Human Resources committee  Yes. One of the problems we have overall with offenders receiving OAS or GIS is that for the vast majority of them, unless they are physically receiving a cheque that's being delivered to the institution for us to deposit into their accounts, we don't know whether they receive it.

Human Resources committee  No.

Human Resources committee  Technically, it's possible; administratively it just becomes a burden, both for us and for HRSDC. That's why it was reconciled that doing this on a monthly basis would be the easiest for both organizations.

Human Resources committee  Yes, that's a very good question. The programs that are available to all offenders include offenders 65 years of age or older as well. We've got a full range of what we call criminogenic programs, so substance abuse, violence prevention programming, programs like that. We also have skills development opportunities for offenders.

Human Resources committee  That's right, yes.

Human Resources committee  Under the current policy that's the way it stands. As I mentioned earlier, that's one of the things we're reviewing as part of our overall inmate remuneration regime.

Human Resources committee  We have a couple of different avenues for doing that. One is through just the ongoing monitoring of the moneys in and out of the inmate's current account through our finance department. We maintain ledgers in relation to all these accounts. For example, items that are purchased in what are called the inmate canteens in the facilities are done through an automated system where individuals have to use their handprint on a system called the Equinox.

Human Resources committee  No, cash inside an institution is a very dangerous thing.

Human Resources committee  The information that HRSDC needs in order to make their determinations or decisions is information we do collect. The schedule of information that we would provide would include an identifier number, name, residence, birth place, date of admission, and date of release. That's all information that we collect, so they're not asking us for anything that we don't collect in an automated fashion right now.

Human Resources committee  Again, we ask the individuals at the time of admission their marital status—married, common law, separated, divorced, other—so we collect that information at the time of admission. We do not collect the information about dependants because it's not immediately relevant to administering our mandate.

Human Resources committee  To be honest, Madam Chair, I'd probably need a couple of months to do this in order to do the file reviews, to go back and ascertain specifically the dependants. And we'll need to get some clarification as to what you mean by “dependants”. If we're talking about spouses, as I said, I can tell you how many offenders now are married, how many are in common-law relationships.

Human Resources committee  Well, I'm not sure how HRSDC would have the information.

Human Resources committee  No, it was intended to address the issue of the costs associated with food, accommodation, and work clothing.

Human Resources committee  Yes. The intents of the room and board and the intents of this bill are two different things, but your logic is right.

Human Resources committee  Yes, I have a copy. We'll leave it with the committee for copies to be made for the committee members.