Status of Women Committee on Jan. 30th, 2018

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

With regard to safety and emergency preparedness, in many aboriginal communities there is little access to the justice system or to the police force, and this can make it difficult for victims to bring forward their accusations against offenders.

As well, if offenders are brought to trial and convicted, their sentences are often short. The perpetrators are then brought back into their communities as soon as they've served their time, with little to no protection being offered to the original victim. So continues the cycle of violence and abuse in these communities.

In your opinion, how could we prevent the victimization of these young women and improve their access to the justice system?

[Angela Connidis, Director General, Crime Prevention, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

In many indigenous communities there are a lot of community safety issues that go beyond just focusing on women and focusing on men. There are problems that communities need to look at themselves, so rather than going into communities and saying, “Here's what we will do to help you”, Public Safety has a community safety planning process whereby we engage with communities to help them form a council. We provide a facilitator to coach them through a community safety planning process through which they will take a hard look at their community, at what some of the safety risks are for victims, and at what some of the risks are that lead people into criminal activity, and they will identify how their community can address those and what other supports they need from the federal government, provincial governments, and municipal governments to meet their other community safety needs.

Once they have a plan developed, our next step is working with them to engage other partners across the federal government or in other provincial or territorial governments and in cities to help with that implementation. To date we've worked with over 100 communities to develop a community safety plan. Twenty-eight have finished the plans, and we're working with three as pilot projects for this implementation process through which we engage across jurisdictions to help with the implementation.

The sense is that there are many elements of a safe community. They include not just the policing—and as you may know, we've increased funding for first nations policing programs, so that will help—but also things like proper youth centres, addictions programs, schools, child care, and work programs so that communities are able to identify what they need to help create a safer community and reduce engagement in the criminal justice system.

We've also just launched another initiative, the indigenous community corrections initiative, to help with the reintegration of offenders. Kelley talked about section 84 programs. Communities actually need something in place so that they can work with the offenders when they re-enter the community, including the dynamics between the victims and the—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I'm sorry, but we have to wrap it up.

[Angela Connidis]

I'll stop there.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're now going to move to Sheila Malcolmson for seven minutes.

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Thank you, Chair. Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

My first series of questions is for Indigenous Services.

Last summer, we had a pretty discouraging report. This was the annual report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator, and he flagged the area of mental health. Because we have so many indigenous women in the prison system, I think this fits completely with our study. He flagged a lack of appropriate capacity, resources, and infrastructure to manage serious mental health conditions.

He said:

The issue is especially problematic in women’s corrections as there is no dedicated, stand-alone treatment facility for women in federal corrections.

He flagged particularly the Pacific region, which is where I'm elected. He said:

...women in need of emergency health care...are...transferred to...a unit at the all-male regional psychiatric facility....managed in segregation-like conditions.... This practice systematically discriminates against women struggling with mental health problems; it is totally unacceptable and contrary to international human rights standards....

In the responsibility for Indigenous Services to ensure that there's a whole-of-government approach and make sure we're not siloing treatment of women and indigenous women, can you talk about the extent this is on the radar of your minister, and the ways, from indigenous women's perspective, you're identifying to improve that service delivery?

[Margaret Buist, Director General, Children and Families Branch, Education and Social Development Programs and Partnerships Sector, Department of Indigenous Services, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

I think Indigenous Services can talk about the mental health issues, but in terms of the corrections system, that would be the Correctional Service of Canada. My colleague Mary Kapelus will speak to the mental health issue.

[Mary-Luisa Kapelus, Director General, Strategic Policy, Planning and Information, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

In the community, before the individuals leave the community, we have a number of community-based programs on reserve. There's a first nations mental wellness continuum framework that has been put in place. As you've seen, in the last couple of years there have been additional investments to deal with suicide crises in the communities, and a number of general mental wellness crisis teams have been put in place across the country.

We have a network of approximately 45 addiction treatment centres in communities, as well as drug and alcohol prevention services. We also have our resolution health support program that deals with the intergenerational impacts of residential schools. Again, as my colleague is alluding to, most of our community-based programming, which is culturally based and culturally relevant, meets the needs of both men and women in our communities and is focused for the on-reserve population, but not so much once they're in the corrections facility.

At the same time, we do work with our colleagues at the Correctional Service and with others so that when offenders do come back out, these community-based programs are ready and adaptable to integrate them back into their communities. We also have supplemental programming through the first nations non-insured health benefits program. Individuals can get counselling through that as well.

As I said, the programming that we at Indigenous Services Canada focus on is mostly for those individuals living in the community at that time.

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Following on that, what are you observing about the interruption in community care when indigenous women do leave their community, their reserve, and in some cases end up in completely different parts of the country, and then gravitate back into the community upon release, without having had consistent access to culturally informed mental health care and, certainly as the investigator has identified, appropriate mental health supports for women?

[Mary-Luisa Kapelus]

That's the part that depends on, as you're alluding to, where they are in the country. I can't speak to what they're experiencing when they're in the corrections facilities or that programming and how they're able to access it at that point in time, because we're not usually privy to that information.

