My name is Pauline Lally. I'm a sister of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul in Kingston.
I'm sitting here and looking up at this beautiful picture, and I'm thinking of what Dianne just mentioned, which is that Canadian history is built on people who were farmers. It's right here in front of us.
I thank you for this opportunity to speak to you on a subject close to the hearts of Kingstonians. When Bishop Horan asked the Sisters of Providence to come from Montreal to Kingston in 1861, it was to establish a congregation for the sick and poor in their homes, the aged and the orphaned, and the inmates in Canada's oldest penitentiary, and that's what we've attempted to do for almost 150 years.
When we started, more punitive measures to deter criminals were the norm. However, as Gandhi explained, the norm of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth could render most of the world blind and toothless.
I am not soft on crime. Some dangerous offenders belong behind bars. But I am big on rehabilitation, and that's what the farm programs do: rehabilitate.
Education and experience have taught us that a commitment to rehabilitation reduces reoffending rates. That's why our penal system has moved slowly over the past 150 years toward a restorative system appropriately called “corrections”.
But tell me: what is “corrections” correcting in closing the prison farms? Our system has been held up to the rest of the world as an example of a penal system that works. Until now. we have been proud of that. People from all over the world have toured our prison farms because they work.
Why would we stop something that is working? Why would we stop something that is sustainable, that services milk, meat, and eggs to all the federal penitentiaries in the area as well as supplying surplus eggs to food banks?
We are here today because of our grave concern that the current government is about to take away the most successful program in the system. In reading the Correctional Service of Canada's own document, called “Let's Talk”, which I have provided for you today, you will understand that, as it states, this farm is “highly valued for the produce it supplies to local federal institutions and the food banks in the surrounding area and for the skills passed on to the inmates whose labour and sweat keeps the production going”.
In the same document, Craig Chinnery, the operations manager, explains that many of the inmates had never held a steady job in their lives until they arrived at the penitentiary farm. He says:
We're trying to develop a work ethic in these guys. Get them accustomed to getting up in the morning--
Like you said: getting up at four o'clock.
--and putting in a full day's work. And teaching them certified skills they can take with them to the job market.
The article continues, stating:
These inmates seem happy and eager in their work. It's obvious that they take pride in the operation.
They are learning real work ethics. They are learning to take pride in a job well done.
Corrections Canada also understood the rehabilitative value of animal therapy. Said Mr. Chinnery, and again I quote him from the document on Correction Canada's website:
The animal/human connection is a good thing....
...[it] has a calming effect on many of these guys.
Last May, I visited the farm outside the walls of Collins Bay penitentiary. On the prison farm, there are no walls--only fences for the animals. A cow had given birth to a calf. The calf had died. The mother could not get up, so obviously she was going to die as well. And there, under the birthing tree, was an old, burly inmate, complete with his long hair and his forearms covered with tattoos, giving what l'd call palliative care to that animal.
He was crouching there, stroking her muzzle, and talking softly to her. That is the true rehabilitative value of this program. No laundry work or classroom can provide that for inmates. If we are truly interested in safer communities, we must look closely at any program that, as Correctional Service of Canada states, has a calming effect.
CSC goes on to explain:
The work instills a sense of responsibility in the inmate who must provide daily care for the livestock. There's a general feeling of accomplishment amongst both the inmate farm workers and the instructors as a result of their work.
Obviously, there's more than one good product coming from this farm operation, but that's the most important one: the positive changes in an inmate's life.
These were not my words but words taken from the Correctional Service of Canada website, and they reflect how much these farms were once valued. Now they will be closed without any expert review.
Prophetic voices pronounce justice. Restoring perpetrators to society is just. To do this safely, we must concentrate on healing and rehabilitation within the philosophy of restorative justice. The healing power of animal therapy is understood, and must, if anything, be expanded.
Rehabilitating inmates is CSC's responsibility, and it reflects our wonderful Canadian values. We therefore ask that a moratorium he placed on any dismantling until independent experts have had an opportunity to review the value of the farm program.
We trust that you, as Canada's public safety committee, will take our concerns seriously and put a stop to any dismantling and any transformation of our system until independent experts, chosen carefully for their skills and impartiality, have an opportunity to research the direction proposed by the current government and the “Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety” document.
Thank you.
[Applause]