Question Period Note: Sexual Coercion and Violence in Institutions

On January 11, 2022, the Correctional Service of Canada issued a tender for research into how often inmates are victimized sexually, who’s at highest risk, and how the violence can be stopped as a response to the 2019-2020 Annual Report of the Office of Correctional Investigator.

• The Correctional Service of Canada has a zero-tolerance approach for sexual violence of any kind in any of its institutions.

• The Service shares the Correctional Investigator’s concerns about this issue and just recently a tender was issued to undertake a comprehensive study on it.

• This will better determine the prevalence of sexual violence, identify those most at-risk, and determine the best way to prevent and address it.

• While this is ongoing, the Service is taking meaningful action to address this important issue and provide the necessary supports to inmates in its care and custody.

• This includes the creation of a new framework for preventing, responding to, and tracking incidents of sexual assault of inmates in federal custody.

• It is the Service’s expectation that all allegations of sexual coercion or violence be appropriately reported and investigated.

A tender was issued on January 11, 2022, for research into how often inmates are victimized sexually, who’s at highest risk, and how the violence can be stopped. The tender is a response to the 2019-2020 report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) and Public Safety Canada’s objectives of the project are to:

(1) explore the prevalence of sexual victimization (i.e., sexual coercion, sexual violence, and sexual harassment) in Canadian federal institutions,
(2) understand the nature and extent of the problem for racialized and at-risk offenders (e.g., Indigenous individuals, women, LGBTQ2+), and
(3) identify potential approaches to further inform effective prevention and intervention plans. This research will inform future research, policy and program development aimed at preventing, tracking, and responding to sexual coercion and violence in federal institutions.
2019-2020 Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator

The 2019-2020 Annual Report of the OCI made four recommendations to CSC and two to the Minister of Public Safety related to Sexual Coercion and Violence (SCV) in institutions.

The recommendations include the development of an evidence-based strategy for the prevention of SCV as well as a Commissioner’s Directive describing how staff should respond to SCV allegations or suspected incidents; education, awareness and training programs on SCV; and, a specific flag in the Offender Management System for perpetrators. The recommendations to the Minister were to direct CSC to designate funds for an independent national prevalence study, and introduce a legislative package that endorses a zero-tolerance approach to sexual violence and that establishes a public reporting mechanism.

A zero-tolerance approach to SCV is consistent with CSC’s policy and is fundamental to its operations. CSC’s priority is to protect the physical and mental health and overall safety of those who live and work in federal correctional institutions. CSC agrees with the OCI that it is important to gain a better understanding of SCV in Canada.

CSC is taking a number of actions to address this important issue and provide the necessary support to inmates in its care and custody:

o CSC is currently finalizing a new Commissioner’s Directive (policy) that consolidates current direction and establishes a framework for preventing, detecting, responding to, reporting, and tracking incidents of sexual assault towards inmates. In addition, a related policy is being finalized that provides direction for responding to alleged sexual assaults in a manner that ensures that healthcare is provided effectively.
o CSC is working on increasing prevention and awareness through educational information to prevent these situations from occurring and ensuring inmates know how to come forward if they feel they are being victimized.
o CSC added clear requirements in its policies to report to the police any incidents or allegations of misconduct that could constitute a criminal offence.
o Public Safety Canada is conducting research to better understand this issue. This includes engaging international partners, provinces and territories to conduct research and learn from their practices, and undertaking a prevalence study on SCV in federal institutions. This will help CSC strengthen its approach and response to SCV going forward.`
To this end, CSC has mandated a Board of Inquiry (BOI) to investigate such incidents and is taking steps to ensure it better identifies, investigates and responds to these acts of violence.
In order to continue enhancing its approach, CSC will facilitate Public Safety's efforts to assess what is currently known about SCV within federal corrections and collect information and data on the size, scope and impact of this issue in order to identify gaps in data and knowledge. This knowledge will help forge CSC's approach.
Moving forward, CSC will engage other correctional organizations in a collaborative effort with the International Corrections and Prison Association (ICPA) – whose mission is to promote and share ethical and effective correctional practices to enhance public safety and healthier communities worldwide. This collaboration will identify best practices in effectively preventing and responding to sexual assaults involving incarcerated persons. This work will further inform CSC's comprehensive approach in this area and strengthen its ability to mitigate risks and keep all offenders and staff safe.

CSC’s Framework

CSC has a framework in place to establish safe correctional environments, which promotes effective correctional operations and interventions through the use of dynamic security, and contributes to the safety of the public, staff, and offenders (Commissioner’s Directive (CD) 566 – Framework for Safe and Effective Correctional Environments). Specifically, all staff who directly interact with offenders must apply dynamic security practices while carrying out their responsibilities. This includes continually enhancing their knowledge of offenders’ activities and behaviours (both positive and negative) through direct observation and interactions. CSC promotes the use of dynamic security practices for the prevention of security incidents, including incidents of SCV. Cases of sexual violence, when made known to staff, must immediately be reported and investigated. As well, inmates also have the OCI’s phone number programmed into their phone accounts where they can confidentially place a call for assistance in these matters.

In the case of a sexual assault or an allegation of a sexual assault, the Correctional Manager, Operational Desk, must notify the police force of primary jurisdiction, as per CD 568- 4 – Preservation of Crime Scene and Evidence. As well, any staff member made aware of a sexual assault must report it under CD 568-1 – Recording and Reporting of Security Incidents; sexual assaults also require a Warden’s Situation Report under CD 041 – Incident Investigations. This requires the site to collect all relevant facts surrounding the assault/allegations in order to complete the Warden’s Situation Report.

Offenders have a number of avenues to report inappropriate behaviours as either victims or witnesses, including the offender complaint and grievance system, which contributes to safer institutions by helping staff identify and respond to issues quickly. CSC is also working on increasing prevention and awareness through educational information in order to prevent these situations from occurring and ensuring inmates know how to come forward if they feel they are being victimized.

CSC tracks and monitors all employee cases of misconduct, and inmate cases of SCV. This data will help inform the development of evidence-based strategies to better work towards the prevention of SCV, especially for those who may be more vulnerable.

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