:
We're going to begin today's meeting now that we have a quorum.
First of all, thank you very much for sticking around. We apologize. There were important votes that we had to go to.
There are a couple of things I want to announce. Tomorrow is December 6 and is of course the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. It's white ribbon day. I know there will be comments made in the House of Commons tomorrow, so I encourage everybody to participate and to watch some of them.
I'd also like to remind you that there was a serious incident with one of our interpreters. Unfortunately, what happened with the microphone was that there was some feedback with the earpiece, which caused some damage to one of our interpreters, so be very cautious with your earpiece. This caused something similar to a concussion. I want to ask everybody to take their time and recognize that somebody is on the other end of the mike and the earpiece. It might be my high screechy voice that's causing some of these pains, but we'll go forward.
To begin, under Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Tuesday, June 20, the committee is resuming its study on indigenous women in the federal justice and correctional systems.
Today we are honoured to have with us Michael Ferguson, who is the Auditor General of Canada, and Carol McCalla, who is the principal.
I recognize that we're short on time, but I will ask if you would be able to stay for our second panel as well. That may be an opportunity for you. I don't know what your schedule is like, Mr. Ferguson.
To begin, we're going to give you seven minutes to address the group. Thank you.
:
Madam Chair, thank you for inviting us to speak about our recent audit reports on correctional services. We look forward to helping inform your study on indigenous women in the federal justice and correctional systems. Joining me at the table is Carol McCalla, the principal who was responsible for these audits.
We have done two audits of Correctional Service Canada concerning indigenous women, resulting in our 2017 report on preparing women offenders for release, and our 2016 report on preparing indigenous offenders for release.
[English]
Our audits focused on the timely access to programs and services that support the rehabilitation of offenders sentenced to two years or more by the courts. There are almost 700 women in federal custody and a further 600 supervised in the community. Indigenous women have grown to represent 36% of the women offender population. Although CSC can't control the number of offenders who receive federal sentences, it can provide them with timely access to rehabilitation programs and culturally appropriate services to prepare them for release on parole.
Our audits found that CSC's tool to assign women offenders to security levels was designed to assess men, not women, and it didn't consider the unique needs of indigenous women offenders. CSC also used this tool to refer women offenders to correctional programs, which is problematic since the tool wasn't designed for this purpose. As a result, some women offenders were held at a higher security level than necessary and were assigned to rehabilitation programs that they didn't need.
We found that CSC didn't provide women offenders with the rehabilitation programs they needed when they needed them. Most women offenders in federal custody were serving short-term sentences, which meant they became eligible for release in the first year of their sentence. However, more than three-quarters of indigenous women offenders hadn't completed the rehabilitation programs they needed when they were first eligible for parole because they didn't get timely access to them. As a result, they had less time to benefit from a gradual and structured release into the community, which supports their successful reintegration.
However, we found that CSC increased the use of section 84 release plans for indigenous women offenders. Under section 84 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, indigenous organizations or communities are part of the reintegration process.
Indigenous offenders with a section 84 release plan are more likely to be granted parole than other indigenous offenders, but we also found that access to culturally specific programs for indigenous women offenders was limited at some institutions. For example, healing lodges were available in only one region and operated at nearly full capacity. Offenders who participated in healing lodge programs had low rates of reoffending upon release, yet CSC hadn't examined ways to provide greater access to more indigenous offenders.
[Translation]
We also found that CSC used segregation to manage some women offenders and about half of the women offenders placed in segregation were indigenous. Despite a reduction in the total number of offenders segregated each year, we found that 20% of segregation placements were for longer than 15 days, the limit recommended by human rights groups.
Two-thirds of federally sentenced women offenders have been identified with mental health issues. We found that CSC did not have sufficient capacity to deliver the mental health services that women offenders needed. Mental health teams were not fully staffed across the women's institutions, and its one psychiatric hospital operated at or near full capacity over the past two years. CSC has not yet secured additional beds within provincial psychiatric hospitals to address identified shortfalls.
We also found that CSC used cells on its segregation range to monitor women offenders at risk of self-injury or suicide, without 24-hour access to clinical treatment or support.
We are pleased to note that since our audit work was completed, CSC agreed to no longer place women offenders at risk of self-injury or suicide in cells on the segregation range.
Madam Chair, this concludes my opening statement.
We would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.
:
Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you about this important issue.
