Question Period Note: Auditor General Report on Sytemic Barriers

On May 31st, 2022, the Auditor General tabled their report entitled Systemic Barriers which primarily focused on the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) ability to deliver correctional interventions that respond to the diversity of the offender population and support successful reintegration, with a focus on Indigenous and Black offenders.

• I thank the Auditor General for their report addressing important issues such as the overrepresentation of Indigenous and Black offenders in the federal correctional system.

• All recommendations have been accepted and actions are underway to address existing barriers. This includes:

• Work that is underway to staff the position of Deputy Commissioner for Indigenous Corrections, which will support relationships with Indigenous peoples;

• Ongoing work to develop a culturally appropriate and Indigenous-informed security classification process;

• Collaboration with external experts to examine the validity of its Custody Rating Scale for Indigenous, Black men, and all women offenders to ensure initial placements are at the appropriate security level;

• Implemention of an Anti-Racism Framework supported by a dedicated team in place to carry out this essential work.

• Through these actions we will work to support the timely, safe and successful reintegration of Indigenous and Black offenders to advance reconciliation and build safer communities for all.

If Pressed - Prevention

• Work is also being taken to prevent further overrepresentation in the Criminal Justice System.

• This includes legislation before Parliament, Bill C-5, which proposes to reform sentencing measures which have disproportionately impacted Indigenous and Black communities.

• This, together with continued work to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and address root causes of this overrepresentation, will help improve outcomes for these individuals.

On May 31st, 2022, the Auditor General tabled their report entitled Systemic Barriers. The audit period was from April 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021. It focusses on whether CSC programs respond to the diversity of the offender population to support their timely, safe, and successful reintegration to the community and includes an examination of policies and practices to promote workplace equity, diversity and inclusion.

Key findings include:

• Higher rate of placement at higher security levels for Indigenous and Black offenders on admission into custody.
• Questions about the reliability of the Custody Rating Scale.
• Timely delivery of correctional programs by the first parole eligibility date has declined during the pandemic, especially for offenders serving short sentences.
• Workforce does not fully reflect diversity of offender population and lack of established timelines to reach its goal of reflecting this diversity.
• Mandatory diversity training must be fully implemented.

In responding to these previous concerns, CSC has developed concerted strategies to tackle systemic barriers in federal corrections, such as setting workforce representation objectives that take into account the offender population and implementing an oversight practice during risk assessments for Indigenous offenders, which includes consideration of their unique systemic and background factors.

As CSC continues to remove systemic barriers within correctional services, reports such as the Auditor General’s will support CSC on identifying gaps and areas of concern in its programs and services in order to create a system in which the focus of all offenders will be timely and successful rehabilitation.

Ongoing Work:

CSC has the following results for offenders not re-admitted to federal custody within five years following the end of their sentence. Outcomes have continued to improve since 2018-19. The following data is for 2020-21:

Black offenders: 90.8%; Indigenous: 80.6%; and non-Indigenous: 89.6%.

CSC continues its work to improve outcomes for Indigenous and Black offenders and has implemented a number of initiatives, including:

• Indigenous Interventions Centres to provide targeted, culturally restorative support at the start of an individual’s sentence
• Streamlining the case management process to transfer more offenders to Healing Lodges
• Creating an additional Healing Lodge for women in 2019, and pursuing supplementary funding for additional Healing Lodge capacity through the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Federal Pathway
• Access to Elders, Spiritual Advisors, and Indigenous liaison officers
• Piloting a Black Offender Social History case management tool that provides guidance to parole officers in how they consider the needs and cultural interests of Black offenders
• an Ethnocultural Action Framework to enhance organizational capacity and ensure cohesive approaches across CSC
• 60 Ethnocultural Site Coordinators in institutions across the country and an Ethnocultural Offenders Resource Kit.

CSC is in the process of staffing the deputy commissioner for Indigenous corrections which will be an important new position to support relationships with Indigenous peoples and
one that reports directly to the commissioner. The position will also help work under way in continuing programs and operations.

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