Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll start us off.
First, I want to say hello to the members of the committee and to thank them for this invitation to speak on behalf of the Union of Safety and Justice Employees. USJE has approximately 18,000 members, a large percentage of whom work for the Correctional Service of Canada.
I am the regional vice-president for Quebec, and I represent members who work at federal penitentiaries. Before being elected to USJE, I was employed as a parole officer in penitentiaries for 22 years, working at a multi-level security psychiatric institution and in the intake assessment unit of a medium-security institution.
I also had an opportunity to be a local trainer for new employees and an internship supervisor for future parole officers, and I represented the Correctional Service of Canada in training sessions offered to other organizations, such as the Canada Border Services Agency and Quebec's Commission d'examen des troubles mentaux.
Our membership includes many employees who perform a first responder role. Our members work in the correctional sector and have peace officer status. They work with offenders on a daily basis and provide services to victims and the public.
Our members are professionals who intervene at many levels. For example, they provide skills and employability training to inmates and help with risk reduction by offering programs and performing various interventions. They also determine the causes of offenders' criminality and intervene with, follow up and assess those individuals. In addition, our members make recommendations to decision-makers, particularly regarding transfers, absences and releases. They also provide victim services and ensure that any harm done is taken into consideration when decisions are made. Lastly, in performing their work, our members rely on police reports, court decisions, victim concerns and medical and other professional reports, as well as progress that offenders have made.
USJE members thus help to ensure respect for victims' rights and to reduce the risk of recidivism in the community.
Thank you. I will now turn the floor over to Jeff Sandelli.