 Dear CAC members:
This week of special emphasis on Citizens' Advisory Committees is another opportunity for me to acknowledge, and to personally thank you, for your ongoing contributions to public safety. CACs are important partners of the Correctional Service of Canada, and I certainly look forward to our continued collaboration to meet our challenges of today and tomorrow.
The strength of your commitment is evident by your numbers - more than 600 citizens, participating in 106 CACs across Canada - and the range of activities you engage in to fulfill your Mission. It is clear to me that this impressive body of citizens, working in communities across this country, makes a tangible contribution to public safety.
Your role as advisors and liaisons to the community will be even more important as we go forward. Our shared challenge, as always, is to continue to find effective ways to actively encourage and assist offenders to become law-abiding members of our society when they are released from custody (as the overwhelming majority of them are), while we exercise the kind of reasonable, safe, secure and humane control that serves the public safety interests of all Canadians.
Again, my sincere thanks for your energy and support. I hope that many of you will be able to take part in CAC Awareness Week activities in your region - alongside the CSC employees and many others in your communities, who benefit from your efforts year-round.
Keith Coulter
Commissioner
"CACs - Looking Within"
CAC Conference Executive Summary
The Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC) 2006 Annual National Conference took place from September 15 - 17, 2006 in Montreal, Quebec. Over 100 CAC members from local committees from across Canada were in attendance.
CACs provide advice to the Correctional Service of Canada management on the implementation and development of correctional facilities and programs. They act as impartial observers of daily operations and assist in linking CSC and the community. CAC members are local citizens who strive to make a difference in the criminal justice system by giving their time to the correctional process.
The Organizing Committee of this year's conference was made up of the following individuals:
- Ursula Morris, CAC Regional Chair
Pacific
- Dorthe Flauer, CAC Regional Chair
Prairies
- Theresa Halfkenny, CAC Regional Chair
Atlantic
- Sophie Lemire, Quebec Regional Coordinator
CSC
- Sonya Cardinal, Project Officer, Citizen Engagement Division
CSC
The theme of this year's conference was "CACs - Looking Within". Within this theme, conference delegates were provided information on the key issues and challenges currently facing CSC and the government.
Featured speakers included CSC Commissioner Keith Coulter; Jane Laishes, Senior Manager, Mental Health, André Courtemanche, Quebec Regional Administrator - Security; Diane Zilkowski, Manager Aboriginal Relations and Denis Lévesque, Director Community Reintegration Operations.
The delegates also examined how CACs can play a more meaningful and effective role, in partnership with CSC, in addressing issues within the CAC mandate. The following workshop sessions were linked to CSC priorities and the government's commitment to keeping Canadian communities safe through the involvement of citizens in the correctional process:
- Safety in Institutions and the Community
- Mental Health in the Community
- Mental Health in Institutions
- Effective Liaison and Communication
- Employability and Community Reintegration
***We encourage you to visit this web site in the upcoming days, where workshop summaries and highlights from the Commissioner's speech will be posted. ***
CONTACT LISTS
RESOURCES
CAC Application Form (PDF)
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