Predictors of Arrests in Canada: Over-Policing of Indigenous Communities

Individual and Community Predictors of Arrests in Canada: Evidence of Over- Policing of Indigenous Peoples and Communities Amy M. Alberton, Kevin M. Gorey, and Naomi G. Williams

Background

Introduction The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) called for all levels of government to commit to eliminating the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in custody over the next decade (p. 172). Rates of Indigenous Peoples incarceration increasing unabated (Roberts & Reid, 2017) Overrepresentation begins with police (Comack, 2012; Zimmerman, 1992) at least part of the problem is systemic racism (Marques & Monchalin, 2020; Sandulescu, 2021)

Previous Literature First Canadian study to examine racial profiling was conducted on behalf of Kingston Police in 2005 (Giwa et al., 2020) found Indigenous Peoples almost 1.5x more likely to be stopped by police (Wortley & Marshall, 2005) Investigative report by CBC found in Edmonton, Alberta, Indigenous women were 10x more likely to be randomly stopped by police (Huncar, 2017) In the USA, mounting empirical evidence suggests a relationship between neighborhood or community characteristics, specifically ethnic and/or racial composition, and police decisions to arrest or stop people no such studies in Canada

Hypotheses 1. Indigenous Peoples are more likely to have been arrested than non-Indigenous people. 2. People who have experienced extensive structural violence are more likely to have been arrested. 3. Indigenous Peoples who live in communities with prevalent concentrations of Indigenous Peoples (Indigenous ethnic enclaves) are more likely to have been arrested, and this Indigenous disadvantage is greater than that observed in other places. 4. Indigenous females who live in Indigenous ethnic enclaves are the most likely to be arrested.

Methods

Secondary Data Analysis Hypotheses were tested using the 34th iteration of Canada s General Social Survey Victimization ([GSS]; Statistics Canada, 2019) Random sample of non-institutionalized residents of Canadian provinces, 15 years and older Weighted by age and gender (unweighted to test interaction effects) To test community-level hypotheses, data from the 2016 Canadian census were linked to the GSS individual-level data using dissemination area (DA) codes

Measures Outcome: Arrest by police in past 12 months Individual-Level Predictors Ethnicity Gender Experiences of structural violence Community-Level Predictor Prevalence of Indigenous Peoples Individual-Level Covariates Age Marital status Highest level of education Community-Level Covariate Neighborhood crime

Practical Statistical Analyses Descriptive analyses compared Indigenous and White respondents factors Binary logistic regressions tested main predictive and interaction effects Practical and statistical significance assessed using odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) Final, weighted analytic sample: n = 21,454,617 (unweighted n = 16,806)

Results

Non-Indigenous White (n = 21,919,913) 0.5% Indigenous (n = 904,148) Arrested in past 12 months Gender Female Male Structural Violence Index None One or two Three or more Prevalence of Indigenous Peoples 4.9% 5.0% to 19.9% 20.0% to 39.9% 40% and greater 1.2% 53% 47% 52% 48% Descriptive Statistics 29.8% 57.8% 12.4% 56.3% 41.1% 2.7% 45.5% 31.3% 11.0% 12.3% 76.7% 21.1% 1.8% 0.4%

Regression Models Models 1 to 4 Model 9 OR 1.00 2.56 1.00 0.53 1.00 1.23 5.75 1.00 0.43 0.35 1.82 95% CI -- 2.51, 2.61 -- 0.52, 0.54 -- 1.21, 1.24 5.64, 5.85 -- 0.42, 0.44 0.33, 0.37 1.74, 1.90 OR 1.00 2.04 1.00 0.59 1.00 1.10 4.77 1.00 0.35 0.18 0.54 95% CI -- 2.00, 2.08 -- 0.58, 0.60 -- 1.08, 1.11 4.68, 4.87 -- 0.34, 0.36 0.17, 0.19 0.51, 0.57 Ethnicity (Non-Indigenous White) Indigenous Sex (Male) Female Experiences of SV (None) One or two Three or more Prevalence of IP ( 4.9%) 5.0% to 19.9% 20.0% to 39.9% 40.0% and greater

