Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss issues related to the federal population of women offenders.
In my brief opening remarks, I don't want to repeat what the previous deputy commissioner for women related to you at her appearance last November. I'll instead use my time to bring you up to date on a number of developments in the women offender file over the past five months.
First of all, I understand that the committee had the opportunity to visit a number of our institutions late last year, including Okimaw Ohci, our aboriginal healing lodge, and the regional psychiatric centre in Saskatoon, where we have the Churchill unit dedicated to the treatment of women offenders who require intensive mental health care. As such, you were able to see two very different approaches to managing our complex and diverse women offender population. If the committee members intend to visit one of the five regional facilities for women to expand your knowledge of how we manage the majority of incarcerated women offenders in our care, I would certainly be pleased to organize that for you.
The area of mental health continues to challenge us. We are committed to look for new strategies that will work for everyone: the women offenders, CSC staff, and the general public. To this end, we are working with our research branch, particularly in a project to develop a national profile of the mental health needs of women offenders. This will help us to better target our interventions and provide more effective counselling and programming to the women in our custody and in the community.
We are also examining how we manage women who pose a high risk to other offenders and CSC staff. We are currently using a system called the management protocol. It has come under criticism from the Office of the Correctional Investigator and the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, among others. CSC agrees that the approach is not ideal and we are currently reviewing our strategy to move away from the management protocol. We have been engaged in national consultations with various stakeholders and experts over the past few months. I expect to receive a report of their findings in the near future, which will help guide the development of an alternative and more comprehensive approach that is more in line with a fully integrated correctional plan.
As part of CSC's transformation agenda, we are now in the final stages of implementing a community framework for women offenders that will provide more support and opportunities for these offenders when they're conditionally released into the community. Over half of the federally sentenced women are in the community. This framework will affect most of the women under our care. I am exceptionally proud of this new model that will enhance the continuum of care for federally sentenced women, better support their transition into the community, and help to achieve greater public safety results for all Canadians.
I continue to work closely with my colleagues in health services, the Office of the Correctional Investigator, and our other partners to ensure we exchange information and best practices on how to effectively manage our more complex cases. To this end, I hold teleconferences and face-to-face meetings on a regular basis with the wardens of women's institutions and other officials as needed.
I would like to state in closing that I'm delighted with the challenges this new job entails. I'm very excited to be part of the group of CSC staff who work every day to improve the lives of our women offenders and help them return to the community as law-abiding citizens.
Thank you.