QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Correctional Service of Canada
October 31, 2024
Senator Gold, reports to the Senate Human Rights Committee, the Correctional Investigator and the minister’s own advisory panel all have documented that despite Bill C-83 and the introduction of structured intervention units, or SIUs, segregation continues in federal penitentiaries, both within SIUs and under many other names. Of the oversight mechanisms for SIUs promised by the government, the mandate of the ministerial advisory panel recently ended, no external mental health advocates were ever hired, and we were advised most recently that contracts were not renewed for any independent external decision makers who did not rubber-stamp Correctional Service Canada’s decisions.
Before this chamber, Minister LeBlanc agreed to meet with the Human Rights Committee to discuss concerns. He then later refused to honour this commitment. How does the government plan to remedy the continued lack of effective oversight and accountability of the Correctional Service Canada?
Thank you for your question and your continued advocacy. Although the government has not renewed the SIU Implementation Advisory Panel, it does thank them for their work and their reports on providing needed guidance on best practices in working with offenders.
My understanding is that oversight of SIUs will continue as the government works to appoint members of the independent external decision makers to the SIUs. This is in conjunction with oversight of all federal offenders by the Office of the Correctional Investigator, or OCI.
I have been informed further that the OCI, Correctional Service Canada and Public Safety Canada are regularly engaged in analyzing SIU implementation and reviewing stakeholder findings and recommendations to find strategic enhancements that will lead to improved compliance with the letter and the spirit of the law. As a result of these efforts and the procedural safeguards introduced alongside the creation of SIUs, this tool, I understood, is being used more sparingly than the previous practice of administrative segregation.
Thank you for that response, senator. Unfortunately, the OCI just released its report. It produces quite a different and damning condemnation of correctional oversight and accountability.
When Bill C-83 came into force in November 2019, it included a requirement for a comprehensive review of the legislation by Parliament at the start of the legislation’s fifth year in force. We are now well overdue. When will the government be taking steps to meet this statutory obligation and which parliamentary body —
Thank you for your question. Regrettably, I don’t have a specific timeline for you, senator, but I will bring it to the minister’s attention.
