Public Safety committee  We made several recommendations in that section of our annual report, which was well received. In fact, I was very encouraged to see that our last report was cited in a Supreme Court decision. That decision held that a young Black individual should not have been handed the minimum sentence, given what was happening in correctional facilities and the discrimination that he might face, because it made his sentence disproportionate.

Public Safety committee  We've been calling for the service to have a national gangs strategy and also a specific initiative for the de-affiliation of gangs. So far, we haven't been able to convince the service of the benefit of having such an overall strategy and initiative. We've documented some of the concerns we have with respect to younger prisoners.

Public Safety committee  Yes, the age we use is 50. That's to recognize people who are incarcerated, because the long history of mental illness, addiction issues and the life of crime prematurely age the body. You can add a chronological factor of 10 years to their age in terms of their health. I don't know what to tell you.

Public Safety committee  The answer is no. I will tell you that I'm quite upset about it. When new legislation was being proposed, I was asked to testify. I provided some, I thought, very thoughtful and important changes that needed to be done. One of them is that the Correctional Service of Canada has no statutory obligation to inform my office of somebody either requesting or having the procedure of MAID done.

Public Safety committee  I'm going to turn to Hazel to give you a better answer than mine. My answer will be more as a human rights lawyer. What I can tell you is that in Canadian society, indigenous people and Canadians of African descent do not benefit from the same socio-economic, cultural and political rights as other Canadians.

Public Safety committee  I can tell you that I am very disappointed with the response of the Correctional Service of Canada with respect to the recommendations I have made for over a decade when it comes to indigenous people. In our report, “Spirit Matters”, as well as the report we did on the experiences of Black individuals incarcerated in federal corrections, which also dates back to 2013, I'm appalled that....

Public Safety committee  It's a real issue. Gangs and organized crime are real concerns. I would like to lead and talk, perhaps, about one of the systemic investigations we did, this past year, on Black prisoners who are overly identified as gang members, with a great deal of detrimental impact on them.

Public Safety committee  Yes, there is a.... I'm not completely jaded all the way through to the core. I do have hope. I am hopeful; there are two particular initiatives led by the Department of Justice and the Minister of Justice that I think offer some hope—if rolled out appropriately, of course. One is the strategy on indigenous criminal justice.

Public Safety committee  All these things could be addressed, well beyond just the narrow view of solitary.

Public Safety committee  I mentioned in my profile that studies conducted by the service show that anywhere between 10% and 23% meet the criteria. They either have symptoms or the diagnosis for FASD. What I find outrageous is that despite the fact that the prevalence rate is so high, the service does not have a systematic way of assessing people, providing treatment and therapy to help those individuals, and providing the necessary support during incarceration, but also beyond.

Public Safety committee  Let me turn to Hazel to talk a bit about the services that are being provided to indigenous prisoners that are culturally relevant, with spiritual services with respect to elders and so on. Go ahead, Hazel.

Public Safety committee  Yes, for many years we've documented the issue of wages paid to inmates. Of course, it's a difficult issue politically speaking, and I accept that. However, I think that Correctional Service Canada could still be a little bit more innovative in trying to address this issue, maybe ensuring that they increase the purchasing power of inmates without even changing the maximum wage of $6.90 a day.

Public Safety committee  That's a tough one and a loaded one, but yes, the fact remains that the Corrections and Conditional Release Act dates back to 1992. It was introduced by the Mulroney government, and it was a very good piece of legislation that breeds charter rights protection and administrative law principles, but it has been eroded over the years.

Public Safety committee  The strategy of the service is, unfortunately—because some of it is not under its control—to leave the inmate population in a compete state of destitution. The inmates cannot get ahead. If you cannot get ahead because you can't get enough pay to purchase canteen items, to make your stay a little more comfortable, maybe to buy gifts for your family or save some money for when you are going to be released from prison, then you end up in an underground economy that is very harmful.

Public Safety committee  Let me start with some of the number one complaints that we receive, and how things haven't really moved on those things. Those two are food and inmate pay. Again, inmate pay was set in 1981. That's more than 40 years ago. It hasn't been indexed ever since, and only a very few people get the top rate of $6.90 per day.