As indicated, I am Elizabeth Hendy. I am the director general of the programs branch within the Department of Justice. My branch is responsible for the management of all grants and contribution programs administered by the department. Many of our programs provide support to indigenous women in contact with the criminal justice system—whether they are accused persons, victims, witnesses, or family members—and they attempt to specifically address the underlying issues that are resulting and contributing to crime.
I will start with a short explanation of the various funds that we administer and then provide you with a little bit more detail.
For indigenous people who are accused of a crime, the department works with the provinces and territories to support the indigenous court work program. This program helps indigenous persons involved in the criminal justice system to obtain fair, just, equitable, and culturally relevant treatment.
As well, we administer the indigenous justice program, or the IJP, formerly called the aboriginal justice strategy. This provides cost-effective, culturally relevant alternatives to the mainstream justice program in appropriate circumstances where we are trying to promote meaningful reparation of harm for the victims, offenders, and the communities. The department also provides criminal legal aid funding that can assist low-income accused.
For victims of crime, the department provides funding for culturally relevant victim supports and specific funding for family information liaison units and community-based programs in parallel to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls through our victims fund.
Finally, through our justice partnership and innovation program, we provide funding to address the important issues of violence against indigenous women and girls, family violence, and missing and murdered women and girls.
I'll now provide you a bit of information about these programs.
The indigenous court work program has been operating since 1978, and we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of this much-needed program in 2018. This program assists indigenous adults and youth who are charged with an offence or otherwise involved in the criminal justice system in obtaining fair, just, equitable, and culturally relevant treatment.
What does that mean? It means that if an individual is in a courtroom and they look indigenous, a court worker is going to go to them to help them and try to figure out if they know why they're there, why they've been charged, and what their rights and responsibilities are, as well as whether they've been given access to legal aid and have a lawyer. We're going to work with them to try to get them through the court process as quickly as possible, in a way that is culturally relevant and that hopefully will not lead to their incarceration.
With court worker services, individuals are getting more information on their charges. They're understanding the court procedures. They're understanding their rights and responsibilities, and perhaps for the first time, they're understanding that there are community justice alternatives that they could be accessing. They're also getting access to support for legal resources and having a better understanding of what's happening with the court officials, the accused, and the family members.
The indigenous court work program operates in every province and territory, with the exception of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, but we are working with those provinces to see if we can bring them into the program.
Annually, 55,000 to 60,000 individuals are served by the court work program. Of those individuals, 17,000 are indigenous women—accused persons, victims, witnesses, or family members—and they are receiving services from a court worker on an annual basis. Of the overall population served by the court work program, 32% are women. Currently there are 198 indigenous court workers across the country, and 70% of those individuals are indigenous women trying to help their colleagues within their communities.
Indigenous court work program clients will benefit from an increased understanding of the criminal justice system and increased awareness of their rights and their obligations and the social services available to them.
Another key program is the indigenous justice program, which supports innovative, community-based justice programming that is helping to address the overrepresentation of indigenous women in the criminal justice system. This program has been in operation since 1991 and is delivered in partnership with all provinces and territories. It offers a variety of services for offenders, including healing and sentencing circles with victims and community members, letters of apology, restitution, on-the-land healing, community service, referral to drug and alcohol counselling, and victim-offender mediation.
Budget 2017 provided an ongoing permanent mandate for this program, and currently there are about 197 federally supported community justice programs across the country, reaching close to 750 indigenous communities and serving over 9,000 clients annually.
Community justice programs work to address the root causes and tailor approaches to the circumstances of offenders, the needs of the individual, and most importantly, the justice values of the communities that they serve.
The outcomes for the participants going through these programs are quite impressive; 89% of the clients who are diverted to a community justice program have successfully completed their justice processes and client obligations and are not incarcerated as a result. From a recidivism point of view, 43% of those who have completed the program are less likely to reoffend than are those who did not participate.
When it comes to legal aid, the federal government works with the provinces and territories to provide specialized culturally appropriate services for indigenous people, including indigenous women facing criminal charges.
I also would like to briefly talk about our victims fund. We are also providing support for victims of crime. In particular, as I mentioned, there are the family information liaison units, or the FILUs, that we are working with in parallel with the national inquiry. Through our justice partnership and innovation program, we are also attempting to raise awareness about reducing violence against indigenous women, address family violence within communities, and help to address the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
I'll end it there, but I hope you have been able understand somewhat that the Department of Justice is attempting to work with our provinces and territories, most importantly with indigenous communities, to provide funding to assist in addressing the overrepresentation of indigenous women. Albeit with limited funding, we are attempting to listen to the communities with regard to what they need to better manage these individuals.
