Evidence of meeting #21 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 funding.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
We can now. The entire room went quiet there for about 10 seconds before my point of order.
Liberal
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Continuing, their press release said the following:
In the CRCC’s own words, their finding of discrimination was based on a “social, legal and historical context” including “colonial assertions, stereotypes and a troubled history of police and Indigenous peoples’ relations”. These broad-brush findings about our Members...is not constructive to reconciliation....
Commissioner, I was shocked when I read their press release. I wonder how you are going to bring your members along to end this systemic racism that exists in the RCMP.
Commr Brenda Lucki
Thank you for that question, Ms. Damoff.
I listened to Ms. Baptiste and heard what she had to say. I have such a lot of empathy for her family and what she endured. She deserved to be treated with sensitivity and respect and compassion. As the commissioner of the RCMP, it's my job and part of my mandate to ensure that the culture is transformed and that we strengthen our relationships with indigenous people—and in fact with all Canadians, increasing trust.
We've brought in Vision150 with many activities that I've spoken to you about before. One of the more recent things that we have done is bring in an entire equity, diversity and inclusion strategy, for the first time ever in the RCMP. The objective is to change the culture and transform the RCMP. It's key to addressing the racism and the discrimination. Activities include modernizing the recruitment and the training, and we've talked about the cultural awareness and humility training.
Even while this report was being prepared, we were busy working on the recommendations, and in Saskatchewan in April, all of the employees in Saskatchewan will have completed that course. I have set a very aggressive goal for the entire RCMP to complete that course before the end of summer, and already approximately 16,000 of the 30,000 employees have completed it.
There have been, then, many steps.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Yes and, Commissioner, I appreciate the work you're trying to do. Having read the Bastarache report, which I couldn't even read in one sitting, it was so upsetting—and then, you know, with the validation for Debbie Baptiste and what happened to her family in the most recent report from the CRCC—my concern is that if the union is not accepting what is happening, how are we going to move the RCMP to actually...?
Training someone who doesn't want to be trained, or training someone who says that it's disrespectful to their members.... No one is saying individual members are racist, but we are saying that there's systemic racism in the organization, and quite frankly, the officers who treated Debbie Baptiste the way they did were racist towards her.
How are you going to square that, Commissioner?
Commr Brenda Lucki
With a lot of hard work. It's a brand new union. It just recently started. It will require a lot of work with the relationships with the union, obviously.
It's about the leadership and it's about providing that from start to finish, ensuring that when we go to our recruitment, we are bringing in the right people.
We have recently included an implicit bias test in our recruitment strategy, so that people will be tested for that. It continues on through training. We're doing a full review of the training at Depot, including various cultural exercises, so that we can, in fact, not only bring in the right people but train them along the way. That continues throughout their careers.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Are you working with indigenous organizations and peoples to develop the programs you're doing with the officers?
Commr Brenda Lucki
Absolutely. For every decision we make going forward, I have said we will talk with the people most impacted by our decisions.
We've signed MOUs to work with indigenous women's organizations, not only on racism and discrimination but gender-based violence and the things they are most impacted by. Our anti-racism course that we're in the midst of developing is, in fact, with indigenous people, as was our cultural awareness and humility course. It was done in conjunction with those indigenous groups.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
We're going to have to leave it there. Thank you, Ms. Damoff.
The clerk advises me that there is a problem in the room. They are working on trying to fix it, but it's not a problem online.
Ms. Michaud, you may go ahead. You have six minutes.
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Kelly, your departmental plan underscores the importance of a safe workplace for employees. As we know, the past year has been hard on public servants, especially those working in penitentiaries, since they didn't have the option of working from home; they had to go into work. Nearly 300 employees contracted COVID-19.
The union representing employees asked for danger pay. Has there been any agreement on that?
Does that money appear in supplementary estimates (C)?
Anne Kelly Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada
The matter has to be discussed with the Treasury Board.
Bloc
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
The Correctional Service of Canada is requesting $100 million in funding for class action lawsuits.
Can you tell us more about that? What will the funding be used for? Have any suits been brought? Why do you need more funding?
Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada
Lawsuits were outstanding, and decisions were recently rendered by the courts. The funding was for us to meet our obligations.
Bloc
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
What were the class action lawsuits about?
Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada
They concerned administrative segregation.
Bloc
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Inmates filed lawsuits because of how they were treated. Is that correct?
Bloc
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Thank you.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to greater funding requirements. In the past year, the Correctional Service of Canada has requested additional funding for critical operating requirements related to COVID-19.
What requirements does the funding cover? Is it to purchase personal protective equipment, for example, or something else?
Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada
Yes, it is to purchase personal protective equipment and enhanced cleaning equipment. It is also to support staff and inmate testing. We have to plan for overtime as well. When employees test positive for the virus, they have to stay home because they are in contact with other people when performing their duties. As a result, a portion of the funding is to purchase computer equipment for staff who have to work from home.
Bloc
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Thank you.
Ms. Lucki, during our study on systemic racism in policing, we heard from Michelaine Lahaie, of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP. She told us that the commission needed to be appropriately resourced to conduct systemic reviews and that systemic reviews were being conducted only when sufficient resources were available. She said that she constantly had to decide between dealing with complaints from the public and conducting systemic reviews.
The commission's funding has increased slightly when you compare the main estimates for 2020-21 with those for 2021-22.
Do you think the increase is enough to ensure the commission can adequately deal with complaints and conduct systemic reviews?
Commr Brenda Lucki
Thank you for your question.
It's very difficult for me to respond to that because I'm not sure how they allocate their finances and what kind of money they do need.
What I can say is that we obviously rely on them for oversight. It's good for our organization when we have that oversight. Anything that can help them helps us.
Bloc
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
I'm going to come back to the CBSA officials. The union has indicated a few times that the agency lacked resources. As I mentioned earlier, the agency's spending is expected to decrease every year until 2023-24.
Nevertheless, do you anticipate hiring more officers since you don't seem to have enough?