Jennifer Leason

Main Menu

Publications

Featured Publication

Estimating how many children experience parental incarceration in Canada

Parental incarceration 29% higher in Canada than EU

Download Infographic

Every year, about 28,000 children experience parental incarceration in Canada. Around 30% of them are Indigenous.

This is the first study to systematically estimate the number and percentage of children who experience parental incarceration in Canada. Given data limitations, our findings should be treated as minimum estimates.

View Publication in Journal
  • We found that 169,740 children experienced parental incarceration in BC, Alberta, Saskachewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia between 2015-2021.
  • That’s 1/100 (1.2%) of children under 18.
  • 29% higher than the rate for the EU (229/100,000) Canada vs EU (178/100,000).
  • 87.4% had one and 12% had 2 parents who experienced incarceration.
  • 5.9% had at least one Black parent. 30.5% had at least one Indigenous parent.
  • Parents who experienced incarceration were 22.6% female, 77.4% male.
  • Parents who experienced incarceration were 6% Black, 31.6% Indigenous.
  • Children experienced a median of 60 and a mean of 166.5 total days of parental incarceration during the study period (2015-2021).
Read the Article

Chronological Publications

2026

(2026) BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

Reclaiming Indigenous birth: research framework to assess the economic costs and outcomes of obstetric evacuation and experiences of Indigenous midwifery in Canada

Jennifer Leason, Claire Dion, Jennifer Murray, Carol Couchie, Elizabeth Darling, Ava John-Baptiste, Karen Lawford & Evelyn Good Striker
(2026) PLOS One

Estimating the number and percentage of children who experience parental incarceration in Canada using whole population administrative and vital statistics data

Fiona G. Kouyoumdjian, Martha Paynter, Else Marie Knudsen, Ruth Croxford, Susan J. Bondy, Lindsay Jennings, Nancy Russell, Raya Semeniuk, Christine Bentley-Wang, Amanda Butler, Tenzin Butsang, Nicole L.A. Catherine, Alice Cavanagh, Jennifer Leason, Jessica Liauw, Kate McLeod, Natalie Owl, Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Salony Sharma

2025

(2025) BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 25, 42

Understanding the experiences of young, urban, Indigenous mothers-to-be in British Columbia, Canada

R. Wang, C., Jurgitis, J., Cavanagh, A., Cheng, B., Kouyoumdjian, F., Leason, J.
(2025) Social Science and Medicine

Reproductive and maternal health experiences of Indigenous women in prison; A Scoping Review

R. Catherine, N., Leason, J., Marsden, N., Barker, B., Cullen, A., Simpson, A., Berry, B., Mohns, E., Yung, D., Zheng, Y., MacMillan, H., Waddell, C.
2024
(2024) JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

Substance-Related Acute Toxicity Deaths in Canada from 2016 to 2017: Protocol for a Retrospective Chart Review Study of Coroner and Medical Examiner Files

R. Rotondo, J., VanSteelandt; Kouyoumdjian, F., Bowes, M., Kakkar, T., Jones, G., Abele, B., Murray, R., Schleihauf, E., Halverson, J., Leason, J., Huyer, D., Jackson, B., Bozart-Emre, S., Shah, D., Rees, E.
(2024) Canadian Journal of Public Health

Cost of medical evacuation and transportation of First Nations Peoples and Inuit who travel for medical care in Canada: A Systematic Review

R. Radhaa, M., Leason, J., Twalibu, A., Davis, E., Dion Fletcher, C., Lawford, K., Darling, E., Wylie, L., Couchie, C., Simon, A., & John-Baptiste, A.
(2024) Center for Open Science

Determinants of health associated with preterm birth among Indigenous people: A scoping review protocol

Murray, J., Simpson, A., Seymour, L., Peter, D., Sawchuck, D., Yuen, B., Leason, J., & Janssen, P.
2023
(2023) Government of Canada

Substance-related acute toxicity deaths in Canada from 2016 to 2017: Protocol for a retrospective chart review study of coroner medical examiner files

R. Rotondo, J., Abele, B., Bowes, M., Bozat-Emre, S., Halverson, J., Huyer., Jackson, B., Jones, Kakkar, GT., Kouyoumdjian, J., Leason, J., Murry, R., Rees, E., Schleihauf, E., Shah, D., VanSteelandt, A.
(2023) Center for Open Science

Exploring Indigenous Women’s Maternal Health Care Experiences - a scoping review protocol

Leason, J., Paul, B., Kruger, C., Schwindt, L., Khatkar, J. K.
(2023) Center for Open Science

Exploring childhood outcomes associated with maternal incarceration in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand - a scoping review protocol

