Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Adjudicators
While committee was pleased to see the introduction in Bill 45 of concepts such as community advisory boards, an Investigations and Standards Office, and adjudicators, experts in the fields of corrections and civil liberties shared our concerns that the oversight structures established in Bill 45 were not fully impartial or independent. While we recognize the need to ensure a measure of corrections expertise in the bill's oversight processes, we believe the degree of impartiality and independence necessary for serious and high risk matters such as separate confinement or disciplinary segregation must be higher than that initially established in Bill 45. To that end, Motion 26 in Appendix A enhances the independence of adjudicators by having the Minister rather than the Director of Corrections appoint adjudicators and prohibiting the appointment of corrections staff as adjudicators.
Committee had concerns about the independence held by the Director of Investigations and Standards, as a member of the public service pursuant to section 2 of the bill with the power to review the decisions of adjudicators under section 38. Elsewhere, public officers in a similar role appear to have more independence than anticipated for the Director of Investigations and Standards under Bill 45.
Committee encourages the department to continually underscore the independence of the Director of Investigations and Standards and the adjudicators.
Separate Confinement
Several submissions advised committee that they believed the separate confinement provisions set out in sections 32 and 40 of Bill 45 were vague and not consistent with recent case law. The separate confinement provisions appeared to permit prolonged, indefinite confinement and failed to distinguish between the confinement practices envisioned under Bill 45 and the practice of solitary confinement.
A matter as serious and high-risk as confinement requires substantive treatment in legislation, including hard caps on duration, provisions for independent adjudication, and guaranteed access to programs and services, with more specific, operational details going into regulations.
Motion 2 in Appendix A creates a category of confinement referred to as "separate confinement," referring to the holding of an inmate apart from other inmates for the purposes of safety and security rather than for disciplinary or corrective purposes. Motion 20 further clarifies the meaning of separate confinement, specifying that inmates in separate confinement get to maintain their living conditions and standards as well as access to programs and services, adapted to the circumstances of separate confinement. Motion 20 also clarifies the decision-making process in relation to separate confinement and the role of the adjudicator in the case of separate confinements exceeding 96 hours. Motion 27 sets out a process for those adjudicative reviews including inmates' procedural rights.
Discipline or Corrective Measures
The CBA-NT advised committee that they believed the process set out in section 38 of Bill 45 with respect to the imposition of discipline or corrective measures against an inmate violated the inmate's rights to procedural fairness. Improvements to section 38 by way of Motion 24, developed in collaboration with the Minister and set out in Appendix A, include:
- making a distinction between disciplinary segregation and separate confinement;
- setting parameters around the use of discipline and corrective measures, including providing for the use of informal resolutions and setting hard caps on consecutive and aggregate days in disciplinary segregation;
- changing the powers of the Director of Investigations and Standards with respect to an appeal of an adjudicator's decision to impose a disciplinary or corrective measure so that he or she may confirm, quash or reduce but not increase that disciplinary or corrective measure; and
- establishing additional obligations and rights with respect to disciplinary hearings.
Complaints
The CBA-NT pointed out that Bill 45 failed to establish a clear grievance procedure or guidance on how complaints will be handled. Committee collaborated with the Minister to develop Motion 30, set out in Appendix A, to enshrine a fair and expeditious grievance mechanism to adjudicate grievances raised by inmates, offenders or persons on probation, conditional sentence or judicial interim release.
Victims
Section 11 of Bill 45 required the Director of Corrections to establish, administer and maintain a victim notification program consistent with the principles of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights.
In reviewing Bill 45, committee determined Bill 45's provisions related to the notification of victims could be strengthened to protect victims of crime. For this reason, committee collaborated with the Minister to develop Motion 8, set out in Appendix A, to provide clear obligations on the part of the corrections system and clear entitlements on the part of victims or their designates to have access to certain information about their perpetrators, such as the date of their release from custody, where the disclosure would benefit the victim and their interest in disclosure outweighs any invasion of privacy that could result from the disclosure.
While the notification of the public in similar circumstances will continue to be under the purview of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, committee shares the concern we have heard about the risks faced by victims whose perpetrators have not been convicted.
Recommendation 5
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the department of Justice invest adequate resources into Victim Services to ensure public awareness of these programs and that Victim Services staff are in a position to inform victims of details pertinent to their well-being and safety, including cases where a person remanded in custody is released by the courts.
Motion 8 also authorizes the Minister to establish programs that employ restorative justice principles, such as victim-offender mediation, to help address root causes of violence, reduce recidivism, and support healing.
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to turn the reading of the report over to the Member of Nahendeh. Mahsi.