Status of Women committee  It all depends on how the complaint and the offence report are handled. Corrective measures increase in seriousness—first offence, second offence, minor court, major court. There are several levels when it comes to offence reports. It could be handled like any other report in cas

Status of Women committee  I cannot answer that question. I am not in a position to answer it.

Status of Women committee  No.

Status of Women committee  Exactly.

Status of Women committee  This is one of the first times we have appeared before you. Of course, we have talked about these issues in our workplace, and there is some openness. I hope that this openness will turn into understanding and that we will be able to better prepare our young recruits to deal with

Status of Women committee  I think there will certainly be an impact. The number of inmates will increase. There will be more double bunking. All the ingredients that prevent our situation from improving are there. That's clear.

Status of Women committee  That's actually not discussed at all. It's something we don't talk about. We don't talk about harassment. That's one of our recommendations. We have had enough trivialization in that area. We want to shed light on this issue. We suggest that training be provided as soon as people

Status of Women committee  There's nothing. When you become a correctional officer, you don't receive that kind of training in college or during your career. It's all handled on a case-by-case basis. Each time something like this happens, the case is handled as well as possible.

Status of Women committee  I cannot give you a percentage. The policy is clear when harassment comes from colleagues, but it is in a grey area when inmates are involved. It's difficult because we have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that we did nothing to warrant that kind of harassment. As for our co-

Status of Women committee  Implementing the policy is difficult. The key thing would be the ability to report offences, but we are lacking any kind of relevant terminology. Recently, a correctional officer was sexually harassed by an inmate. Finally, we were able to transfer the inmate. The officer was lef

Status of Women committee  I will speak for myself. It's out of the question for me to let myself be pushed around. That's clear. When it comes to my colleagues, valued judgments are always at play. People wonder whether we had it coming, and that kind of thinking is widespread. Honestly, I have always fo

Status of Women committee  If I have understood correctly, you said that things have improved over time. When I joined Correctional Service Canada, 26 years ago, there was a total of 34 inmates. About 32 of them would masturbate on a daily basis. That was common practice. Back then, an attempt was being m

Status of Women committee  That's because the matter has become very trivialized. I have an anecdote to share with you. A psychologist at work held a training session for correctional officers. To help with her statistics, she asked for written comments to see whether there were any sexual offence problem

Status of Women committee  No. There are a number of similar cases. Another case is awaiting trial. At the Kingston Penitentiary—where I work—an inmate would masturbate constantly. Several officers had submitted complaints and laid charges against the inmate, but an officer finally laid charges against hi

Status of Women committee  I couldn't tell you. There's really so much more work to be done with regard to that. It's very much a work in progress. However, I sincerely believe that the budget cuts could have a fairly significant impact.