Public Safety Committee on Sept. 27th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I call to order the 127th meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

Our witnesses today are from the Correctional Service of Canada. We have our new Commissioner, Anne Kelly; the Assistant Commissioner, Larry Motiuk; and the Acting Senior Deputy Commissioner Fraser Macaulay.

Before I call on Ms. Kelly for her opening statement, I just want to inform members of the committee, particularly the permanent members, that our clerk, Jean-Marie David, is withdrawing from the committee to deal with health challenges. We don't know yet who the replacement clerk will be. As all members know, these folks are the institutional memory of all committees, and they serve us very faithfully. For those who feel so inclined, you can drop Jean-Marie a note. I know he does have his challenges.

Go ahead, Matthew.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Thank you, Chair.

Could we get an easy motion through that the committee sends its best wishes to him?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Absolutely.

I assume there is no opposition on that point. This may be the only moment in this entire afternoon that there's no opposition.

With that, may I ask Ms. Kelly for her opening statement? Again, on behalf of the committee, congratulations on your appointment.

[Anne Kelly, Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee, it is a pleasure to appear before you today as the recently appointed commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, or CSC.

As you know, with me today is Fraser Macaulay, Acting Senior Deputy Commissioner, as well as Larry Motiuk, Assistant Commissioner of the Policy Sector.

While I have appeared before this committee as senior deputy commissioner as well as interim commissioner of CSC, I would like to take a brief moment to say a few words about my background.

First, I am absolutely honoured to have been appointed as the ninth commissioner of CSC.

I began my career in federal corrections in 1983 as a case management officer and have since had the great privilege of working alongside dedicated and hard-working correctional service employees.

Throughout my 35-year career in corrections, I have served in a variety of positions at the institutional, community and national levels, including as director general of offender programs and reintegration, deputy commissioner for women, regional deputy commissioner in the Pacific region, and senior deputy commissioner.

I have been lucky to witness the evolution of CSC and its approach to corrections as well as the considerable progress we have made in ensuring the effective rehabilitation and safe reintegration of individuals serving a federal sentence. From this evolution, I have experienced the value of working alongside and listening to CSC's partners and stakeholders, both in government and in the community, to enhance our strategies, programs and services so that we can better meet our mandate priorities and ensure public safety.

On September 5, 2018, I received my mandate letter from the Honourable Minister Goodale. This mandate provides CSC with a chance to reflect on what we have already accomplished and inspires us to continuously pursue excellence in corrections. The letter emphasizes CSC's key role in ensuring that when offenders return to their communities, they are well prepared to lead productive, law-abiding lives. It also identifies partnerships as a key theme and encourages working with volunteers, community members, and our many partner and stakeholder organizations. With their support, CSC will ensure that our offenders are better prepared and equipped to make appropriate choices and positive changes in their lives.

I have also learned first-hand the considerable importance of ensuring that CSC's correctional approach is tailored to the needs of our diverse offender population. Accordingly, the CSC offers a wide range of interventions to offenders, including programs and services that respond to their cultural, educational, employment, social, mental health, and crimogenic needs.

The mandate letter speaks to the importance of ongoing self-reflection. This is by no means new to CSC, and something we will continue to do. In fact, being open to change has allowed CSC to make progress in a number of key areas. I would like to highlight a few of these areas.

Nationally, there has been a steady decline in the incarcerated offender population, from over 15,000 in 2012-13 to just over 14,000 now; and a continuous increase in the number of offenders managed in the community, from approximately 7,500 in 2012-13 to over 9,200 at present. In 2017-18, we saw the highest number of day paroles reported since 2012-13, including for indigenous offenders and women offenders. This means the work our employees are doing is having a real and positive impact on getting offenders ready for release and successfully reintegrating into their communities.

In 2017-18, we also saw positive results of offenders upgrading their education. Approximately 72% of indigenous offenders and women offenders, and almost 67% of non-indigeneous offenders, upgraded their education before the end of their sentence. This is in comparison to between 50% and 53% of offenders who ungraded their education before the end of their sentence in 2012-13.

The announcement of the reopening of the penitentiary farms at the Joyceville and Collins Bay Institutions in Kingston, Ontario, this year also presents an opportunity to support offenders in their reintegration through building meaningful employment and employability skills that are going to serve them well upon release.

