Letter to Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
October 28, 2020
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON
KiA 0A2
Sent by email: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
Dear Prime Minister:
On behalf of the Campaign for the Abolition of Solitary Confinement, I am writing to thank you for your comments reported today regarding the importance of holding the Correctional Service of Canada accountable for its treatment of racialized and Indigenous Canadians.
I am also attaching a copy of a letter our Campaign sent to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair on June 1, 2020 on this topic to which we have received no reply. We would be grateful if you could encourage Minister Blair to respond substantively to our questions.
Best wishes!
Ian Morrison
On behalf of the members of the Campaign
Plesae respond to: ian@coalesce.ca
cc: Hon. Bill Blair
Hon. Erin O’Toole
Yves-François Blanchet
Jagmeet Singh
Annamie Paul
June 1, 2020
Sent by email to: Bill.Blair@parl.gc.ca
Hon. Bill Blair, PC, MP
Minister of Public Safety
Government of Canada
Dear Minister Blair:
We are writing to inquire about the actual working of the provisions regarding solitary confinement (administrative segregation) in federal penitentiaries under the new provisions of Bill C-83. In common with many prison experts, we express scepticism regarding the new Structured Intervention Units (SIUs) as a replacement for the use of solitary (administrative segregation). We would appreciate answers to the following questions:
Time out of cell: The number and percentage of inmates, and the percentage (male and female) not permitted to get out of their cells for at least four hours. We would also like to know the variation among institutions across the country.
Meaningful human contact: We wish to see similar data as above on inmates not getting two hours per day of meaningful human contact.
Further on ‘meaningful human contact’, does the Correctional Service of Canada accept that conversation through a meal slot is NOT included within this number? How many federal prisons have been renovated to add a better way for communication than a meal slot, or added another window? How many cells in federal prisons still have only the meal slot for communication when the entrance is closed?
Indigenous over-representation: Number and percentage (male and female) of Indigenous inmates in SIUs, in comparison with the number and percentage in the previously referenced solitary (administrative segregation)?
Access to therapy, training and education in SIUs: Please provide examples of federal prisons that have managed to put on such programs, and the number of inmates who actually participate in them.
Since the Act came into effect at the end of November 2019, could you supply answers to the above questions for the most recent period for which statistics are available?
If you have any report on actual implementation for this period, we would also appreciate being able to see it.
Yours sincerely,
Harry W. Arthurs
Paul Copeland
Pauline Couture
Phyllis Creighton
John Godfrey
Myim Baken Kline
Patrick Lesage
Lynn McDonald
Ian Morrison
On behalf of the Campaign
Please respond to: ian@coalesce.ca