Public Accounts committee  Part of it stems from things that have developed earlier in these individuals' encounters with the criminal justice system. Particularly going through youth centres and provincial systems, they become associated with gangs, and that obviously carries over. This is one of the things that, although the Auditor General didn't point it out to us, is really part of what's behind some of the issues we've been tackling.

Public Accounts committee  It's not that the offenders were not getting any programming or intervention opportunities. I defer to the OAG to clarify their statement. The assessment tools that were being used indicated that aboriginal offenders were being referred to more programs than what was possibly necessary.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, the criminal risk index is an assessment tool that we found through our research that does not appear to have any potential bias built into it. Therefore, it's not going to suggest that an individual be classified at a higher level or held in a higher security level. There were some questions around some of the other tools that we had been using, not necessarily as to their validity, but whether there was a bias in the tool.

Public Accounts committee  It's driven to a large extent by the desire of the offender. We have indigenous offenders who choose not to go down the path that would lead to healing lodges. Some will take the mainstream programs, and they have access to all the mainstream programs. For those who choose to go down the path of the healing lodge and Pathways, they're there, so in terms of percentages, it's hard to give you the number you're looking for.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, I most definitely can.

Public Accounts committee  We offer Pathways units in various security levels. It's not just minimum security offenders who can access the Pathways initiatives. We also have elders in all levels of security—maximum, medium, and minimum. Access to the healing lodges is for individuals who have been classified as minimum security.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, thank you. That's a very good question. All offenders have access to all the mainstream programs at any given time. Indigenous offenders have the ability to go down a path that is more specific to their cultural needs. These are opportunities that would have them engaging with elders, possibly participating in the Pathways initiatives in several of our institutions, and possibly even going to healing lodges as part of the gradual de-escalation in security levels.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today to discuss the Auditor General's performance audit, “Preparing Indigenous Offenders for Release”, and the accompanying recommendations. The report examined whether the Correctional Service of Canada provides timely correctional interventions to incarcerated indigenous offenders and assessed its performance in assisting with rehabilitation and reintegration efforts.

Public Safety committee  Yes, we've been using it since the fall. We're rolling it out across the country. It will become a national training standard for every employee.

Public Safety committee  Similar to the RCMP, basically all that we did was to adopt the framework presented to us. There were modifications made to some of the scenarios and videos to make them more corrections specific. The version we were working with was the one that had been developed for the Calgary Police Service.

Public Safety committee  I have a series of things you may want to consider. Part of it is looking at how we make available standardized awareness training for people to eliminate the stigma and to allow people to come forward and freely engage the supervisors. We also want to look at how we prepare managers to deal with situations of staff coming forward.

Public Safety committee  We have not looked at it in any great detail. Part of the challenge is the fact that these situations occur off the work site, and getting access to information is challenging at times. We have done a couple of studies over the last 20 years—nothing in great detail, but we've identified with correction officers some of the stressors or challenges around their work.

Public Safety committee  I agree. The more that we can do things in collaboration, the better use of resources we'll get. The dollars for addressing this kind of issue are thin. If we have research going on all across the country and it's not being matched up, we're not going to have the right answer. We need the right response for the right people at the right time with the right treatment base.

Public Safety committee  I can't say definitively. In a couple of cases that I do know, there were issues that had been going on throughout their last couple of years at work, so to draw a parallel, I would say yes. But to definitively say in every case, I can't do that. I can't make that statement.

Public Safety committee  We have a series of issues that are listed in our commissioner's directive. We can make a copy available, but it includes everything from violent assaults, inmates assaulting each other, assault on staff members, responding to individuals who have attempted suicide, responding to a death of an inmate, and issues where any sort of violence has been involved, including individuals who have been taken hostage.