"Now that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is an honourary chief of the Blood tribe, he could put another feather in his cap by finally appointing a deputy commissioner of corrections for aboriginal affairs.

We have been banging the drums for this for more than three years, echoing the annual request from Corrections Ombudsman Howard Sapers -- ignored each time by the Harper government -- that such an appointment is not only vital but long overdue.

One of the darker sides of the aboriginal experience in this country -- which had its seeds sown in the residential school fiasco -- is First Nations inmates comprise more than 20% of our federal prison population while representing only 4% of our entire population.

Yet, while there is a deputy commissioner of corrections for women, and even one for human resources, there is no such equivalent for the largest single demographic in our prison system."

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Editorial: Aboriginals in prisons need help (The Toronto Sun 7/15)