Public Safety committee  We often make similar recommendations year after year when we're not satisfied with progress. Let me try to be as precise as I can be. We get 6,000 or 7,000 complaints from inmates a year in my office. The majority of those complaints or concerns are addressed very quickly and on

Public Safety committee  Well, let me do my best.

Public Safety committee  The Correctional Service of Canada has an array of accredited programs, and to that extent they are compliant with their legislative requirements. Unfortunately, timely access to those programs is a challenge that's not being met, and for the majority of offenders that means more

Public Safety committee  It's very much a moving target, I know. I can't give you a percentage.

Public Safety committee  Yes, and then there are the system issues, which find their way into my annual report. Progress on those issues is painfully slow. Those issues include special needs of aboriginal offenders, preventing death in custody and institutional violence, the overuse of segregation, the m

Public Safety committee  Yes. For example, we have, over the last several years, been working with the Correctional Service on dealing with use of force and how use of force incidences are reported and investigated. We have made considerable progress. The investigations are more timely. They are more tho

Public Safety committee  There are many reasons that progress is slow and hampered. A lot of it has to do with the timing of that money. A lot of it has to do with the recruitment and retention of health care professionals. A lot of it has to do with competing priorities within a prison system. Part of i

Public Safety committee  I absolutely understand your point, and I think you're going to have to permit me to answer this way: that question hasn't been tested and I can't give you a legal opinion on that. As a matter of fact, the legislation would prohibit me. It doesn't consider me to be competent. So

Public Safety committee  In the past, my office has made the recommendation, based on the best international scientific evidence available, that the Correctional Service of Canada should implement a prison-based needle exchange program. That recommendation has never been accepted. The issue has been stud

Public Safety committee  If it's a large magic wand, it would be full staffing, through recruitment and retention of those health care professionals. Number two, it would be the immediate implementation of intermediate care across the country for those offenders suffering from mental health issues who wi

Public Safety committee  Boy, that's a whole bunch of questions. I'll do my best to address them. The bulk of your comments about the power of those programs, I would endorse 100%. That's part of our message. When the programs are accredited and delivered by appropriate staff at the appropriate time in

Public Safety committee  Let me be clear. I never said there was a reluctance to hire them. I understand that the human resources folks at Correctional Service of Canada are working double-time to recruit and retain those people. It is a challenge, and it feeds directly into the capacity issue, notwithst

Public Safety committee  I'm sorry, Mr. Chair.

Public Safety committee  I was turning to my counsel for help, and I see that....

Public Safety committee  Yes.