QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Correctional Service of Canada—Prison System
February 19, 2020
Honourable senators, my question — and I may have a supplementary, depending on the answer — is for the Government Representative in the Senate.
Yesterday, the Office of the Auditor General reported that the Correctional Service of Canada “. . . did not do enough to promote and maintain respectful workplaces.” Two out of three of the Correctional Service of Canada staff they interviewed indicated concerns about organizational culture, including whether those in workplaces were “held accountable for their actions.” The report indicates that 46% — nearly half — said that they feared reprisals if they were to come forward with a harassment complaint against a fellow member of the Correctional Service of Canada.
The Office of the Correctional Investigator also released a report yesterday pointing to a “dysfunctional” and “toxic” culture among staff at the Edmonton Institution that led staff to condone and refuse to intervene in incidents of bullying, harassment and assaultive behaviour among staff and prisoners. The Correctional Investigator’s report said that the prison ran on “. . . fear, suspicion, mistrust, intimidation, harassment, bullying and abuse of power among staff members.”
None of these issues are new, but they are all the more alarming in light of the repeated and ongoing failure of correctional authorities to monitor and report — let alone remedy and rectify — incidents of harassment, assaults and, in the west and the east, sexual assaults of both staff and prisoners respectively. Like so many others, the Correctional Investigator is calling for meaningful external oversight of corrections.
What measures is the government taking to ensure that the law, particularly the Charter-protected and human rights of staff and prisoners, are upheld by the Correctional Service of Canada?
Thank you, senator, for your question. The reports to which you refer paint an awful and disturbing picture, which I’m sure is unacceptable to all of us.
I’ve been advised that the government is seized with this issue. It is well aware of the concerns raised by the Auditor General around workplace harassment, discrimination and violence, both in the context of the Canada Border Services Agency and the Correctional Service of Canada, to which you refer.
I’ve been further advised that both the CBSA and the Correctional Service of Canada, CSC, have already taken action to address these concerns, and further, that the Minister of Public Safety has asked for regular and ongoing updates on the implementation of the many recommendations in the Auditor General’s report.
If I may elaborate somewhat, the CSC is committed, I understand, to implementing by March 31, the end of fiscal year 2019-20, a comprehensive strategy for eliminating workplace harassment and ensuring a work environment where employees are treated with respect, dignity and fairness, and that will include “action plans with clear accountabilities and performance measures.”
Again, the Minister of Public Safety is seized with this issue, is requiring regular updates and will be holding the agencies to account to act on the recommendations.
Thank you very much for that answer. I’d also ask that consideration be given — and perhaps you could indicate whether in fact it has been given to date — by the government to the kind of external oversight that the Senate recommended in its consideration of Bill C-83. That kind of judicial oversight would have ensured that some of these issues would and could be remedied immediately. It’s not the first time it has been recommended, but the Senate amendments were the first time it was included in legislation that could have been accepted by the government and could have provided an avenue — in particular, for prisoners — to remedy the wrongs committed against them.
What consideration has been given to re-examining those amendments?
Thank you for your question, senator. I don’t know the answer to that, but as Government Representative, I will undertake to find out and report back to the chamber.
