Under-serving the Over-represented: Indigenous Peoples' Access to Specialized Courts

This thesis examines specialized courts (such as drug courts and mental health courts) across what is known as Canada and how they meet the needs of Indigenous persons. This thesis explores such courts' admission and participation policies and connects under an Indigenizing framework developed from four Indigenous scholars. Then, it explores the experiences of Indigenous persons with previous drug-related criminal convictions and the experiences of service providers whose roles support those clients. In general, Indigenous persons are disproportionately excluded from participation in specialized courts. I argue current specialized court policies fail to adequately account for colonial challenges and barriers faced by Indigenous peoples. I suggest recommendations that acknowledge the need for programs to return to Indigenous communities, allow for Indigenous autonomy and self-governance of such programs, Indigenous development in programs, and increased capacity to individualize approaches to the participant's needs.