislation

7. The Impact of Assimilation: Residential Schools and Intergenerational Trauma

8. Crime Affecting Indigenous Peoples: Over-Representation, Explanations, and Risk Factors

9. Violence Affecting Indigenous Women: Struggle, Sexualization, and Subjugation

10. The Real Criminals: Government and Corporate Priorities and Their Failure to Follow Agreements

11. Modern Agreements and Land Claims: The Government's Desire for "Economic Certainty"

12. Euro-Canadian "Justice" Systems and Traditional Indigenous Justice

13. Moving Forward: Lighting the Eighth Fire

Notes
Index