Government Operations Committee on Feb. 10th, 2011

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

I want to ask you about the delineation between responsibilities by the federal government and then those borne by the province. In the Truth in Sentencing Act and what the Parliamentary Budget Officer talked about, I know that for Newfoundland and Labrador we're going to require as a province additional annual funding of between $77 million and $98 million. That's a tremendous amount of money to a small province. How are we going to be able to do that? You've got issues budget-wise federally; we're going to have them provincially.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Very briefly, Mr. Head.

[Don Head]

I think I mentioned, previous to my appearance, that these are some of the discussions we're having with my colleagues in the provincial and territorial heads of corrections meeting, looking at cumulative impacts. It's also the opportunity for us to review our changes to service agreements that we have with all the provinces and territories as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Mr. Head.

Ms. Bourgeois, you have eight minutes.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Head, ladies, gentlemen, good morning. Thank you for appearing once again before us.

I would like to come back to the hiring of full-time employees. To what professional groups do the members of the staff that are about to be hired belong? Is this what we call the CX group, prison guards, people who work in mental health, supporting staff? Who are these people?

[Don Head]

Yes, of the 4,119 we're basically going to be hiring in almost every category, so that will include correctional officers, parole officers, program officers, nurses, psychologists, social workers, administration support staff, the general labour trades that are needed to keep the facilities running, and other assorted staff. So we're basically touching upon every occupational group that's within my organization.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Where will most of these people be hired?

[Don Head]

The largest group will be the correctional officers, what's known as CX group, and that's primarily because we're building new units, which are staffed mostly by correctional officers.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Mr. Head, in June 2006, the Treasury Board of Canada and the UCCO-SACC-CSN, namely the correctional officers, signed a collective agreement. It provided annual pay raises until June 2011, I believe. However, the Budget Implementation Act, which came into force in March 2009, changed this collective agreement and put a ceiling on the wages and the remuneration of employees. I think that the UCCO-SACC-CSN is currently suing the Correctional Service of Canada. Am I right?

[Don Head]

I'm not sure about the legal action. I know the union had talked about that at one point, and that may be the case. It would not be legal action against the Correctional Service of Canada. But the correctional officers who are represented by UCCO–SACC–CSN are one of six unions we deal with. Their collective agreement expired May 2010 and they're currently in negotiations with the Treasury Board, which represents the employer. Those discussions are ongoing.

At some point when they reach a settlement, we will have to go back and look at the 1.5% impact of that on any salary increase they may negotiate.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Do you believe that the Treasury Board Secretariat is hoping to win the case and thus keep the money that is due in pay raises? Do you think that this could be helpful to you?

[Don Head]

In the case of the negotiations that are ongoing right now, the Treasury Board has its strategy. What that is I guess will be determined. So in terms of what that might be, it probably would be best directed to the Secretary of the Treasury Board.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

That's all right. I simply want to draw my colleagues' attention to a labour-management relations issue that could have a negative impact internally, within the establishments of the Correctional Service. It is important to keep this in mind.

We heard that the Correctional Service may allocate sums of money, in other words, that Treasury Board may allow the Correctional Service to allocate funds for the expansion, renewal or construction of new establishments. Do you know how much money could be earmarked for that purpose?

[Don Head]

As they relate to Bill C-25, the bill regarding credit for time served, and the Tackling Violent Crime Act, which is minimum mandatory penalties for gun crimes, yes. We have the approved numbers in our budget. Yes, we do.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Is this meant for minimum security establishments or all kinds of facilities?

[Don Head]

It is meant for all establishments.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Is the idea of putting two or more inmates in the same cell still being entertained, or have you entirely rejected it?

[Don Head]

No. Out of necessity, we are double-bunking. We have been for many years.

Our level of double-bunking has increased this last year. We've traditionally been double-bunking around 10%. But with the increase of offenders coming in this fiscal year.... We're up about 400 more offenders so far this year in comparison with last year. So the level of double-bunking in my institutions has increased.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

This seems extremely important to me, Mr. Head, and you will agree. In the 2008-2009 annual report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator, the investigator said, in recommendation 10: “With respect to correctional programming, I recommend that in the coming year, the Correctional Service make significant progress...”. It is not enough to simply offer a program, for instance to show someone how to do woodwork, but it should help to reduce wait lists, or to give more day passes—there was a bottleneck, there was not enough staff and the staff that was there was not properly trained to handle day passes—to improve the access to programs and to enhance the programs that are offered to offenders who have special needs.

In my opinion, this is at the heart of our debate. Inmates are overcrowded in a place or an establishment, inmates are poorly served because the staff cannot meet the demand created by their needs, these inmates are not allowed day passes, and they are very unhappy and dissatisfied, they are forbidden to see their family. This creates discontent that could lead to explosive situations. We would like to hear what you have to say about this. How are you going to manage all those risks? It is good that you have come to this committee to tell us that you are going to add 4,000 extra persons to your services. However, how are you going to manage the small budget, the 10 % of the budget that you have left, so that the inmates as well as the people who work inside can function and live in a perfectly safe environment?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Please be brief, Mr. Head.

[Don Head]

Yes, and maybe I can expand upon it at a later point or a later question.

We are taking the issue of programming, education, and employment skills development for offenders very seriously. My strategy is a very simple one. First, I want to make sure my environments are safe and secure. Second, I want to make sure we have in place the kinds of programs that are addressing the needs of offenders. Third, I need to make sure we have the right transition of those offenders out into the community for supervision while they're on conditional release. And fourth is making sure they're prepared for that final hand-off when they reach warrant expiry. So my strategy is clear, Madame.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Ms. Bourgeois and Mr. Head.

Mr. Gourde, you have eight minutes, please.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I also thank the witnesses for being here this morning.

Mr. Head, in your statement, you said that you had succeeded in decreasing overtime hours, so that the cost went down from $83 million to $52 million. Please explain to me why there is still such a large amount of overtime. Is it because some people don't come in to work and others have to stay at work longer to fill the gap? What is going on?

[Don Head]

It's a very good question. Thank you.

There are several factors at play when it comes to overtime expenditures within a correctional system. Some of it's linked to unplanned leave by staff, so when staff become sick and that's not planned, and we haven't planned to replace them. There are times when we have overtime costs because of emergency situations in the institution. Again, they are unplanned for, they occur, and I have to bring in additional staff to address the issue--for example, to respond to a riot in an institution.

As well, we have costs that are driven just because of the nature of the work. If we have an increase in the number of offenders who require outside visits to doctors or hospitals, those are additional costs. We look to see if we have any release staff left on the shift, and if we don't, then we sometimes have to go to overtime.

Most recently, some of our additional costs have been coming as a result of sections 127 and 128 under the Canada Labour Code, when staff feel that the environment is unsafe. We're unable to do certain things until a labour officer eventually comes in and makes a ruling of danger or no danger. We sometimes have to put in extraordinary measures, which are associated with overtime costs as well.

But where we've been putting most of our time and energy over the last few years is on those areas that I classify as controllable overtime, driving that down to the lowest level and then looking at what other options or alternatives are available to address some of the unplanned-overtime issues.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

You also pointed out that you had succeeded in saving $5 million in hotel, restaurant and travel expenditures. In what circumstances do such expenses occur?