Question: Page 1/11 How do different social groups experience the law differently? (Consider race, gender, class, sexuality, etc.) Name: Masooda Mohammad Hossin Course Director: Dena Demos
Page 1/11 How do different social groups experience the law differently? (Consider race, gender, class, sexuality, etc.) Name: Masooda Mohammad Hossin Course Director: Dena Demos Course: SOSC 1375 3.0 Date due: June 23/2025 Mohammad Hossin Can you imagine that one day two people walking to a courtroom: one is a young Indigenous woman living in poverty and the other is a wealthy white man. Though they stand before the same judge and face the same legal system, their experiences and likely their outcomes will be widely different. Many social groups continue to experience unequal treatment inside the judicial system in a nation like Canada, where justice is supposed to be blind and fair for everyone. Although the foundation of Canada's legal system is built on equality and rights for all, systemic bias, historical injustices, and unequal access to resources continue to shape how people perceive the law, The way that people are handled by the police, courts, and jail institutions is greatly influenced by factors including colour, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background, This essay argues that in Canada, the legal system does not treat all individuals equally; instead, it reflects broader social inequalities experienced by Indigenous peoples, racial minorities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and is especially evident in race-based legal decision-making. Indigenous Peoples in Canada experience the law in significantly distinctive and frequently unfair methods, rooted in centuries of colonialism, systemic racism, and continuing legal inequalities. According to Heritage (2024b), The ancient inhabitants of North America and their descendants are collectively referred to as Indigenous and Inuit are the three peoples. Indians (sometimes referred to as First Nations), Mt categories of Indigenous peoples recognized by the Canadian Constitution. "Indigenous Peoples" is increasingly being used in place of "Aboriginal peoples" in international agreements. The Department of Justice Canada (2024), mentioned that, In the Canadian criminal justice system, Indigenous people are disproportionately represented as accused/convicted individuals as well as victims/survivors. For instance, in 2014, a much Page 3/11 Mohammad Hossin greater percentage of Indigenous people in Canada (those aged [5 and over) than non-Indigenous people reported experiencing victimization in the last year (28% he Department of Justice Canada added that, Systemic prejudice has been cited in the literature as an example of the over-policing and under-policing of Indigenous people. Indigenous people are thought to be more often targeted by police, resulting in more court interactions than non-Indigenous people, though no statistics exist. However, research has shown that prejudices have caused police to view Indigenous people as less deserving victims, cast doubt on their sincerity, and disregard or under support their demands for help. Furthermore, The Department of Iustice Canada also added that the Problems like mental health and drug use disorders, homelessness, poverty, and prior experiences af trauma, violence, and victimization are common among those who interact with the criminal justice ared to other system, However, Indigenous peoples have faced unique ch groups. inchiding everrepresentation in the criminal justice system, which is attributed to a combination of intergenerational trauma, economic hurdles, social and political inequality, and the loss of culture and language. Additionally, indigenous people have educational experiences with the law. Canadian Institute of Child Health, (n.d), Based on the ideals of the settlers, Indigenous groups in Canada were compelled to adopt formal education systems after Europeans arrived Governments and churches controlled these. Most notably, Indigenous children and families were compelled to attend the Indian Residential Schoo! (IRS) system. Indigenous children were separated from their families, subjected to physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, and their traditional education was compromised by this system. Along with years of detrimental effects on physical and mental health, it led to the widespread loss of culture and Mohammad Hossin attributed in language. The cun us of education among Indigenous peop! large part to the IRS system, Generations of Indigenous people suffered greatly as a result of the Indian Residential Schools, according to the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. They determined the various methods in which this occurred. Indigenous people have been negatively impacted by residential schools for many generations, Children were taken from villages and families. They disparaged their identity and culture. They were abused physically and sexually by the schools. \"First Nations youth often take different educational p p non-Indigenous youth, as they are more likely ta be young parents, live in low-income houscholds, and live in rural areas than their non-Indigenous counterparts\" (Government of C da, Statistics Canada, 2023, para While