Ethnocultural Advisory Committees

MINUTES
National Ethnocultural Advisory Committee (NEAC) Meeting
Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)
National Headquarters
340 Laurier Avenue West
Commissioner's Boardroom
October 16, 2004

Participants:

Words of Welcome

On behalf of the Acting Commissioner Don Head who was in Yellowknife to the funeral ceremony of our colleague Louise Pargeter, Simon Coakeley, Assistant Commissioner, Human Resources welcomed the NEAC members at the NHQ for their regular meeting. He mentioned that the death of Louise has had a profound impact on our organization and all of our employees. This terrible tragedy underscores the risks faced every day by correctional services staff and the voluntary sector in fulfilling their commitment to protect Canadians. He also added that we all play an important role in public safety, and that we should be proud of the dedication and courage of our staff and volunteers.

The A/Commissioner underscored the fact that the community involvement in the social reintegration process is one of the key factors in the reduction of recidivism. Indeed, community input is essential to effective supervision and rehabilitation. Community involvement means something larger - it is a tangible expression of the community's willingness to accept offenders who want to abide by our laws. The success of offender's reintegration into the community depends partly on his or her efforts and partly on the opportunities the community at large provides.

The CSC has identified several important challenges for the coming years. Such are the changing of the offender population who is serving shorter sentences despite a history of gang affiliation and violence. New methods of motivating these offenders who tend to be resistant to correctional programs and new social supports for these offenders who tend to affiliate with criminals are needed. In addition, the A/Commissioner recognized two other challenges: overrepresentation and recidivism. Concerning the over-representation, since March 31, 1997, CSC has observed a general increase in the ethnocultural inmate population, more specifically Black inmates in Ontario and the Atlantic Region. Compared with their proportion in the total Ontario and the Atlantic population, Black offenders were the most over-represented group in the offender population. A review of offender admissions resulting from a warrant of committal for re-offending shows that from 1996 to 2001, the proportion of Blacks who re-offended increased from 6.4% to 9.6% while the proportion of Black offenders whose parole was revoked because of a new offence increased from 8.6% to 10.2%. Over the same period, there was a slight increase in the number of Asian offenders (between 3.7% and 5.2%) who re-offended.

The Assistant Commissioner brought to the attention of the participants that communities still have stereotypes and prejudices regarding prisons and penitentiaries. New ways to overcome those prejudices and stereotypes should be found in order to avoid that apprehension and shame do not become new obstacles to the successful social reintegration of offenders from ethnocultural communities. In his conclusion, the Assistant Commissioner repeated that CSC needs ethnocultural community involvement to help offenders safely return to society and make a fresh start. We should build bridges between CSC and communities and business people. CSC supports the NEAC role and activities. Members asked that the text of the speech be attached to the minutes of the minutes and distributed to them.

Mr. Coakeley was followed by Mr. McVie who expressed the full support by his sector of the work and role played by the NEAC members. He said that he strongly believed that their contribution is essential to CSC.

Opening Remarks

Regional Round Table

Employment Equity (EE) Report

Diane Lacelle - Director General, Human Resources, NHQ, made a presentation on the Employment Equity Program.

She told the members that the CSC Employment Equity Plan had been established for the fiscal years of 2004 through 2007. The document she distributed to the participants was an update of the EE Plan 2001-2004 and took into account the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) Embracing Change Action Plan and CSC workforce analysis of March 31, 2004. She said that measures had been identified to address systemic barriers and the continued under-representation of designated groups in various occupational categories and levels. The EE had been integrated into CSC's business plan and corporate culture. Diane spoke about the strategy and guiding principles in place to support and implement CSC's EE plan. Mr. Douyon raised the repeated concern regarding the lack of promotion for members belonging to visible minority groups. He said that recruiting is one thing and promoting is another difficult thing. Candidates who apply for a job in CSC are disappointed after being recruited because they cannot move up in the organization.

Profile of Federal Visible Minority Offenders (2004 No R-144):

Nobody from Research Division was present to talk about the recent research on the profile of federal visible minority offenders. However, according to the draft copy of the report, the study found that, in comparison to their proportion in the Canadian population, Caucasian and Asian offenders are under-represented, while Black offenders are disproportionately represented. The study also found that the differences in their characteristics and offence profiles may indicate that different types of programs or services may be needed to most fully meet the needs of visible minority offenders.

MOU between CSC and Canadian Heritage Department

Marcel Kabundi informed the NEAC members that CSC will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Canadian Heritage in order to develop a website on ethnocultural issues, a manual on business and ethnocultural communities to constitute a bridge towards community reintegration. Within this MOU, CSC will organize a national conference in March 11-13, 2005. The objectives of the conference are to establish linkages with ethnocultural communities and businesses. 40 to 70 participants are expected to attend the conference and create a regional ethnocultural advisory committee in Ontario, Atlantic and Prairie regions. NEAC members will be invited and all costs related to their travel will be covered with the funding received from the Canadian Heritage department.

Overview of CORCAN Employment and Employability Skills Program

Irene Klassen, director from CORCAN ,spoke about job readiness and community employment centers. She said that the community employment centers provide cost effective employment counselling and placement services for recently released offenders in communities across Canada. Among the services they offer, Irene mentioned the following: individual confidential employment counselling, resume writing, job search, interview preparation, educational upgrading, etc. With respect to the top skills requested by employers, Irene said that there were three skills: fundamental skills (communication, use of numbers, problem solving and information management); personal management skills; positive attitudes and behaviours, flexibility, responsibility, etc, and finally teamwork skills: working with others and participation in projects and tasks. She gave an overview of the top occupations with high rate of vacancies in Canada's cities.

Foreign National Offenders Under Deportation Order

Prof. Emerson Douyon discussed the situation of foreign national offenders under deportation order and stressed many problems this group of offenders encounters during their incarceration. Mr. Douyon informed the participants that a forum on deportation was planned by REAC-Quebec in Montreal with the participation of the officials from Citizen and Immigration Canada. This issue will be also discussed in March 2005 at the national conference on ethnocultural issues.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Final regional Round Table

Given that there will be a national conference in Toronto in March 2005 where many issues and action plans will be discussed, a quick final regional round table was organized before the meeting was adjourned.

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