E/CN.4/2005/88/Add.3 page 15 procedures are referred to as “starlight tours”. In Manitoba, the Special Rapporteur was given documents and reports on several instances of police brutality and physical abuse of urban Aboriginals in Winnipeg, sometimes accompanied by racist and discriminatory behaviour by police officers. A number of cases of police abuses were also reported in Ontario, occasionally resulting in the death of the victim. In some of the reported cases, commissions of inquiry were held, and in at least one instance police officers were charged. 55. The Commission on First Nations and Métis Peoples and Justice Reform of Saskatchewan noted that many First Nations and Métis people in this province have lost confidence in the justice system. Despite some progress in this field, the Commission stated that high incarceration rates among Aboriginal people show little sign of improvement. In its final report, the Commission concluded that “racism in police services does exist and is a major contributor to the environment of mistrust and misunderstanding that exists in Saskatchewan”. Among its 122 recommendations, the Commission called for improved training programmes for officers who exhibit racist attitudes and a more aggressive strategy to recruit First Nations and Métis officers. 56. The Native Women’s Association of Canada and other institutions report that approximately 500 Aboriginal women have been murdered or reported missing over the past 15 years. According to government sources, Aboriginal women are five times more likely to experience a violent death than other Canadian women. Many of these reports signal discriminatory and gender bias in policing, as well as overrepresentation of native women in the prison system. Disproportionate numbers of Aboriginal women are held in federal prisons. Although they account for only 3 per cent of the female population in Canada, in 2003 they made up 29 per cent of the women in federal prisons. They are singled out for segregation more often than other inmates and suffer higher rates of inmate abuse. There appears to be a need for an Aboriginal programme strategy for women sentenced at federal level. 57. To deal with some of these matters, the Aboriginal Justice Strategy (AJS) is set to implement key elements of the Government of Canada’s response to the issues faced by Aboriginal people in the justice system. This programme addresses overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the justice system, the lack of Aboriginal involvement in decision-making, and the lack of understanding of cultural differences by the justice system. Likewise, the Aboriginal Justice Learning Network (AJLN) was established to act as a vehicle of communication between the current justice system and Aboriginal communities. Other programmes also emphasize the need for new social approaches. 58. Some Aboriginal communities are actively involved in managing their own justice systems. Thus, for example, the Mohawk Council established the Akwesasne Department of Justice, which provides court, probation, parole, native court-worker, mediation, community sentencing and legislative development services. 59. Nine years after the shooting in 1995 by the police of three unarmed Chippewa land rights demonstrators at Ipperwash, the Government of Ontario established a judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of the unarmed demonstrator Dudley George, as called for by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Human Rights Committee. The establishment of this inquiry involving a wide range of Aboriginal parties is commendable. However, the Government of Canada (which is constitutionally