Miscarriages of Justice: A Register to Better Document the Problem

The register contains 83 cases of people whose convictions were later overturned.

A new registry that identifies a long list of miscarriages of justice in Canada is being launched this week, in an effort to draw more attention to this problem.

The registry was developed by faculty and students at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. It so far contains 83 cases of people whose convictions were later overturned.

The announcement of the registry comes days after federal Justice Minister David Lametti introduced legislation that would, among other things, create a new independent federal commission to review potential cases of ;miscarriages of justice.

Mr. Lametti explained that many cases currently under review by the Department of Justice do not reflect the makeup of Canada's prison population.

Indigenous offenders are overrepresented in Canadian prisons, but miscarriages of justice data collected in the registry shows that only 16 of 83 cases involved Indigenous people.

Amanda Carling, Lawyer and Co-Founder registry project in Toronto, says legal reforms in Canada have recognized that too many Indigenous people are in prison, but she argues that there has never been an institutionalized recognition that many of x27;them simply shouldn't be behind bars.

Minister Lametti admitted last week after his bill was tabled that candidates for reconsideration of their case are mostly white males – and our prison populations don't look like that.

It tells me the system isn't as accessible to women or to Indigenous, black people or racialized, which are represented disproportionately in our criminal justice system, he explained. We need to change that, some of these records go back decades.