Racial Profiling in Saskatchewan...

Lorne Gunter has a good op-ed in today's National Post on aboriginals and racial profiling.

Canada-widem aboriginals represent about 4.4% of the Canadian population. But they account for 18% of federal prisoners and 21% of provincial and territorial ones. In Saskatchewan, the situation is more pronounced: Three-quarters of the prisoners are aboriginal -- more than seven times the proportion of Saskatchewanians who are aboriginal. That's a staggering radio.

We might lament that such a tiny community is responsible for so much law-breaking. But we can't, accurately, say they were "over-represented" in prison: If natives are responsible for three-quarters of serious Saskatchewan crimes, even at 7.5-to-1 they are not over-represented.

Unfortunately, there are no good crime statistics to look at, because the Library of Parliament found there is a "unwillingness to collect racial data".