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. It made eight recommendations to improve indigenous offenders' conditional release opportunities, including ensuring timely access to culturally specific correctional programs and interventions, documenting progress and risk reduction associated with participation in culturally specific interventions and the associated impact on the offender's security level, and ensuring consideration of the aboriginal social history in case management documentation and decisions.
CSC fully accepts the Auditor General's findings and recommendations and is currently implementing measures to address them. CSC is committed to supporting indigenous offenders with a revised approach that will focus our efforts to support their successful and safe rehabilitation and reintegration into the community at rates comparable to those for non-indigenous offenders.
While CSC cannot control the number of indigenous Canadians receiving federal sentences of incarceration, our work and interventions could ultimately impact, to some degree, the length of time these offenders remain in custody, the security level of the institution they are managed in, and the timing of the presentation of their cases to the Parole Board of Canada for conditional release decisions.
Our goal is to reduce the gap in successful community reintegration between indigenous and non-indigenous offenders. CSC is committed to enhancing its capacity to provide effective programs and interventions for indigenous offenders and is working collaboratively with criminal justice partners and community stakeholders to support the rehabilitation and safe reintegration of indigenous offenders into the community.
To accomplish this, I'll be working closely with my senior executive team to achieve the progress and sustainable results that Canadians expect.
I would like to share with you some demographic information about CSC's indigenous offender population.
CSC continues to observe an increase in its total indigenous offender population. At mid-year in the fiscal year 2016-17, indigenous offenders represented 23.1% of the total offender population, accounting for 26.5% of those in custody and 17.4% of those on some form of conditional release in the community. Furthermore, over one-third of incarcerated women are indigenous, representing 36.7% as of January 15, 2017.
The indigenous offender population differs from the non-indigenous offender population in a number of areas. For instance, when we look at global statistics, indigenous offenders tend to be younger, they are more likely to have served previous youth and/or adult sentences, they are incarcerated more often for violent offences, and they are more inclined to have gang affiliations and have higher risk and needs ratings.
It is important to state that CSC's approach to indigenous corrections will continue to be culturally sensitive to and inclusive of indigenous communities in order to provide the most effective correctional outcomes and, in turn, contribute to the best possible public safety results for Canadians.
Providing effective programs for indigenous offenders is a key priority for CSC, and while we have made significant progress in identifying and addressing the specific needs of indigenous offenders, we recognize that more work remains to be done.
CSC's approach to indigenous corrections is based on the aboriginal continuum of care model, which was established in 2003 in close collaboration with elders and members of indigenous communities. This approach begins at intake, is followed by institutional paths of healing, and ultimately supports the reintegration of indigenous offenders into the community. The model provides the flexibility necessary to respect the diversity of first nations, Métis, and Inuit people.
CSC offers, within the aboriginal continuum of care, aboriginal liaison services, aboriginal correctional programs, Pathways initiatives, Inuit elder liaison and programming resources, aboriginal women's programs and services, release planning and reintegration services, and healing lodges for both women and men.
These interventions are integral to CSC's strategic plan for aboriginal corrections and the Anijaarniq Inuit strategy. Additionally, with an offender's consent, release planning is completed in consultation and collaboration with the participation of indigenous communities, as per section 84 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.
With input from the national aboriginal advisory committee, CSC continues to develop and provide a number of indigenous-specific programs and services to improve correctional results for indigenous offenders and respond to the disproportionate representation of indigenous individuals incarcerated federally. Further to this, CSC also makes targeted efforts to recruit and retain indigenous employees to assist in the delivery of indigenous interventions and to provide culturally relevant perspectives. As a result, CSC is the largest employer of indigenous peoples in the core public service.
In moving forward with the Auditor General's recommendations, CSC will be innovative in its approach to indigenous corrections in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Gladue principles. We will look for ways to improve and enhance several key areas of our policies and operations by examining how individual offender cases are managed. We will review our assessment procedures to ensure that the security levels of offenders are determined by considering individual aboriginal social history factors and that parole officers are proactively preparing offenders, especially low-risk offenders, for presentation to the Parole Board of Canada for decision by the first eligibility date.
Continuing to increase the availability of and access to culturally relevant programs tailored to the needs of indigenous offenders is a key priority. Working to fully implement the aboriginal integrated correctional program model to ensure that indigenous offenders have access to the right correctional programs at the right time to support their successful release is also a priority. Optimizing the roles of our elders and spiritual advisors and the use of Pathways initiatives and healing lodges to provide strong, structured, and culturally supportive environments for indigenous offenders on the path to rehabilitation and reintegration is another one of our key priorities.
Also, enhancing our collaboration with indigenous communities and partners to help increase their participation in the management of indigenous offenders' sentences and successful reintegration as part of the CCRA section 84 release planning process is also a priority.
I must stress that my organization cannot do this alone. CSC will continue to work closely with our partners in the criminal justice system, indigenous organizations, and community stakeholders to address the needs of indigenous peoples. Together we can work to close the gap in correctional results between indigenous and non-indigenous offenders.
In conclusion, Madam Chair, I would like to reiterate to you what I wrote to Mr. Ferguson in our response to the OAG's report and findings, which is that this report marks a milestone in Canada's correctional history. I sincerely believe it is a catalyst for strengthening our nation-to-nation relationships and Inuit-to-crown relationships with indigenous peoples, and that it offers the opportunity to deliver a coordinated and cohesive strategy for improving reintegration results for indigenous offenders.
With that, Madam Chair, I thank you for the opportunity to meet today. I welcome any questions that you or the committee may have.