As I say, when they come back into the community, what we are able to do is work from a community standpoint on reintegrating them by working with the families and working with elders in the community. We heard earlier references to healing lodges and things like that. Our experience at first nations and Inuit health branch is that these culturally based healing methods are definitely a positive influence on the individuals when they have access to them.

We're seeing more and more evidence in provincial jurisdictions of acceptance of these models and application of these models. Our whole mandate at the branch has been to integrate our system with the provincial systems and other systems, whereby we try to align and try to make it as seamless as we possibly can, notwithstanding jurisdictional challenges that come in, of course. They're there, but again I can't speak to the corrections situation. I apologize for that.

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Well, I would urge them.... This is probably why we're doing this study: it's so that we can, as a committee, identify, consistent with the government's promise around a whole-of-government approach and indigenous services, a straight commitment to identify ways to improve delivery that doesn't create a separation between what happens when women end up in a federal institution and what happens when they're at home.

We'd love to reflect any recommendations that any of the witnesses have on how to better knit that together in our final report, I hope.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We have 30 seconds.

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

We have 30 seconds. I'm going to ask if I can get a second one again on the interim recommendation from the murdered and missing indigenous women inquiry to establish a special committee, a police task force. I'm not going to get a chance for everybody to answer that, but I'll sow the seed, and if I get another minute, I'll come back for an answer. Thank you.

Thanks, chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much. We'll go on now to Sean Fraser for seven minutes.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Thank you very much to each of our witnesses for being here. I have a number of questions I hope to get through, although I'm sure I won't. To the extent that you can keep your answers concise, it would be greatly appreciated.

The first is to Public Safety. My understanding is there are two kinds of agreements in the first nations policing program: community-based agreements and self-administered agreements. I'm wondering if there's a difference in either the impact on safety or in the rates of incarceration in the first place, depending on which kind of policing agreement is used.

[Angela Connidis]

I'll have to get back to you with that data.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Okay. I'd greatly appreciate it. Perhaps doing that through the clerk would be the easiest.

Next, on the issue of job training skills, I think this question would be best placed with CSC. My colleague Ms. Damoff was finishing her questioning when you pointed to an example of some training programs in construction. She's witnessed some examples of women doing nails, for example, which would typically lead to lower-wage, more menial types of jobs. Is there any effort to ensure that the job programming matches labour market needs, either in the area where a person is from or perhaps where the person is incarcerated?

[Dr. Kelley Blanchette, Deputy Commissioner for Women, Correctional Service of Canada]

We have a number of local-level initiatives, so they vary depending on the site. In response to the Auditor General's report on the reintegration of women offenders, we have made a commitment to increase the ability for women to earn a living wage upon release. That will be both through CORCAN initiatives and then again through local-level initiatives at the site.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Building on that, one of the pieces of testimony, if my memory serves me accurately, that we heard at the beginning of this study was that indigenous women in maximum security institutions are essentially made worse during their experience in those maximum security institutions. Is there a difference between the programming that exists in minimum and maximum security institutions for the purpose of job training, skills development, and reintegration?

[Dr. Kelley Blanchette]

Our institutions are all multi-level institutions, so actually it's minimum, medium, and maximum security. That said, the environment within the perimeter of the institution is a little different for maximum security versus medium and minimum. There are some differences with respect to job opportunities—for example, work releases. Women would more likely be granted work releases at lower security levels. The maximum security women wouldn't have those opportunities, but they do have opportunities for work within the institution.

[Anne Kelly]

In terms of the program for the women who are on the secure unit—maximum security women—there's a modular program that exists so they at least can get programming as well.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Is there any effort to ensure that the programming they receive in maximum security institutions is mirrored to opportunities that will exist for them upon their release?

[Anne Kelly]

Well, it's a program continuum, and I want to correct something I said.

I said the programming was 100% elder-assisted in the delivery. Just for the record, it's 100% for the engagement program, which is the first program to motivate the women, and it's 80% for the actual program. However, it's a continuum, so we have the engagement to motivate the women, and then we have the moderate and high intensity, and then we have what we call the maintenance. The maintenance is available in both the institution and the community, so they can continue in the community with the skills they acquired while they were in custody.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

On the same topic but moving to Indigenous Services, we heard of some really interesting programming. I'm wondering if there's any that's designed specifically for offenders who are no longer part of the corrections or parole system but who are within the community. We know that people who've served time in institutions typically don't have the same social outcomes as the general public. I'm wondering if there is any specific programming for women who have experienced time in a corrections facility to help them so they aren't left high and dry after completing their experience in the corrections system.

[Margaret Buist]

A broad range of educational and social programming is available to first nations women on reserve. It's not specifically targeted to women who have experienced incarceration. There's programming for family violence prevention. A whole suite of educational programming is designed, in part, for indigenous women. Whether it's early education, high school, or post-secondary education, a huge funding envelope has been developed for the funding of education on reserve over the last two years. There's income assistance programming, child care—