The Trudeau government has released its plan to implement the Black Justice Strategy, an initiative the government hopes will address “systemic racism” by reforming the criminal justice system to treat black offenders with greater lenience and offer them exclusive social programs.
The Department of Justice released the Black Justice Strategy’s Implementation Plan, the first step in establishing a 10-year framework to roll out more than a dozen policies and programs recommended by the strategy’s steering committee.
One of the stated goals of the policy is to reduce the share of black offenders in Canada’s correctional institutions.
To develop the strategy, the government convened a steering committee made up of anti-racist academics and lawyers who published a report in 2024 issuing 114 recommendations. The recommendations include changes to policing practices, the law and courts, the correctional experience, the parole process, and an improved standard of living for Black Canadians.
Some of the recommendations in the report include cutting incarceration rates of black and Indigenous Canadians by 50%, expanding the use of impact of race and culture assessments, the legalization of hard drugs and increasing the minimum wage to $21 per hour.
The implementation plan outlines how the federal government will be spending the $78 million allocated to implementing some of the Black Justice Strategy’s recommendations over the next two years.
The Trudeau government is committing $18.2 million over the next two years for the RCMP to establish an “anti-racism unit” meant to combat racism in the federal police force.
For the next two years, $23.6 million is being allocated to the Department of Justice to expand the use of impact of race and culture assessments and develop black-specific court worker services, black-specific carceral diversion and bail supervision projects.
$7.9 million is being allocated for the Black Offender Strategy to deliver “culturally and gender-appropriate programming and specialized services” for black inmates.
Meanwhile, $1.8 million is being allocated to the Canada School of Public Service to develop an anti-racism education program for the federal public service.
The Trudeau government will also create a few social programs exclusively for black Canadians, including an $8.8 million “culturally appropriate” mental health program and a $9.5 million program to help black youth gain employment.
The steering committee will continue with its work, providing the government with continual advice in implementing the Black Justice Strategy.
The government says that the plan is necessary to help black people who have ended up in the criminal justice system as a result of systemic racism and to prevent future Black Canadians from being incarcerated.
“We are privileged to live in a country that values human rights and places equality at its core. However, despite these values, anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination exist in Canadian society,” said Minister of Justice Arif Virani.
“Canada’s first ever Black Justice Strategy is a significant first step towards transformative action, including addressing the underlying socioeconomic factors that contribute to inequality.”
The Black Justice Strategy has received significant criticism for its focus on race-based policies and radical reforms to Canada’s criminal justice system.
Last October, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani slammed the Black Justice Strategy for its “radical policies” that he predicts will “lead to more crime, drugs and chaos” in a multi-post thread.
“The Trudeau Liberals must reject these troubling recommendations. If the policies contained in the so-called “Black Justice Strategy” report are adopted, there will surely be more crime, drugs and disorder in our communities,” said Jivani.