Mr. Speaker, today I raise the issue of the Correctional Service of Canada's policy on strip searches of women prisoners and the atrocious mishandling of some of these women by male corrections officers at Kingston's prison for women on April 22, 1994.
Following an investigation by CSC officials, it was suggested that appropriate measures were taken in using the riot squad which includes male prison staff to strip and search the women and their cells.
CSC's policy states that searches should be conducted by members of the same sex, except in cases of institutional emergency. It is now clear that the female prisoners behaved in a passive manner and offered no physical resistance. This is a complete contradiction to the official version of events offered by the CSC which is nothing more than a one-sided whitewash of the incidents that occurred.
I am pleased that the Solicitor General has finally acted today to investigate this serious question. Serious issues still exist with regard to the lack of energy and speed with which the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada and the Solicitor General pursued this matter.
The Solicitor General needs to pay much more careful attention to the activities of the Correctional Service of Canada.