Evidence of meeting #13 for Public Safety and National Security in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was report.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
It sounds like the confusion we're experiencing here. Was it the caseworker who was at the parole hearing or was it the supervisor?
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
They were referred to as a parole officer, but they are not a parole officer.
Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada
It was a clinical caseworker who was at the parole hearing. However, CSC has a responsibility to do quality control and to document as well.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
You didn't say that you accepted responsibility for the confusion.
The report indicates as well that there was inadequate or a lack of any domestic violence training or intimate partner violence training, on both sides of this. Why would that be left out of the training of people who are dealing with individuals such as Mr. Gallese? There must have been many more over the course of the history of the Parole Board and the services being provided by the Correctional Service of Canada. Why would that be something only now being discovered as lacking?
Bloc
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Mr. Chair, unfortunately, we can no longer hear the interpretation.
NDP
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
If it wasn't translated, if Madam Michaud was unable to hear what I said, I should be able to repeat it so that the translator can adequately deal with it.
Bloc
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
We also did not get the interpretation of Ms. Oades' previous intervention.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
I don't know, Chair. I think the NDP and the Bloc are in cahoots to have Jack just ask more questions.
Liberal
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
I'll just repeat the final part.
I'm sorry, Madam Michaud, if you missed the earlier part. I was questioning whether the report indicates that there was a lack of training in intimate partner violence and a lack of any current domestic violence training available to the CSC individuals as well. That seems to me to be a major lack. I was asking Madam Commissioner Kelly if she would say why that would only now be discovered.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Just before I give Madam Kelly 30 seconds to answer that, I just want to clarify with Madam Michaud that translation came through.
Liberal
Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada
Very quickly, I just want to clarify that, because of the confusion about responsibilities, we're changing the model to have a uniform model across Canada.
In terms of the training, the parole officers get quite rigorous training. There's the 50-hour online training. There's a three-week in-class training. The mandatory intimate partner violence training is actually going to complement the current training that they get on spousal assault risk assessment. The board determined that more was needed, and this is why we are implementing this mandatory intimate partner violence training.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Okay. Thank you.
With that, I understand, Ms. Stubbs, that you have stabilized. You have five minutes. Go ahead, please.
Conservative
Shannon Stubbs Conservative Lakeland, AB
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I will give this a whirl and if I start going in slow motion or acting erratically, or if I stop completely, chalk it up to the rural Internet out here in rural Alberta.
I want to touch on some of the issues my colleague from Medicine Hat started to get into relative to independence and public confidence in the reporting. There are a couple of things that could illuminate Canadians who might be wondering. I wonder if one or both of the witnesses could talk us through how this came to be. Page 2 states that the motive for a national joint investigation was to demonstrate “accountability, responsibility and transparency”. I would say there are rational and reasonable concerns being raised with a primarily internal investigation on those counts.
Did the minister direct the creation of these internal investigations, or was that driven by the agencies?
Chairperson, Parole Board of Canada
I can answer that. It was not directed to the board. We are an independent administrative tribunal, so the minister actually doesn't have the ability to direct. This is basically pro forma. Unfortunately there is zero risk. These incidents have happened before, very rarely. The last time we did a joint board of investigation with the Correctional Service of Canada was back in maybe 2008 or 2009.
Sylvie Blanchet Executive Vice-Chairperson, Parole Board of Canada
It was 2012.
Chairperson, Parole Board of Canada
Thank you, Sylvie.
It was 2012, so that's eight or nine years ago. The one before that was the murder of Louise Pargeter, a CSC parole officer. These aren't directed. I suppose the commissioner could be directed, but these are things.... When something goes wrong, we want to find out what's going on and see if there are things we can do to improve. With the last one, in 2012, there were no recommendations for the board. The previous time, there were a bunch of recommendations for the board on where we had to make some improvements in our policy.
We try to get people who are somewhat knowledgeable about our business and who can provide some independent advice on where things went wrong and where there are areas we can improve.