Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It is a pleasure to appear before this committee to outline the involvement of Ontario Correctional Services in the G-8 and G-20 summits and to answer questions this committee might have on provincial responsibility and protocols for the treatment of those who were transferred to our custody.
The G-8 and G-20 summits were the largest domestic security undertaking in Canadian and Ontario history. Ontario worked closely with the federal government, host municipalities, and police services to ensure that appropriate resources and plans were in place for the G-8 and G-20 summits. Since there were no admissions to a provincial ministry correctional institution related to the G-8 summit, I will contain the remainder of my opening statement to the G-20 summit.
The ministry's adult institutional services division is responsible for the safe, secure custody of all Ontario adult inmates held on remand, awaiting trial or other proceedings, as well as adult male and female offenders serving sentences of up to two years less a day.
By the numbers, Ontario's 31 provincial correctional institutions house roughly 8,750 inmates on any given day, both sentence and remand; 76,000 inmates were admitted to our custody last year. Approximately two-thirds of our inmate population is being held on remand and is awaiting trial or other court proceedings. The average length of stay for those inmates on remand is approximately 34 days.
As part of the G-20 planning process we identified two facilities as receiving institutions for individuals transferred to our custody on G-20 summit-related charges. Those facilities were the Maplehurst Correctional Complex for males and the Vanier Centre for Women for females. Both of these facilities are located on the same site in the town of Milton, approximately 50 kilometres west of downtown Toronto and the site of the G-20. A third facility in Hamilton was designated to handle any overflow but was never used.
In preparation for the summit, senior managers from my division were asked to join a working group with representatives from the summit integrated security unit, which included Public Safety Canada, the Toronto Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, crown prosecutors, and others.
As a result of that process the ministry put together a plan to ensure the continued safe, secure, and smooth operation of our correctional facilities. The plan included having extra staff on duty on every shift to accommodate a possible increase in admissions during the summit, providing two clerk-of-record staff to assist the Toronto police in the processing and transport of prisoners from court, and providing a correctional officer at court to serve as a liaison between the Toronto Police Service and the Vanier and Maplehurst facilities.
I should note at this point that all individuals transferred into ministry custody were done so from the court. No prisoners were transferred directly into provincial custody from the Toronto Police Service's temporary prisoner processing centre on Eastern Avenue in Toronto. Ontario Correctional Services had no role in the set-up or operational policies of the temporary detention centre at 629 Eastern Avenue, which was established and operated by the Toronto Police Service, and at no time during or immediately following the G-8 and G-20 summits did ministry personnel enter that facility.
There have been 170 admissions to the Maplehurst and Vanier facilities on criminal charges related to the G-20 summit. Of those admissions, 125 were male and 45 female.
Let me reiterate: all of those individuals were transferred from court to provincial custody. None were transferred directly from the Eastern Avenue facility.
As of today, only seven males with criminal charges related to the G-20 remain in ministry custody.
The Province of Ontario has high standards to ensure the safety, care, custody, and control of those under our supervision. Those individuals are entitled to appropriate care and appropriate conditions of confinement. I can tell this committee with all confidence that those standards were met during and after the G-20 summit for all of those in our custody.
I should also say that there were minor planned disruptions to our normal operations over the weekend of the G-20 summit. For example, at Maplehurst Correctional Complex, personal visits over the weekend of the summit were cancelled as a precautionary measure. Existing inmates were notified well in advance so that they could advise their family and friends. That said, inmates at both the Vanier and Maplehurst facilities had access to telephones and were permitted visits from legal counsel.
Although interpreters were ultimately not required, the ministry had in place a process for acquiring language interpreters for inmates whose first language was not English.
If individuals attended court and were released while at the court, their property was transferred to the Toronto West Detention Centre, which is a facility close to public transit, and pickup of items was made easier at that facility. Individuals released from either Vanier or Maplehurst were provided with a bus ticket and transport to the local bus terminal, as per standard ministry policy.
All policies and procedures governing the cases and treatment of inmates were followed. I am proud to say that Ontario's correctional services staff conducted themselves in a professional and respectful manner and ensured that our ministry's strict policies for the just and humane treatment of those in our custody were met.
Thank you for this opportunity. I would now be happy to take your questions.