Mr Canning believes there are better ways to treat Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.
Writer and poet Ken Canning from the Kunja Clan of the Bidjara Nation in South East Queensland spoke at a Sydney rally in support of children held in juvenile detention facilities in July.
The Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance organised rallies across the country, calling for an end to the incarceration of children and for self-determination for Aboriginal people. #BlackLivesMatter #BuildCommunitiesNotPrisons
Canning was the lead candidate for the New South Wales Socialist Alliance ticket for the Australian Senate in the 2016 federal election, under the title "For A People's Movement".
Organisers from the rally said that the video footage on Four Corners of Aboriginal children being tortured in Don Dale correction centre has shocked the country. But that it was the tip of the iceberg of the racist ‘child protection’ and prison systems that subject Aboriginal children to institutionalised child abuse across the continent on a daily basis.
Khi-Lee Thorpe spoke to Ken about the rally and his hopes for the future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in this country.