Canada's prison ombudsman says it is "encouraging" to see the Liberal government almost double its funding to help indigenous people caught up in the criminal justice system, and hopes it helps decrease the disproportionate number of aboriginals who are currently incarcerated.

Howard Sapers, the correctional investigator, told The Globe and Mail that the $4-million pledge in last week's federal budget for the Aboriginal Courtwork Program will assist offenders as they navigate the justice system and may help to reduce the "staggering" statistic that more than one-quarter of Canada's federal inmate population is now indigenous.

"It's very positive to see that these services are valued and that they actually became a priority in the budget," Mr. Sapers said on Monday. "It's certainly encouraging to see new funding for these services."

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According to his office's recent report, First Nations, Métis and Inuit people now make up more than 25 per cent of Canada's prison population, despite the fact that they comprise only 4.3 per cent of the overall population. In the past decade, the number of incarcerated indigenous people has ballooned by 50 per cent, it said.

The promised increase of $4-million is on top of the $4.9-million already budgeted this year for the services, a government official said, bringing the total to $8.9-million – nearly double the previous annual funding of $5.5-million a year.

In most jurisdictions, court services are delivered by aboriginal agencies under contract to provincial or territorial governments, such as Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto or Native Counselling Services of Alberta. The agencies employ 180 court workers and serve 60,000 clients a year, the government says.

The program is intended to help aboriginal people protect their rights throughout the legal process – such as requesting a lawyer and understanding the charges against them – and it promotes awareness of aboriginal history and culture in the criminal justice system.

Mr. Sapers, who is waiting to see if his contract will be extended once his term expires on March 31, said the services could help aboriginal offenders avoid jail time when it's appropriate and prevent them from being incarcerated for administrative offences.

"When those interventions work properly, we see more people appearing at their court appearances as opposed to failing to appear, we see more people getting bail with reasonable conditions as opposed to not receiving bail and being held in remand centres," he said.

Catherine Latimer, executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada, which advocates for humane criminal justice policies, said such funding is a positive step for offenders.

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But she pointed out that the program doesn't operate in Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, or New Brunswick, and she said Ottawa should have gone further in funding restorative justice and community initiatives – not just services for offenders to understand the court process.

"There's a real need to find alternatives in dysfunctional communities, impoverished, marginalized communities," she said. "And where you find a real problem is areas where there are not a lot of resources available and alternatives and good social support mechanisms in place."