Public Safety committee  I will tell you that the list of issues you have just mentioned are issues on which my office made many recommendations over the years. Certainly I can point to, for example, this report on a case study of diversity in corrections that dates back to 2013, which was picked up by a UN committee working group on the treatment by Canada of Canadians of African descent, which repeated recommendations by my own office.

Public Safety committee  I think that's a question you're going to have to ask the Correctional Service of Canada. However, it is clear to me that the response to my report is far from satisfactory. I understand that the pandemic has made the situation very difficult for the Correctional Service and that the Correctional Service has made it a priority to respond to the pandemic.

Public Safety committee  I think the Correctional Service of Canada is where the U.S. was 20 years ago, which is that very few prisoners report social coercion or sexual assault. The United States has responded to this problem with strong legislation. We should seriously consider this kind of mechanism.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. It's not just my office that made these recommendations; they are now being endorsed widely. When we speak about indigenous offenders, for example, or people who are incarcerated, recommendations that my office has made have now found their way into the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in its calls to action.

Public Safety committee  The answer is yes, absolutely. Indeed, I would have preferred that the government respond to my recommendation by saying that it would ask the Department of Justice to consider legislative options, with a clear commitment to introduce legislation by a specific date, such as next spring.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. It was a best practice for the Minister of Public Safety to publicly issue the mandate letter of the commissioner of the Correctional Service. The mandate letter was great. I have no problem with that mandate letter. The sole problem with it is that there are no dates for deliverables.

Public Safety committee  One thing the minister has done is write to this committee. I certainly hope the committee will initiate a study on a really important issue that has been neglected for a very long time, and I hope that if a recommendation comes from your committee, it will be acted upon pretty quickly.

Public Safety committee  The victims ombudsman actually reached out to my office, and I intend to speak to her in the coming weeks.

Public Safety committee  The answer is yes. It's not just my office that tracks this; the Correctional Service of Canada has very good data on it. I am happy, however, to provide any sort of breakdown of the regional numbers. That's fairly easy for us to do, and it's easy also for the Correctional Service of Canada to provide you those numbers.

Public Safety committee  Okay, perfect.

Public Safety committee  Vocational training courses are rare, prison workshops operate from outdated platforms, and inmates describe prison work as commonplace and meaningless. Only 6% of the prison population works in the CORCAN prison industry. Finally, the number of offenders on a waiting list to participate in education and work programs remains very high.

Public Safety committee  Thank you for your question. The legislative framework makes me an ombudsman, and as a traditional ombudsman, my authority is limited to making recommendations. Of course, I have several tools to try to put pressure on the organization that is subject to my oversight, which is Correctional Service of Canada.

Public Safety committee  The Minister of Public Safety has done a few things with respect to this recommendation. I would say that I think, given the nature and the scope of the problem, a legislative response is the appropriate response. The minister has not said “No”, but he has simply written to your committee, SECU, to see if it would study the issue and make recommendations, including legislative options.

Public Safety committee  Let me just clarify exactly what we have written in my annual report. We're talking about how the moratorium would be limited to carrying out the procedure inside the penitentiary. This is the law in Canada, and I think it is very appropriate for Canadians citizens who are incarcerated to seek out MAID, medical assistance in dying.

Public Safety committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members. Thank you very much for the invitation to appear before your committee. Today I will provide you a briefing on my 2019-20 annual report, which was tabled in Parliament last week on October 27. I will try to keep my opening remarks as brief as possible.