Good morning, Madam Chair and committee members. I would like to thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today. I am also joined by my colleague Leslie MacLean, Assistant Commissioner, Health Services.
The Correctional Service of Canada is a federal agency within the Government of Canada's Public Safety portfolio. CSC contributes to public safety by administering court-imposed sentences of two years or more. This work involves managing institutions of various security levels, preparing inmates for safe and timely release, and supervising offenders under conditional release and long-term supervision orders in the community. CSC has approximately 16,400 employees. It is responsible for some 22,000 offenders, of whom about 13,280 are incarcerated and some 8,720 are supervised in the community.
CSC has a presence across the country, from large urban centres to remote communities across the North. CSC manages 57 institutions of various security levels; 16 community correctional centres; 84 parole offices; and four healing lodges.
As you know, CSC employs a diverse workforce comprised of correctional officers and parole officers, who, for the most part, are exclusive to CSC. The remainder of CSC's workforce reflects the variety of other skills required to operate institutions and community offices, from health professionals—such as from the fields of nursing, psychiatry, pharmacy, and psychology—to electricians and food service staff.
CSC staff routinely deal with high-need and high-risk offenders, whose needs are complex and diverse. These include mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, and anger and violence issues. While these challenges are faced by a large percentage of CSC's workforce, for health care professionals joining CSC, this institutional work environment is unique and presents challenges not commonly confronted by their profession. Coupled with this unique work environment, when it is recruiting for health care professionals, CSC must respect Government of Canada policy, legislated budget direction, and the collective agreements governing these occupational groups. Together these factors, when combined with the remote location of many work sites, can limit our success in attracting and retaining health professionals.
In keeping with the most recent annual report of the Clerk of the Privy Council, CSC is strengthening its planning, recruitment, and employee development. This will enable human resources to build on its current foundation of sustaining its existing workforce, attracting new people, developing and retaining talent, and finalizing the implementation of our transformation agenda.
As part of public service renewal, CSC's human resource management function will need to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its services in the organization if the organization is to remain competitive in its search for talent and deliver on its correctional results. In response to this need, the human resources section is committed to improving and simplifying its processes and systems. For example, CSC will be adopting common human resource processes, upgrading our HR management system, leveraging self-serve technology, and increasing the availability and use of strategic information by rolling out a dashboard to all regions and institutions. Together, these initiatives will allow CSC to strengthen its capacity to manage its workforce and to plan more proactively.
My colleague will elaborate on initiatives specific to health care professionals.
Throughout these various initiatives, our union partners have played a key role in identifying and working collaboratively to resolve issues affecting their membership. For example, CSC is working closely with the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada to address barriers affecting the mobility of registered psychologists.
Meeting the challenges outlined in the Public Service Renewal and our Report on Plans and Priorities will require strong leadership and a sustained commitment. Our renewal must continue to evolve for CSC to sustain the high level of service that Canadians have come to expect.