Leason, J., Stopa, A., Kruger, C. Khatkar, J. K.
(2023) Center for Open Science

Understanding Midwifery Models of Care Provided to Indigenous People

Leason, J., Dion Fletcher, C., Perrotta, A. Khatar, J.K.
(2023) Popul. Med. 2023;5(Supplement):A1591

Rewriting/Re-Righting first nations, métis, and inuit public health research in Canada: a commentary of the public health agency of Canada’s maternity experiences survey

Choon-Kon-Yune, I., Perrotta, A., Leason, J., Davis, E.
(2023) Canadian Medical Association Journal, 195 (33) E1097-E1111

Disparities in primary and emergency health care among “off-reserve” Indigenous females compared with non-Indigenous females aged 15-55 years in Canada

R. Srugo, S., Ricci, C., Leason, J., Jiang, Y., Luo, W., Nelson, C., and the Indigenous Advisory Committee
(2023) Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Canada. 2023 Feb;43(2):51-61.

Exploring the contextual risk factors and characteristics of individuals who died from the acute toxic effects of opioids and other illegal substances: listening to the coroner and medical examiner voice

R. Thompson, T., Rotondo, J., Enns, A., Leason, J., Halverson, J., Huyer, D., Kuo, M., Lapointe, L., May-Hadford, J., Orpana, H.
2022
(2022) AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 19(3) 552-563

The Alberta Indigenous Mentorship in Health Innovation (AIM-HI) Network: Approach, Activities and Reflections of an Indigenous Mentorship Network Program. Advances in Health Sciences Education

R. Barnabe, C., Henderson, R., Baker, J., Leason, J., Currie, C., Fellner, K., Henry, R., Voyageur, C., Crowshoe, L.
(2022) JMIR Mental Health. Feb 21;9(2):e31116

eHealth Interventions for Treatment and Prevention of Depression, Anxiety, and Insomnia during Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

R. Silang, K., Sohal, P., Bright, K., Leason, J., Roos, L., Lebel, C., Giesbrecht, G., Tomfohr-Madsen, L.
(2022) Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. April 27;83(3):21lr14366a

Peer-led psychotherapy: The time is now

JS. Tomfohr-Madsen, L.M., Roos, L.E., Madsen, J.W., Leason, J., Singla, D.R., Charlebois, J., Tomasi, P. Chaput, K.H.
2021
(2021) Introduction to First Nation, Inuit, and Metis Determinants of Health (pp. 51-67) Canadian Scholar's Press. Toronto, ON

Matriarchal Wisdom: Indigenous Women’s Perinatal Health

Leason, J. Editors Margo Greenwood, Sarah de Leeuw, Roseann Larstone, and Roberta Stout
(2021) Canadian Family Physician Journal: Art of Family Medicine. 2021; 68(4): 302

The Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Indigenous Women: Strengths to Build Upon

Leason, J.
(2021) International Journal of Indigenous Health. 2021; 16(2): 225-243

Indigenous Women's Stress and Postpartum Depression: Discussions from the Canadian Maternity Experiences Survey and Indigenous Maternity Narratives

Leason, J.
2019
(2019) Indigenous Policy Journal. BMC Public Health 19, 1161

Indigenous Participants in the British Columbia Health Connections Project: Understanding adversities, informing wellness in Pregnancy

R. Catherine, N., Leason, J., Cullen, A., Zheng, Y., Barker, B., Barney, L., Marsden, N., Ward, A., MacMillan, H., Waddell, C.
(2019) Native Women's Association of Canada

Expert Forum on the Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Indigenous Women

Leason, J., Ryan, C.
2019
(2018) Social Determinants of Health Journal. 2018; 4(2): 54-67

Exploring the complex context of Indigenous maternal-child health through maternity experiences: the role of social determinants of health

Leason, J.
(2018) Public Health Agency of Canada. Government of Canada, Data Surveillance and Research on Opioids and other Substances

Homelessness and substance-related acute toxicity deaths: A descriptive analysis of a national chart review study of coroner and medical examiners data

Abele, B., Berthiaume, P., Bowes, M., Bozat-Emre, S., Halverson, J., Huyer, D., Jackson, B., Jones, G., Kouyoumdjian, F., Leason, J., Murray, R., Rotondo, J., Schleihauf, E., & VanSteelandt, A.
2017 and earlier
(2017) PHD Thesis, UBC

Exploring the complex context of Indigenous Women’s maternity experiences in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia by expanding on Aboriginal women’s responses to the Canadian maternity experiences survey

Leason, J.
(2002) Journal Behavioural Neuroscience: 182-197

Sex Differences in Spatial Navigation Strategies: are Sex Differences in Navigation Caused by Sexually Dimorphic Strategies or by Differences in the Ability to use the Strategies?

R. Saucier, D., Green, S., Leason, J., MacFadden, A., Bell, S., Elias, L.
Scroll to Top