Daily Notes

March 30, 2008

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Delegates Have Their Say

Despite the early Sunday hour, the delegates were keen to share their expertise and thoughts on the conference with each other and Correctional Service Canada (CSC) at the “What Else?” session.

Bill Staubi, Director General, Performance Management, CSC, asked participants to reflect on the March 29^th workshops on Safety and Security, Community Corrections, Correctional Interventions, and Employability/Employment, and offer further comments. 

Safety and Security

“We haven’t dealt much with the security of staff and family,” said one participant. “This group should be considered and consulted more.”

Referring to the discussion on drug dogs at the Safety and Security workshop, one participant suggested--given dogs’ cost and need for human accompaniment--“introducing additional means of drug control, such as blood testing.” He proposed a system of penalties for negative blood results to help inmates moderate their consumption.

Community Corrections

One participant saw the lack of community corrections programs as a significant issue. Citizens’ Advisory Committees (CAC) need more community programs that “start at the beginning (i.e. intake),” he said. Another delegate said community consultations and broader collaboration must continue, to increase CSC partnership. “Corrections can’t do it all,” he said. The government has to look at the greater prevention picture. CACs must involve organizations such as the John Howard Society and the Salvation Army. Has the Transformation Team consulted with such groups? The participant said while there is much rhetoric about community involvement, CSC has to look beyond the institution and “think into the community.”

Correctional Interventions

Offender accountability and correctional intervention remain a huge challenge, according to one participant, who asked how the Transformation Team can address this. Staff training is key, as is the flexibility to recognize there are different institutions and a changing offender population. “The Transformation Team can only draft a broad policy, but we need the money to do the job.”

Saying that despite a presentation to the panel, he was disappointed the report did not make a “single mention” of restorative justice, another participant related the positive results that emerged from a pilot project using this approach. “We definitely saw the change [in inmates].”

To this, a review panel member said, “The panel did listen and restorative justice is very much on the table.” She explained the panel had a very narrow mandate that dealt only with the issue of establishing victim service programs. Staubi added that while the panel’s scope was limited, CSC’s scope is not. “Many people in CSC believe strongly in restorative justice.”

Employability/Employment

A delegate asked the Transformation Team to consider the role of CACs in employment networks for parolees, ongoing vocational training and educational upgrading programs for parolees “on the outside,” and increasing community awareness of employment coordinators in provinces such as Ontario. 

Better criminal checks on staff are needed, as “it makes a difference who you have inside.” While core staff is extensively security checked, others might have a charge against them.

The delegates identified a number of crosscutting issues. The discussion in the Safety and Security workshop spoke only “to part of the problem,” said one delegate; mental health concerns should be one of CSC’s five priorities. Another delegate saw FASD as a growing concern: “any strategy, initiative, or transition should consider FASD.”

Communication is another important issue and must be stronger between CACs and local parole offices and institutions. “We are part of a team,” said one delegate.

One delegate called for greater Aboriginal representation on the review panel and on CAC boards. “You can fit us anywhere; we belong everywhere, since we are a big part of corrections.” Furthermore, healing lodges that are part of healing home centres have not been mentioned. Staubi, as Chair of the CSC diversity committee, said CSC is currently looking at this important issue.

Some participants said although they spent considerable time reviewing the report and preparing comments, they had no opportunity to share their opinion at the conference. Ursula Morris, Chair of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the CACs, said, “The conference is the beginning of a process.” One delegate, who said he spent hours studying the report and getting feedback from his community (including ex-offenders), suggested that smaller workshops would have stimulated “more activity between us.”

Staubi said CSC can implement all the report’s recommendations without legislative changes, although they may be implemented differently at institutions across the country, depending on need. He added the Transformation Team would provide institutions and CACs with further implementation-specific information.

On change management, Staubi said, “At the beginning, we are excited by the dream and the choices ahead; at the end we can celebrate our successes; but it is in the middle that dreams die and everything looks like a disaster.” He asked participants to remember this is the middle and that CSC is committed to making the most of the transformation. Encouraged by the breadth of ideas put forth by CAC members, Staubi asked them to “dream big, set high expectations, and we will try to live up to them.”

CAC Business Meeting

At Sunday’s Business Meeting, Citizens’ Advisory Committees (CAC) members raised and carried three important new resolutions, dealing with volunteer support, offender release identification, and National Executive Committee (NEC) by-laws.

