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Prisons to no longer use color swatches to determine how harshly to treat Indigenous inmates

Canada’s prison system will no longer use color swatches to determine how harshly to treat Indigenous inmates, after the Supreme Court ruled the practice is discriminatory on Wednesday.

The color swatch, a strip of paper with increasingly darker shades of brown, would be held up to new prisoners — the darker the color, the harsher the treatment. It is known as a ‘risk assessment test.’

“Yeah, no, I guess we have to find a new way to determine how Indigenous inmates are treated,” said Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.

“We’re thinking a color wheel might be more culturally appropriate.”

Meanwhile, police agencies are breathing a sigh of relief since the color swatch is commonly used when carding brown pedestrians or pulling over brown drivers at a proportionately higher rate.