The (Re)Introduction of Restorative Justice in Kahnawake: "Beyond Indigenization"
AbstractThe Canadian criminal ‘justice’ system has failed (and continues to fail), and justice has been denied to (and continues to be denied to), First Peoples and their descendants. Both the need for, and the right of, First Peoples in Canada to establish separate justice systems and, in particular, separate criminal justice systems reflective and respective of their cultural distinctiveness, has been identified in numerous reports. The Canadian government, however, continues to favour indigenizing the Canadian justice system. In this paper the author considers the (re)-introduction of ‘Skenn:en A’onsonton’, a contemporary restorative justice process based on traditional Rotinohshonni (people of the Longhouse) principles of conflict resolution, to the Kahnawake Community by the Kanien’keha (Mohawk) people and critically assesses its prospects for success. |