Thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee.
I'm pleased to be back here before you. I always enjoy appearing in front of this committee and all the honourable members to talk about this serious issue that you've taken on to study, because it does affect a number of staff in Correctional Service Canada.
Mental health in the workplace has always been a difficult topic to address, both for those who struggle with mental health issues, as well as from a management perspective. Addressing this topic in a meaningful and effective way is very important to me personally and professionally. I am very happy that we are starting to see an increase in the awareness of the importance in maintaining a healthy workplace, and that there have been a number of concrete steps taken to improve the situation across this great country of ours.
This committee's decision to study operational stress injuries and the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, has placed a spotlight on this issue, and hopefully this will continue to foster more open dialogue in society to allow those who may be struggling in silence to come forward. One of the best approaches to improving understanding of afflictions such as PTSD is awareness and prevention, and in this regard, maybe I'll just share with you some of the highlights of the work that CSC has been undertaking.
As most of you are aware, our staff members operate in a unique environment, which can often take a significant toll on the mental well-being of the staff. Given the nature of the work performed by front-line correctional staff, they are likely to witness stressful and traumatic events, including death and violence. In our 180-year history, we have had 34 members who have been killed in the workplace, 33 of those within the penitentiaries, and one in the community.
Consequently, employees are vulnerable to developing operational stress injuries. While CSC recognizes the significant challenges associated with working in a correctional environment, we are committed to providing a workplace that is conducive to the health and safety of all of its employees, including their mental health. I am proud of the work done by the Correctional Service Canada staff on a daily basis. Particularly of note is their dedication and commitment during the stressful and potentially dangerous circumstances that are common in a correctional environment.
CSC openly encourages employees to seek assistance in dealing with any personal or work-related problems that may impair their well-being. To this end, we have established an employee assistance program to encourage employees experiencing personal or work-related problems to voluntarily seek assistance, recognizing that our staff are the strength and major resource of the service, and that the well-being and productivity of employees can be affected by personal or work-related problems.
Also, CSC employees have access to the critical incident stress management program. This is a joint labour-management initiative, which was introduced to employees in the 1990s. Currently, the CISM teams, as they are referred to in short, comprise mental health professionals, chaplains, and peers from various disciplines who are trained to conform to national standards. They are used whenever there is an incident that meets policy guidelines for the provision of CISM services, such as an event that includes death, suicide, injury of any person during use of force in the conduct of duties, being the victim of physical violence, or any other incident deemed critical by management in joint consultation with our EAP coordinators.
Most recently, we have also taken steps to educate CSC employees about the potential mental health injuries that can happen as a result of their work in corrections by offering the road to mental readiness training. As you know, this was first pioneered by the Department of National Defence for its staff. This leading-edge training equips our CSC employees with the same tools and knowledge as other first responders across the country.
We formed a steering committee for workplace mental health injuries in May of last year, and we are developing an integrated mental health strategy using the new psychologically healthy workplace standard developed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Canadian Standards Association as a framework. We have produced a new and comprehensive internal web page for our employees who experience a mental health injury, where they can find information about what to do and where to go if they need assistance. Just last week, we shared with all our CSC employees across Canada an internal publication about workplace mental health injuries within CSC. This publication includes CSC employees sharing their personal experiences in written format, contributions from an institutional CISM and EAP agent and a registered psychologist, a poster to help staff determine where they are on the mental health continuum, as well as a video about CSC's Steering Committee for Workplace Mental Health Injuries.
I will cut it short there, but I could talk more about the employee assistance program, our return to work program, or our duty to accommodate program. There is no question, from my perspective, and I've been in corrections now for over 38 years, that this is a very meaningful topic and one worthy of discussion.
Although I represent the federal correctional system, I'm glad to see this applies equally to provincial and territorial correctional workers. I'm glad to see that they're being recognized in these discussions going forward.
To give you a sense of some of the stress that we do deal with, last year alone, I had 27 employees or former employees either commit suicide or attempt to commit suicide. To the greatest extent possible, this is a reflection of what they've had to deal with throughout their career. Being in the service as long as I have, I know a lot of these people, and so it's a very troubling situation.
Once again, I'll cut it short there. I'm glad to see the committee doing this review, and I look forward to answering any questions that you may have.