Public Safety committee  There's only one forensic bed on a contract agreement. There might be two, actually, between the Correctional Service of Canada and the Royal Ottawa group at their treatment centre, the St. Lawrence Valley treatment centre in Brockville. That's different. There is a unit for women at the Regional Psychiatric Centre operated by the Correctional Service of Canada in Saskatoon.

Public Safety committee  No. The capacity is nowhere near adequate to meet the demand. In my remarks, I mentioned the Correctional Service of Canada's optimal care model. This is a new model they've imposed that they claim will better allocate mental health resources, and my worry is that it's actually going to reduce access even further.

Public Safety committee  Yes, false positive detection is a problem, and it's a problem that's part of a much larger set of problems that has to do with maintaining family contact and support. Prisons are not welcoming environments. They're not designed to be. Prison walls are designed to keep people out as much as they're designed to keep people in.

Public Safety committee  I think it would be a great idea to review the technology from a number of standpoints. One is to make sure that it's an appropriate use of technology and consistent with the law. Number two is to see whether or not the cost of that technology is proportionate to the benefit it brings in, because, of course, the money spent on things like ion scanners is money that's not spent on rehabilitative programs, for example.

Public Safety committee  Yes, and it's very complex. I know I'm supposed to give brief answers, and I'm sorry. Access to programs and program capacity: that is an issue in general. Making sure that people get access to programs in a timely way, that the programs are, very importantly, delivered by somebody who is competent to deliver them, and that the programs are delivered at the right time in the sentence are all geared toward supervised structured release.

Public Safety committee  Thank you for your question. I'll tell you that I was immensely impressed with the insight that the Auditor General's report demonstrated in the area. Many of the findings are consistent with the findings of our office. In fact, all the findings are consistent. The recommendations are sound, and I was also very impressed with the swift and positive response from the Correctional Service of Canada.

Public Safety committee  The minister is certainly aware of the recommendation and the importance that we attach to it and has undertaken to discuss that recommendation. I know that the Correctional Service of Canada continues to be resistant. In fact, their arguments are that it is already a file that is part of the mandate of the senior deputy commissioner and it already has senior representation around the table and, in fact, it's everybody's responsibility to properly acknowledge and implement the strategic plan for indigenous offenders.

Public Safety committee  No.

Public Safety committee  As an ombudsman, we can deal with complaints directly from inmates. We can take complaints from family members. We can also take a complaint from the Minister of Public Safety. We also have the ability to investigate on our own motion. We receive information from Corrections Canada staff.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  Well, it's pretty straightforward. Inmate allowances for work inside the institutions and for program participation were set in 1981. Since 1981, there has been an increasing financial burden on federally sentenced offenders to pay for things such as telephone calls. Also, a proportion of their incomes, such as they are, go towards room and board.

Public Safety committee  Well, the most money you can make, the top of the salary range, if we can put it that way—it's not a perfect characterization—is $6.90 a day. If you look at the contributions to inmate committee funds and the other expenses I was talking about, such as telephones, etc., you'll see that you don't have a lot of money to play with.

Public Safety committee  You realize that you asked about six questions in that one.

Public Safety committee  I'll try to be as quick as I can in addressing the issues, because they are significant. In terms of equity employment, the Correctional Service of Canada does well. In terms of how well it reflects the client population, they don't do so well. The question I have about that, however, is, would it be a success if 40% of the women who work in corrections were of indigenous background?

Public Safety committee  The office was first established after a commission of inquiry into a riot at Kingston Penitentiary in 1971. It was established to address the findings of that inquiry, which in part concluded that the riot, which led to loss of life and massive property destruction, was ignited by the pent-up frustration of there being an inadequate and dysfunctional process for addressing legitimate concerns and grievances of the inmate population.