Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Services at Correctional Centres
Section 50 of Bill 45 authorized the Minister to provide inmates with services for personal phone calls, entertainment, canteen, and other services. Motion 28 clarifies that the Minister is required to provide these services in all correctional facilities, subject to reasonable restrictions on individual inmates.
Rules and Information for Inmates
Bill 45 requires the person in charge to make rules respecting inmate conduct, inmate activities, and other matters. Motion 16 replaces section 27 of Bill 45 with a new section to provide that, on an inmate's admission to a facility and in a form he or she understands, the person in charge must inform the inmate of the institution's rules and the inmate's rights and responsibilities, to assist the inmate with adapting to his or her surroundings.
Security Assessments
Knowing an inmate's risks is essential to effective safety, security, rehabilitation, and reintegration. Motions 17 and 18 in Appendix A clarify the distinction between the security classification process and the enhanced supervision program used by the Correctional Service. The security classification process is used for assessing and reassessing inmates and determining the level of security required for an inmate and their appropriate placement within a facility. Inmates may be assigned to an enhanced supervision program, where they may be assigned to a specific level of security, access restrictions, and other conditions of confinement.
Committee received several suggestions to make the risk assessment process as it relates to security classification effective and fair to Indigenous inmates.
Recommendation 4
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the security assessment tools used by the Correctional Service be objective, structured, and empirically defensible, and that a risk assessment tool that considers the unique realities of Indigenous inmates be developed and used.
Searches
The Information and Privacy Commissioner outlined several privacy-related concerns with Bill 45 for committee. A specific area of concern we shared with the Information and Privacy Commissioner was the lack of detail in Bill 45's search provisions. We agreed with the Information and Privacy Commissioner that sections 33 through 35 of the bill did not do enough to protect the privacy and dignity of those subject to search. For this reason, committee worked with the Minister to develop Motions 21, 22 and 23, set out in Appendix A, to specify that strip searches of inmates, staff, and visitors must be conducted by staff of the same gender and in a place and manner that respects the person's dignity.
Use of Force
Section 19 of Bill 45 included broad parameters for the use of force on inmates, authorizing certain persons to use a "reasonable degree and means of force on any inmate" to prevent injury or death, prevent property damage, prevent an inmate from escaping, and maintain inmate custody and control. Committee agreed with a submission that more detail around the use of force was needed. Motion 17, developed in collaboration with the Minister and set out in Appendix A, serves to replace section 19 in Bill 45. This motion clarifies that de-escalation techniques must be employed where possible and force may be used only as a last resort. The means and the amount of force must be reasonable and not excessive, and they must have regard to the nature of the threat posed and other circumstances of the particular case.
Also contained in Motion 17 are clear restrictions on the use of physical restraints. Section 19 left decisions, such as the devices that may be used to physically restrain an inmate and the manner and circumstances in which they may be used, to the discretion of a sole individual. Due to the highly intrusive nature of these devices and the risk they pose for causing injury, pain, and humiliation to inmates, committee believes the circumstances in which physical restraints may be used, such as the length of time and procedures for their use, should be prescribed in regulations and subject to independent scrutiny. As an additional safeguard, Motion 24 specifically prohibits the use of restraint devices as punishment for disciplinary offences.
In those instances where force is used, Motion 17 requires corrections employees to report the pertinent details of the incident to senior staff.
Mr. Speaker, I will now pass this on to the Member for Yellowknife Centre. Thank you.