I look forward to any questions you may have.
:
Good afternoon, Madam Chair and honourable committee members.
I would like to thank you for the invitation to speak to you on your important study on indigenous women in the federal justice and correctional system.
I would also like to acknowledge that we are meeting on unceded traditional Algonquin territory.
[English]
My name is Shirley Cuillierrier. I am the senior adviser on reconciliation in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. I am a Mohawk woman and a member of the Kanesatake First Nation. My traditional name, given to me by my tota, is Kwanarataionne.
[Translation]
The safety and well-being of indigenous women and girls remains a priority of the RCMP. As such, the RCMP recognizes that in order to best serve and protect indigenous women and girls, ongoing work is required to foster and maintain respectful and trusting relationships with indigenous people.
Although the RCMP has a long history of working co-operatively with indigenous people, for some there remains a feeling of fear and distrust towards the police and the criminal justice system.
[English]
In 2013, the RCMP took leadership on the issue of violence against indigenous women and girls by undertaking a comprehensive study on police-reported incidents. The research consolidated data from police agencies and Statistics Canada. The results collected enabled the RCMP to gain insight into the vulnerability faced by indigenous women and the disproportionality of their victimization. The study aimed to provide a better understanding of the root causes of victimization, and highlighted the need to adopt a multidisciplinary, whole-of-government approach.
[Translation]
The RCMP is committed to working in collaboration with indigenous communities, partners and stakeholders and indigenous organizations, to ensure that they provide policing services that are transparent, responsive, respectful and culturally appropriate.
For the RCMP, trust and transparency in processes means that everyone, especially the most vulnerable populations, feel safe and confident in reporting crime. When filing a police report, complainants need to feel safe, respected, believed, and trust that appropriate action and follow-up will take place.
[English]
For example, in Nova Scotia people now have the option to affirm their oaths or give their statements using the sacred eagle feather. Adopting this traditional practice serves to increase the comfort of the victim, witnesses, and the accused.
The RCMP updated its missing persons policy. The policy emphasizes that missing persons cases must be given priority, and ensures it is supported by the necessary level of supervision throughout the course of the investigation. It requires ongoing and timely communication with the family or reporting parties and ensures that support to families be accessible if required, including referrals to culturally appropriate victim services. The RCMP has implemented a standardized risk assessment tool for missing persons investigations.
The RCMP continues to work toward building trust and confidence within indigenous communities through efforts such as identifying communities vulnerable to violence against indigenous women and girls. Through the identification, the RCMP has been able to focus prevention, intervention, and enforcement efforts to reduce vulnerabilities and incidents of violence against women and girls.
The RCMP has also aligned funding provided under the family violence initiative to support community-led programs within these communities. One such program, led by subject matter expert Diane Redsky uses community forums to help raise awareness about the risks of violence against women, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking. The forums bring community members together to provide crucial information on how indigenous women and girls can protect themselves. The community forums can also lay the foundation for the development of community action plans, a community specific plan that focuses on these critical issues.
[Translation]
A National Indigenous Liaison position has been created to support regular and transparent communication with indigenous leadership. Furthermore, the RCMP and the Assembly of First Nations have signed a relationship building protocol to promote relationship building and co-operation in policing matters between first nations and the RCMP. The RCMP has formed various committees which provide opportunities for expert exchange of ideas and opportunities.
[English]
The RCMP provides cultural awareness training to all its employees, with the belief that it is important to understand and be sensitive to the history of colonialism and discrimination that indigenous communities have faced. Many of the socio-economic conditions that continue to plague indigenous communities have made indigenous women and girls vulnerable to violent victimization.
Of particular importance to your area of study, the RCMP has engaged in a variety of restorative justice programs across Canada. Pre-charge restorative justice practices can divert offenders from the formal criminal justice system and provide opportunities for reconciliation between victims and offenders. The RCMP supports these practices and believes they are very beneficial to indigenous women by diverting them from criminal charges. It also protects them from harm through reconciliation and restoration. For example, the RCMP is working with the indigenous justice program to establish programs in Nova Scotia and Manitoba.
[Translation]
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today and to share with you our commitment to improve the justice system for indigenous women.
[English]
Recognizing the complexity of this issue, the RCMP understands that a whole-of-government approach is necessary to create effective and lasting change. The RCMP is committed to working closely with our federal and provincial partners and most importantly with indigenous women and girls, who bring experience and expertise to your areas of study.
Thank you.