QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Correctional Service Canada
December 3, 2025
Senator Moreau, I join my colleagues today in raising questions on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I want to ask you about often unseen disabilities in a population that is also unseen.
Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger, before announcing his early resignation, published an annual report with a focus on mental health care within corrections services. This is how the Correctional Investigator described regional treatment centres run by Correctional Service Canada, or CSC:
These facilities are not positioned to provide specialized, psychiatric hospital care, particularly to those with severe levels of mental and physical needs. . . .
Senator Moreau, CSC accepted some of Mr. Zinger’s recommendations, but how will they address these issues?
As you point out, the CSC has accepted some of the recommendations. I do not have a list of health care professionals that CSC intends to consult in their important work, but since they accepted most of the recommendations, I will certainly inquire to find out when they think they will finalize this. I will get you a copy of the list of professionals they want to bring to help them.
Senator Moreau, the Black Justice Strategy calls for support for hidden disabilities, too. Recommendation 28 calls on the government to do the following:
Prioritize funding to programs that identify and train Black mental health professionals to provide culturally-sensitive mental health care and early intervention to Black children, families, and individuals, and ensure that individuals in need of these services can access them without regard to cost.
What progress has been made on this?
I’ve been told that there has been a lot of progress, but I do want to highlight the Promoting Health Equity: Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund, the objectives of which are to increase the understanding of the unique barriers to social determinants of mental health for Black Canadians and to increase knowledge of effective, culturally focused approaches and programs for improving mental health and addressing its key social determinants for Black Canadians, including a focus on youth and their families, as well as community environments.
