The Afrikan Canadian Prisoner Advocacy Coalition (ACPAC) is an alliance of concerned Afrikan Canadian individuals and organizations that have come together to engage the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) on issues related to the overrepresentation of Afrikan Canadians in the federal prison system and the shortfall in the mental-health care they receive. Since the summer of 2011, ACPAC has been engaged in examining these issues to determine whether the substandard care Afrikan Canadians receive while incarcerated constitutes a human rights violation.
ACPAC's website is currently under construction. For more information about its activities and members, or to enquire about membership and affiliation, contact us through the email address listed below:
AfrikanCanadianPAC@gmail.com
News and Issues
20120330
ACPAC Community Communique: Potential Human Rights Violations of Afrikan Canadian Inmates in Federal Correctional Institutions.
The Facts: The overrepresentation of Afrikan Canadians in provincial and federal prison populations is startling. Afrikan Canadians make up only 2.5 per cent of Canada's population but close to 10 percent of the federal prison population. Statistics also reveal that 10 to 12 percent of offenders entering the federal prison system have significant mental health problems. Click here to read the rest of the Communique.
20120306
ACLC Raises issues of racial profiling and prison overrepresentation at the United Nations
During the 80th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights), the staff of the African Canadian Legal Clinic tabled their report: Errors and Ommissions: Anti-Black Racism in Canada - A report on the Canadian Government's Compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This should remind us that the structural and systemic racism that exists here in Canada is not just a private, local or national affair. The violation of human rights in any form, in any location is a legitimate concern to the whole global community. (The title above provides a link to the homepage of the OHCHR. You can find a link to the 80th Session of the CERD there and find a copy of the ACLC's report)
20120301
Prison watchdog probes spike in number of black inmates
The link noted above is a news story published by CBC Online News which reports that the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) has launched "an inquiry into a 50% spike in the proportion of black offenders filling federal jails over the last 10 years." What the story doesn't tell you is that staff at OCI were prompted to consider the issue after attending meetings between ACPAC and the Canadian Human Rights Commission. It would appear that already the work of ACPAC has begun to yield results.
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