Status of Women committee  Actually, it's everything you just said. It starts right during the court process, as they fall through the court process and into the institutions. I can speak only personally, but from my experience in working with elders in the institutions and in the communities, they are an

Status of Women committee  On why it was removed, I think the upper management of CSC could probably better respond to that. I might be incorrect with the date, but it was probably about 2008 or 2009, somewhere in there.

Status of Women committee  Again, my recollection might be incorrect, but it was there for at least eight or nine years. I think it was brought about in 2000, or somewhere in there. It was in place for at least eight or nine years, I believe.

Status of Women committee  We're seeing many more incarcerated individuals—not just indigenous women, but especially our indigenous women—coming in with much more complex mental health issues. Sometimes they're coming in with an alcohol and drug addiction that run concurrently with their mental health diso

Status of Women committee  Getting more women into something like the trades would help, something that might actually enable them to support themselves and their families when they are released into the community. I think we need to aim a little higher. Trades would be one example. Assisting them to incre

Status of Women committee  I agree with that statement. We are consistently being asked to do more with less, and the expectations on staff to deliver despite all of that are still quite high. It leads to more staff stress and burnouts. Despite that, we still try to do our best by these ladies and males

Status of Women committee  I haven't personally, as I'm working in the community, but I will say that we have more success with our offenders if they have the opportunity to access work releases. Work releases take time and money. It takes a lot of work to seek out potential employers who are willing to

Status of Women committee  With indigenous females, as with a lot of our offenders in the community—but especially for the women, because they have children as well—finding affordable housing is an extreme challenge for them, especially if they're leaving our halfway houses and are coming out into the comm

Status of Women committee  Yes. We are experiencing a bit of a backlog right now. These ladies are having to wait longer and longer, which has a cascading effect, because it fills up our halfway houses. Other women are often waiting inside the institutions, and these women in the halfway houses are waiting

Status of Women committee  The HR processes that are involved right now are quite long and arduous. First of all, CSC also needs to go and reach out into the indigenous communities and make it an appealing place to work. That includes listening to the staff they already have. Essentially, though, the HR pr

Status of Women committee  Yes, you do. If you're going in to be a correctional officer, and you're going into the training.... I'm not sure if it's similar to Depot at the RCMP, but you need to go without income for at least two or three months. I can't remember exactly, but you're without income for abou

Status of Women committee  Good afternoon, and thank you for having me. I usually feel more comfortable in front of a room full of offenders, so I apologize if I stumble a little. I would add that the Correctional Service of Canada does not look kindly on those staff members who would speak out, but I be