Mr. Speaker, I rise to follow up on a question that I asked about two months ago regarding the unfortunate and tragic death of Ashley Smith who died on October 19, 2007. She committed suicide while incarcerated in segregation at the Grand Valley Institution for Women.
The Office of the Correctional Investigator wrote a report on this and concluded that there was reason to believe Miss Smith would be alive today if she had not remained on segregation status and if she had received appropriate care. This was a preventable death. In fact, the report of Mr. Sapers of the Office of the Correctional Investigator Canada, dated June 20, 2008, actually called it a preventable death.
The report was presented to the government in June 2008, almost a year ago, two months after it was made public. There has still not been any formal response by the government to the report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator. This is shocking. It speaks of some kind of indifference by the government as to the plight of women in our prisons.
Next week, May 4 to 10, is National Elizabeth Fry Week in Canada. This is an organization that helps women prisoners and people who are incarcerated. It is important that this issue be brought to the forefront and that we get some answers from the government about what it proposes to do.
It is not just Miss Smith's situation, unfortunate and tragic and so blatant that it is. There have been over 20 reports, investigations and commissions of inquiry chronicling the urgent need for oversight and accountability mechanisms to address the violations of the rights of women prisoners in Canada. This has been going on for some time.
In 1996, Louise Arbour, who is probably the most eminent international lawyer and jurist in Canada, issued a report into the illegal stripping, shackling and transfer and segregation of women prisoners at Kingston. She found that the culture of Correctional Service Canada was one of disrespect for the rule of law. She recommended that there be mechanisms to allow for the judicial oversight of issues such as segregation. She wrote an article in the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, dated April 4, in which she referred to the segregation system as a prison within a prison and that there ought to be judicial oversight of that particular process. In fact, many commentators refer to lengthy segregation as a form of torture.
Miss Smith was in segregation for a full year before she committed suicide. There needs to be an effective grievance procedure, with opportunities for redress. Grievances lodged by Miss Smith were sitting untouched in a grievance box.
There needs to be civilian oversight in Correctional Service Canada greater than that of the Office of the Correctional Investigator who, for the most part, can only investigate complaints.
We need a serious response by the government, not just a statement that it is trying to do better.
In 2005 the United Nations Human Rights Committee called on Canada to remedy the discriminatory treatment of women prisoners.
These problems were not all created by the current government, but it has an approach to corrections which says we should put more people in jails and have mandatory minimum sentences. The government has an obligation to look after people who are incarcerated.