many people familiar with the experiences of Indigenous Peoples in Canada recog Land often unjust waysrooted ze that they encounter the law in significantly diff in centuries of colonialism, systemic racism, and ongoing legal inequalitiesmany overlook that other Canadians, including women and LGBTQ individuals, also face systemic biases and gaps in legal eaforcemeat that result in unequal treatment and limited access to justice According to Chenier (2003), In Canada's past, LGBTQ+ people have encountered numerous in relation to criminal codes and morality laws. Laws legal and societal obstacles, especially governing same-sex relationships were among the many measures taken by the Canadian Parliament to actively control public morality starting in the late 19th century. Criminal sexual psychopath laws, which targeted "sex deviants" and presented them as risks to public safety rather than emphasizing rehabilitation, were adopted as a result ef post-World War I concems about sexual behaviour. Effective treatment for sexual offenders was elusive, and The mental and medical understanding of sexuality was limited despite these punitive tactics Page 5/11 ree marginalization of LGBTQ+ people in Canadian legal and medical institutions during a large portion of the 20th century, as well as broader cultural anxictics, are reflected in this history. 'Chenier added that In Ontario, historian Steven Ma hiatrists ard has demonstrated that p 'were among the first in North America and Europe to view sodomy, buggery, and grass indecency as signs of a mental illness, based on cri inal prosecutions involvi male-to-boy intercourse in the arly 20th century Furthermore, Heritage (2024a), Sexual orientation was explicitly added to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in 1996 when the Canadian Human Rights Act was updated. With this inclusion, Parliament made it clear that Canadians who identify as gay. lesbian, or biscxual have the same rights as everyone else to live their lives freely and authentically. Government of Canada, Department of Justice (DOJ), (2021), Even though legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, Two-Spirit, and other sexual minorities nificant k have advanced significantly in Canada, sexual minorities still fac gal obstacles, such as discrimination and systemic exclusions in the workplace, housing market, immigration system, family law and adoption system, police and criminal justice system, and health system. The Government of Canada, Department of Justi added that according to the findings, compared to cisgender heterosexual people, sexual minorities face more obstacles to justice and have less access to quality legal aid, Additionally, members of sexual minoritics still experience violence and discrimination from law enforcement and the criminal justice system. The prevalence of recurrent eriminal victimization is higher among sexual minorities nationwide than among heterosexuals, and they also report higher levels of police haras s of colour. This ment and inaction, particularly among sexual minor Mohammad Hossin contributes to the continuation of violence against these communities and is a source of violence in and 0 The experiences of Indigenous Peoples, women, and LGBTQ individuals in Canada show that different social groups encounter the law in significantly different ways; howev race remains one of the most critical yet often overlooked factors influencing legal decision-making in Canada, First of all, race are defined \"society forms ideas of race based on geographic, historical, political, economic, social and cultural factors, as well as physical traits, even though none of these can legitimately be used to classify groups of people\" (Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2023, para, 6). The Canadian Human Rights Commission added that \"raci: ion\" is the process through which groups of people socially constructed as races based on traits such as skin colour, ethnicity, language, economies, religion, culture, and politics. The Canadian Human Rights Commission also added that based on contemporary research, socially dominant groups often construct these racial identities to justify the subjugation and exploitation of populations perceived as racially inferior. So, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation claims that these racial identities reflect the cultural attitudes of imperial powers dominant during the age of European colonial expansion. Moreover, Aladejebi et al, (2022) illustrated that racialized policing and legal decisions in Canada reveal persistent systemic inequalities despite multicultural ideals and highlights how public authorities and community members have historically restricted access to basketball courts in racialized neighborhoods, often justifying these actions through concerns about crime and safety. These restrictions, such as the removal of basketball nets in Black and immigrant communities, reflect racialized assumptions linking Blackness and Mohammad Hossin other racial minorities to criminality, which are embedded in legal and poliey practices. Such decisions cnforee nt: 4:39 X 1375(1).pdf Page 9/11 Mohammad Hossin References Aladejebi, F., Allain, K. A., George, R. C.,
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