As part of CSC's mandate, one of our key priorities is addressing the disproportionate incarceration of indigenous people and ensuring that our programs and interventions are culturally sensitive and contribute to their rehabilitation. CSC continues to enhance partnerships with indigenous peoples to create more opportunities for first nations, Métis and Inuit communities to participate in the care, custody and supervision of indigenous offenders, through sections 81 and 84 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.

CSC is currently reviewing proposals from several indigenous communities who have expressed interest in entering into a section 81 agreement to establish a healing lodge facility for the care and custody of indigenous men and women offenders.

CSC has also established aboriginal intervention centres across the country at seven institutions for men and at all institutions for women. This initiative serves to strengthen indigenous offenders' timely access to culturally responsive programming in order to increase the potential for their successful reintegration into our communities.

With respect to mental health, as a result of funding through budgets 2017 and 2018, CSC has increased its intermediate mental health care capacity at some medium and maximum security levels at men's sites and at all women's facilities. CSC's health care model aligns with principles articulated by the World Health Organization, including primary care to provide early intervention in our mainstream institutions for those offenders with mild to moderate mental illness that promotes recovery; intermediate mental health care for offenders with more serious needs but who do not require admission to an in-patient hospital; and acute or hospital care at a regional treatment centre to stabilize offenders with the most severe symptoms and impairment.

With respect to administrative segregation, CSC revised its policies to ensure that specific groups of inmates, including inmates with a serious mental illness, or at risk of self-injury or suicide, are inadmissible to administrative segregation. We are spending considerable time ensuring that we are managing administrative segregation appropriately. Between 2013-14 and 2017-18, CSC observed a decrease in the use of administrative segregation, as total admissions decreased by 35% for men, and 42% for women.

As stated in my mandate letter, partnerships are key to our success, and CSC employees are my most important partners. Ensuring CSC's workplace is safe, respectful and supportive is absolutely critical to our success in achieving our mandate and priorities. I am committed to ensuring that we have a respectful workplace across the country, one that is safe for staff, offenders and visitors alike. It is my priority as commissioner to send a clear signal from the top that any form of disrespectful behaviour, be it in words or actions, is unacceptable.

Mr. Chair, it is clear to me that CSC's contributions to creating safer communities would not be possible without the dedication and passion of our staff, as well as our considerable volunteer base. As such, I will conclude my remarks by emphasizing how grateful I am for the work of our staff, partners and volunteers. I am honoured to serve as CSC's new commissioner and to be a beacon of good corrections. In the end, there is no greater responsibility than having the care and custody of other human beings, and therefore we must carry out these responsibilities with the highest level of integrity and professionalism. To be a member of CSC is more than a job; it is a vocation that can have a profound impact on the lives of offenders, their families and society as a whole. As my favourite quote says, “Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence, always”.

Thank you once again for this opportunity to appear before you today, and we will be pleased to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Ms. Kelly.

Before I call on members for their questions, I would emphasize the point of a respectful workplace that was brought up and draw members' attention to Bosc and Gagnon, page 1,058, which talks about the authority of the chair to sanction members for unparliamentary language and persistent interruption. I just bring that to the members' attention. Thank you.

Ms. Dabrusin, you have seven minutes.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for that reminder.

Thank you, Ms. Kelly, for being with us here today.

I understand that yesterday the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness asked you to conduct a review of an offender transfer decision made by Correctional Service of Canada. I wonder if you could start today by explaining how you plan to conduct that review.

[Anne Kelly]

Thank you for the question.

As per the minister's request, we will be conducting an in-depth review of the case. I've already identified two senior staff members to be on the board that will review the case, and I'm also seeking a community member to be part of that review.

As you may know, in CSC we have a rigorous case management process, but through this in-depth review we want to ensure that this decision was made according to the laws and the policies. Also as part of the review, we will ensure that we have a sound policy framework in place.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Thank you for that.

I was happy that in your opening statement you talked about the reopening of prison farms, and the next issue, which I am particularly interested in, is about food.

