The minister of justice admits that Indigenous overrepresentation among those incarcerated in the province’s corrections system is “unacceptable.”

Minister Helen Conway Ottenheimer was responding to a First Light report on the subject released publicly yesterday.

The report shows that four in ten inmates in the province’s adult correctional facilities are Indigenous – that’s a rate of eight times greater over-representation.

The minister says she’s looking forward to future collaboration with First Light and “all Indigenous partners” to find solutions. “We recognize that the status quo cannot continue.”