2-Way Interaction Enclave < 20% n = 13,871 OR 1.00 3.07 Enclave > 20% n = 2,935 OR 1.00 4.83 1.66, 14.04 95% CI -- 1.32, 7.15 95% CI -- White Indigenous 3-Way Interaction Enclave <20%, Males (OR = 4.20; [1.47, 11.99]) Females (OR = 1.98; [0.43, 9.23]) Enclave 20%, Males (OR = 3.49; [0.97, 12.63], p < .10) Females (OR = 19.88; [1.81, 218.67])

Summary 1. Being Indigenous was a significant and strong predictor of arrest. 2. Those who reported extensive experiences of structural violence were nearly 5x as likely to report being arrested than those with no such experiences. 3. Indigenous Peoples residing in Indigenous enclaves were even more likely to be arrested and this effect was significantly larger than for otherwise similar, non- Indigenous counterparts. 4. Indigenous females residing in Indigenous enclaves were at profound risk of being arrested, a relative risk 20x greater than that experienced by otherwise similar non- Indigenous females.

Implications for Social Work Social work educators must work to facilitate students understandings of these issues and promote the importance of social justice and advocacy work. Social work practitioners must recognize and attend to the negative impacts of racial profiling and over-policing on clients health-related, social, and economic well- being Social work scholars must continue to examine the effects of over-policing and racial profiling to work toward exposing and ending these discriminatory practices All of us must take on social justice and advocacy roles in the communities we serve to reduce racial profiling and over-policing.

Conclusions As an Indigenous participant in Samuelson and Strelioff s (2001) study stated: I think the police have to remember that we all have the right to be treated the same as everyone else. Not to be judged on our race or color. And to deal with us one-to-one (p. 412).

Research Team Amy M. Alberton, PhD, MSW School of Social Work, Texas State University Corresponding Author; Email: Amy.Alberton@txstate.edu Kevin M. Gorey, PhD, MSW School of Social Work, University of Windsor & Naomi G. Williams, MSW, PhD Student Anishinaabe, Walpole Island First Nation; School of Social Work, University of Windsor

Full Article: Alberton, A. M., Gorey, K. M., & Williams, N. G. (2023). Individual and community predictors of arrests in Canada: Evidence of over-policing of Indigenous Peoples and communities. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2023.2211785

References Comack, E. (2012). Racialized policing: Aboriginal people s encounters with the police. Fernwood Publishing. Giwa, S., Mullings, D. V., Adjei, P. B., & Karki, K. K. (2020). Racial erasure: The silence of social work on police racial profiling in Canada. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 5(4), 224 235. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-020- 00136-y Huncar, A. (2017, June 27). Indigenous women nearly 10 times more likely to be street checked by Edmonton police, new data shows. CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/street-checks-edmonton-police-aboriginal-black- carding-1.4178843 Marques, O., & Monchalin, L. (2020). The mass incarceration of Indigenous women in Canada: A colonial tactic of control and assimilation. In L. George, A. N. Norris, A. Deckert, & J. Tauri (Eds.), Neo-colonial injustice and the mass imprisonment of Indigenous women (pp. 79 102). Palgrave Macmillan. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [TRCC]. (2015). Honouring the truth, reconciling for the future: Summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. http://www.trc.ca/websites/ trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Exec_Summary_2015_05_31_web_o.pdf Roberts, J. V., & Reid, A. A. (2017). Aboriginal incarceration in Canada since 1978: Every picture tells the same story. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 59(3), 313 345. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2016.E24

References (cont.) Samuelson, L., & Strelioff, B. (2001). Indigenized urban 'community policing' in Canada and Australia: Comparative study of aboriginal perceptions. Police Practice & Research, 2(4), 385 420. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? handle=hein.journals/gppr2&div=33&id=&page= Sandulescu, A. (2021). Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian criminal justice system: Over-representation & systemic discrimination. York University Criminological Review, 3(1), 65 89. https://csri.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/default/ article/view/116 Statistics Canada. (2019b). General social survey, cycle 34, 2019. Victimization, Main File: Study Documentation. Wortley, S., & Marshall, L. (2005). Race and police stops in Kingston, Ontario: Results of a pilot project. Kingston Police Services Board. Zimmerman, S. (1992). The revolving door of despair : Aboriginal involvement in the criminal justice system. British Columbia Law Review, 26, 367 426. https://www.sfu.ca/~palys/Zimmerman-1992-RevolvingDoorOfDespair.pdf