Hello, Roy here. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to the Roy Green Show ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. A safer Ontario means more police and prosecutors making sure my card doesn't get stolen. It means building new jails to keep criminals behind bars.
And it means there's no need to worry when I play at the park. We're making every corner of Ontario safer to make all of Ontario safer. That's how we protect Ontario for all of us. Learn how at ontario.ca slash saferontario.
Paid for by the government of Ontario. Puck drops, tip-offs, first pitches, kick-offs. When the game is on, you call the shots. Head to betway.ca and bet your way.
Must be 19 plus Ontario only. Play responsibly. Concerned about your gambling? Visit connectsontario.ca.
He's always up for a good debate. This is the Roy Green Show. I just received a direct message on Twitter from Mario Conceico, the pollster for Insights West. Mario, call me at 800-263-2428.
I want you to share the information that you have about justice, fairness toward First Nations people and Aboriginal peoples. 800-263-2428, Mario, if you're close to a phone. Partly, the information is four months before the not guilty verdict. I'll read this in the killing of Colton Bushy.
Ignited concerns across Canada. A poll indicated that about half of Canadians believe the justice system has not done enough to address bias against Aboriginal Canadians. The poll also indicated that only half of Canadians who've been to court in a criminal case found the outcome fair. The poll suggests seven in ten Canadians regard the justice system as too soft on criminals, and a vast majority say justice takes too long.
I believe Mario is with us. Mario Canceico, vice president of Insights West, a polling firm in Vancouver. Mario, thank you for sending that information. Flesh it out for us, please.
What did Canadians say four months before this trial took place? Well, this is a survey we conducted back in October, and we sort of held on to the findings, and we thought it was a good opportunity now to show it. Because what's interesting about the scenario is the views of those Canadians who have naturally gone to court are definitely more dire than those of the Canadians who haven't dealt with the justice system. So there's definitely a lot of work to be done.
And when it comes to Aboriginal people specifically, or fairness of the justice system toward First Nations people, what's the consensus view is that the system isn't fair? It is. We see 52% of Canadians saying that the justice system really hasn't done much to deal with bias against Aboriginal Canadians. There's definitely a higher level of support, in a way, for other things that we asked about.
But definitely, when you have a situation where 52% of Canadians feel that way about how the justice system operates with some of us, that's definitely a cause for concern. So what do you walk away from with this poll? What's the most fundamental point? Well, I think one of the issues that really came across loud and clear is the notion that the system isn't fair because of the way lawyers operate.
You know, to see almost 90% of Canadians who went to court saying the outcome of the case depends on how good your lawyer is, certainly suggests that there's work to be done there. It certainly left us with the idea, looking at the numbers, that there's definitely people who are dejected and obviously in court they're not going to make everybody happy. But to see almost 90% of Canadians say, if I had a better lawyer, things would have been different, was certainly eye-catching. Boy, that is Mario.
Thank you for the time. My pleasure, Roy. Mario Canseco, Insights West. I've heard people say, look, if you're charged criminally and you have a lot of money, you can go out and you can hire yourself a not guilty verdict.
Because a great lawyer will get you off. A not-so-great lawyer, even if you're not guilty, may not. 800-263-2428 is the number of Gerald Stanley verdict. An all-white jury.
Was that just impossible, an impossibility, for Colton Bushy to get fairness after his death? Or did that jury do its job? Is it possible for indigenous people, with our justice system now, to get fairness? Richard is in London, Ontario.
I lived in Saskatchewan for a long time. Richard, thanks for the call. Sir, what do you say? Good afternoon, Roy.
How are you this afternoon? I'm well, sir. Thank you. As for the Colton Bushy case, Roy, I'm not going to comment on a particular case that I don't have all the facts.
But I do know that the justice system in Saskatchewan is very against right First Nations people. And I'll give you one quick example. In 1990, a First Nations friend of mine, who saved my life a couple of times over on the west side of Saskatoon, his life was taken right by two white police officers. Anyways, right, those two white police officers...
Is that the case where the man was walked out, dropped off outside the city? Yes, many of them. There's an unofficial cemetery site called O.A.L. Cole...
Richard, my friend, I'm sorry. I just don't have the time to get into it in great depth, because we only have two minutes left. But I want to hear some points of view, as quickly as we can. Tom is in Southern Ontario.
Tom, what do you say? Hi, Roy, how are you? Yes, sir. Go ahead, please.
I just want to say, I feel for the Aboriginal people on many of the reserves. You know, there's a lot of poverty and everything. I do feel for them, but the one thing that stands out in my mind, Roy, is you're responsible for your own actions. And if you commit the crime, you're going to do the time.
Do you think there's an over-representation? Maybe you and I aren't the guys to talk about this. But it's been said, it's been clearly stated, and it was talked about in the last segment with my two lawyer friends, and that is that there's an over-representation of Aboriginals in the jail system, in the prison system in this country. Scott Newark said basically what you said.
Well, I guess they should stop committing so much crime, and they won't get arrested. All right. Yeah, wait. That's exactly what Scott said.
But is that too simplistic? William in Toronto, 45 seconds. William, they're yours, sir. I will do it in less.
Yes. Former Chief Justice Beverly McLaughlin has stated several times, no justice exists for the poor and for the middle class. All right. Thank you, Nicole.
We will have a different perspective on this tomorrow, which is going to involve everyone and engage everyone. And Michelle Rempel is going to be our guest to get it started, the Conservative Member of Parliament from Calgary Nose Hill. So we have a number of issues to discuss with Ms. Rempel, but this is going to be one of them.
And it will include the Prime Minister and the Justice Minister slash Attorney General making their feelings felt after the verdict in the Gerald Stanley case. We'll tell you about our next hour, and you'll want to be part of it. You'll want to hear what we have for you next hour right after this.