Ten-Year Status Report on Women's Corrections, 1996-2006

I invite you to read Correctional Service of Canada's (CSC) Ten-Year Status Report on Women's Corrections which was released on April 27, 2006 . The Status Report was prepared in response to a recommendation of the Correctional Investigator of Canada and highlights progress, challenges and future directions within women's corrections.

The release of the Status Report coincides with the tenth anniversary of Justice Louise Arbour's 1996 report, Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women, which was influential in effecting broad policy and change in culture throughout CSC.

The Status Report details CSC's action in response to recommendations from the Arbour Report, as well as the recommendations from other major reviews on women's corrections since 1996 by the Auditor General of Canada , the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

The Status Report also discusses key themes that have emerged from these reviews, such as human rights, segregation, crisis management, cross-gender staffing, Aboriginal women offenders, programs, employment and community transition.

Considerable work has been accomplished over the past decade by CSC in partnership with our government and non-government stakeholders. I am committed to continuing our work together to further strengthen correctional programs and services for women offenders to ensure their successful transition to the community and the safety of the public.

CSC is currently in the process of establishing an Expert Committee to provide an independent review of progress in women's corrections vis-à-vis the initiatives discussed in the Status Report. Upon completion of their review, the Expert Committee's report will be publicly released.

For more information on CSC's initiatives in women's corrections, please contact Anne Kelly, Deputy Commissioner for Women, (613) 992-6067, or by email at kellyat@csc-scc.gc.ca .

Keith Coulter

Commissioner