Gary MacDonald, Prairie Region, and Parliamentarian for the business meeting, told the participants they would look at three resolutions. Each resolution would be moved and seconded, with the mover allowed three minutes to introduce the resolution and present a rationale.

In the resolution on Correctional Service Canada (CSC) Support of Volunteers, CACs asked CSC to reconsider the District Reorganization Plan regarding establishing a new position of District Community Outreach Coordinator, in favour of setting up a workable volunteer support system at the local level. The resolution was moved by Malcolm McLeod, Ontario, and Murray Lincoln, Ontario, seconded it.

McLeod said initially he was concerned about the impact of reorganization on volunteers in the Ontario Region specifically, but the effect across the country is clear: with fewer districts after reorganization, one person might be responsible for a very large area that, previously, three or four people had looked after. In Ontario, for example, one person would be responsible for Ontario, Greater Toronto, and Nunavut. Spreading capability that thinly didn’t make sense “in terms of doing anything useful and constructive,” McLeod said.

Lincoln indicated that the NEC had approved the resolution, and it carried.

The second resolution, dealing with Offender Release Identification, asked CSC to put measures in place to ensure all federal inmates have basic personal identification prior to release from a federal institution, and that any CSC-produced documents relating to an inmate’s release, such as a “release plan checklist” or “inmate handbook,” highlight the importance of an inmate having basic ID prior to release.

Brian Frankish, British Columbia, moved this resolution. Frankish said the British Columbia caucus had approved the resolution unanimously, and asked for a seconder from another region; Murray Lincoln of Ontario stepped up to do this.

Louise Leonardi, New Brunswick, said the NEC Sub-Committee of Community Reintegration fully endorsed the resolution, and the resolution carried.

The resolution with respect to the By-Laws of the NEC was moved by Fred Mills, British Columbia, and seconded by Yvette Gagnon, Quebec.

 “This resolution represents a lot of hard work,” said Sean Taylor, former National Chair. “Of most significance is the proposed change to the role of the Chair.” Each region will assume the position of Chair and Vice-Chair on a rotational basis for a two-year term for each position, to ensure the views of all areas are represented.

The changes will take effect in January 2010. Other amendments “provide additional and stronger guidance to the NEC.”

Because the resolution had been circulated for some time, MacDonald did not open up the issue for discussion, and the resolution carried.

Ursula Morris, NEC Chair, thanked members for their support of the third resolution. Rotations through the Chair and Vice-Chair positions will allow equal representation across the country, she said. The draw to decide order of succession will be held at the June meeting and the results will be in the subsequent communiqué.

Morris said she will take the other two resolutions forward and asked for regional input into what would work for implementing offender release identification. She wants to be able to say not only what should be happening, but how, she said.

Bill Huzar, Co-Chair of the National Volunteer Association (NVA) of CSC said he was highly impressed with the CACs’ work for the community. When his organization meets in May, he will recommend the endorsement of the two resolutions related to volunteers.

Wrap-Up and Closing Remarks

The conference ended with a sense that Correctional Service Canada (CSC) and the Citizens’ Advisory Committees (CAC) have the same goals, and the forward movement generated must and will continue.

Ursula Morris, Chair of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the CACs, said conference delegates had heard CSC is going through a time of change and revitalization. The CACs want to ensure their communities accept the changes CSC is making and to pass on to CSC what the communities are saying. For the first time, CSC and CACs have the same goals. Discussion on changes will take place at the NEC table, regional meetings, and local meetings, with everybody “on the same page.” The frameworks for change have been developed; now the CACs have to put the pieces together. Morris encouraged all the participants to think about how things can be done. Morris added she was “exhausted and tired” and wanted to go home, but she was “energized and excited,” and wanted to go home to get things moving.

Jim Murphy thanked the Co-Chair of the National Volunteer Association for his support and for carrying the resolutions back to his organization. Murphy said it was “an absolute pleasure” to be part of the conference and to host it on the members’ behalf. Like Morris, he finds these types of engagements draining, but energizing and enjoyable.

Murphy recognized the extremely helpful role of the Regional Coordinators in the CACs’ operations. He said he hopes this conference is a beginning and that everyone will work on the CSC recommendations “in a positive, constructive way.”

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