Who keeps us safe? A critical examination of the role of contextual dimensions in lethal outcomes of police involvement in mental health crises response among Indigenous peoples in Canada

Abstract

Persons living with mental illness and Indigenous people are over-represented in police-involved fatalities, yet few studies have examined these intersections together. In Canada, Indigenous persons are susceptible to police violence and death, due to a myriad of factors, such as systemic racism, community surveillance, and proximity to police departments overinvolved in the use of force. Using quantitative content analysis of media reports of Indigenous people involved in police-based mental health emergency response, this study examined demographic and contextual factors associated with fatal outcome. All cases included media articles published between the year 1970 and 2022. McNemar’s Chi Square tests were conducted with categorical variables that violated the assumption of independence. All remaining variables were entered into a binary logistic model, which explained 40% of the variance and found statistically significant associations with lethality for multiple age ranges. No differences were observed for sex, region, or type of police service.