I agree. I've worked at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, and I've met the staff. At one point, I knew probably half the staff. For the four years I worked with SCAN, we used to get the sheet every day of what inmates were in. Consistently, I personally dealt with 33% of the people who were inside.
I really believe that cleaning up the institution starts with the people on the floor. They are the ones having the day-to-day contact. It's going to be more so in Whitehorse, come February or March when they open the correctional centre. It's going to be direct supervision, as opposed to somebody coming by and looking through a window.
There's a rapport struck between the inmates and the correctional officers. I know my son knew quite a few of the correctional officers personally. He liked them. Of course, there were others he didn't like so much. We're talking about correctional officers. They are the people.
I spoke about the standards having to be high. Correctional officers are little known and less appreciated by the vast majority of Canadians. They're certainly not as high-profile as the military or the police forces. We have to raise that profile for them. The standards have to be high.
Once the drugs are gone, there is hope. Help is there. Healing progresses.