Madam Speaker, I am rising today to follow up on a question from June 17. Admittedly, it was a very long time ago, but the nature of the world of adjournment proceeding questions is that sometimes they follow considerably after the original question was asked. An unhappy coincidence is that none of the issues that were raised on June 17 have been resolved.
This relates to training in federal penal institutions. I asked about non-Red Seal apprenticeship programs, as opposed to Red Seal apprenticeship programs, which I had asked about on another occasion. I asked about non-Red Seal apprenticeship programs, and why CORCAN does not provide them.
I would like to expand on this question tonight and ask if the minister has read the Office of the Correctional Investigator Annual Report 2019-20. There are reports produced every year. I picked this one because it highlights points raised in five previous reports from the Office of the Correctional Investigator.
This report renewed calls from previous years to improve various aspects of correctional vocational training for inmates. There were five calls repeated from previous years, as I have indicated. Number one was repeated from the 2012-13 report and from the 2018-19 report. It was a call for more meaningful work opportunities, including increased availability of apprenticeships and work releases.
Number two, from the 2014-15 report, was a call to modernize CORCAN to retool the employment and employability program in demand areas, including significantly increasing Red Seal trades and apprenticeships, as well as sales, marketing and IT training.
Number three, from the 2015-16 report, was a repeated request for the development of a three-year action plan to meet demand for meaningful work, increase vocational training skills and increase participation in apprenticeship programs.
Number four, repeated from the 2016-17 report, was a request for the Minister of Public Safety to conduct a special study on inmate work and CORCAN. Finally, call number five was a repeat from the 2018-19 report to modernize the CORCAN manufacturing sector to ensure it aligns with current labour market trends.
Will the minister commit to modernizing CORCAN's employment and employability program, as well as CORCAN's manufacturing sector, to better provide inmates with current workplace skills to better reduce recidivism?