I was looking at the annual report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator for 2016-17, and in it there's mention of a riot that took place at a Saskatchewan penitentiary in 2016. Food was one of the issues that they locate as one of the causes that gave rise to it. It's mentioned that each inmate is given 2,600 calories, which, according to Canada's food guide is sufficient for a low-activity male, age 31 to 50. I was looking at another report from 2017 about young adults who are incarcerated in federal penitentiaries, and it pointed out that for young active males, the calorie requirement is much higher, 3,000 to 3,300, so it pointed to a need to review the food policy, and that was in fact one of the recommendations that was made by the investigator.

The Correctional Service of Canada's response to the investigator's recommendations mentioned that an internal audit of food services was planned for fiscal year 2017-18 and was to be published during the second half of 2018. I'm wondering if you could provide me with an update as to that report. Where is that at, and what have you found?

[Anne Kelly]

In our response, we said that we would do a food services audit. The audit has been completed, and obviously we will be briefed on the results of this particular audit.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Do you know when you expect to see the answers published and made public?

[Anne Kelly]

I'll have to get back to you on when.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Would you be able to provide us with a copy of that when it's made available to the public so that we can review it?

[Anne Kelly]

Yes.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

One of the other issues that was raised beyond just the calorie levels was about the nutritional requirements. Measures had been taken in the past years to have food become more processed, and there was more powdered milk. In fact, what was happening was that grievances were going up from incarcerated individuals because not only were they feeling hungry, but also there were complaints about the quality of the food in that there were health concerns being presented. Have you looked into any of that—not just the calorie side, but the additional part about the food that's being fed to these individuals?

[Anne Kelly]

Yes, the audit would look at the food and its quality.

We went to a different system. We have cook-chill, and then we have finishing kitchens. The inmates do have powdered milk. I have to say, though—and Larry is responsible for grievances—that as senior deputy commissioner, I used to sign third-level grievances, and I didn't see that many around food. As you know, with regard to the food that we serve, there's a dietician who reviews our diet. It has to be in line with the food guide as well.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

You mentioned work with respect to the prison farms, but I understand with respect to the kitchens too that work and the learning of skills was a certain amount of it. Perhaps you can talk a little bit about what the plan is with regard to the work skills within the prison farms.

Also, have you noticed that there was a loss of skills and training based on the fact that kitchens were moved to this cook-chill system?

[Anne Kelly]

In terms of the prison farms, the inmates will be able to learn different skills, some of the soft skills. I think I mentioned before at this committee skills such as just being able to get up in the morning to go to a job.

They'll be working with animals, and at both Joyceville and Collins Bay there's also some land management that they're going to have to do. They're also going to be growing crops.

Because some of the buildings have to be refurbished and we have to build new buildings, we'll be using the inmates to do that. They'll be able to learn some skills in construction, those types of skills. I think it's going to be beneficial.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You have a little less than half a minute.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I think that with less than half a minute I'm not going to get much more, but I would appreciate a copy of that report.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Bergen, you have seven minutes. Welcome to the committee.

[Candice Bergen, Portage—Lisgar, CPC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you and welcome, Commissioner Kelly. Congratulations on your appointment. Thank you as well to your assistant commissioner and your deputy commissioner for being here.

[Anne Kelly]

Thank you.

[Candice Bergen]

As I'm sure you are aware, and you've been following the questions that we've been asking the government in the House of Commons with regard to this, the killer of Tori Stafford, who still has 17 years left to serve on the sentence that she was given for participating in the brutal murder of a little girl, has now been moved to a healing lodge.

I think you're obviously aware that we've been asking the government questions around that. I understand that a review has been requested. I will leave my questions around how in the world anybody could see that this would be a fair and legitimate decision to make, because that is not my question at this point. I think it's clear that Canadians are outraged. It's clear that the family doesn't understand how this could happen. We're not clear if the government is outraged, but if the government hypothetically was as outraged at this and felt it was as wrong as Canadians do, as we do, the minister has the ability to ask you as the commissioner, under the act, to immediately begin the process so that this decision would be reversed.

Is that correct? Is that how you understand the act?

[Anne Kelly]

The minister has asked me to do an in-depth review of the case, and this is what I'm going to do.

[Candice Bergen]

Thank you, but just so I'm clear, you understand the chain of command. In fact, I'll read from the act. Section 6 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act states:

The Governor in Council may appoint a person to be known as the Commissioner of Corrections who, under the direction of the Minister

You're under the direction of the minister, Minister Ralph Goodale, correct?