Lift Me Up

Tiffany - CORCAN Farms

Well sometimes it's hard when you're trying to get things done and you have to teach somebody at the same time. Farming is very time sensitive, and the weather, so it can slow down the process. Sometimes you have to remember that your first goal is training the offenders and that sometimes when you look at your field, your crop might not be planted exactly as you would have liked to have seen it planted but you've taught somebody something and they've learned.

Harvesting Hope

Tiffany

Farm Supervisor (CORCAN)

Hi, my name is Tiffany and I work at CORCAN Farms.

Today we're in the heifer barn at Collins Bay. We have to teach the offenders how to work with cattle, how to operate equipment. So they can rake, cut hay, help plant, work land, they're involved all across the process.

Here we have offenders milking every day. It's nice when you get to see the offenders come in and some of them don't really like cattle to begin with, or they're afraid of them. You watch them slowly become their pets. And if you wander around the barn here you'll notice that most of our cows are very very friendly, they get lots of attention.

We get very few offenders in that actually come from farms. We have been fortunate that we have had a few, but most of them have not been around cattle at all, and they seem to find it quite rewarding. They like to learn a lot of the tractor stuff, which is also practical when they get out if they want a job like in landscaping and other areas. Farming is so diverse and you have to learn so many different skills that it actually applies to lots of different jobs that are out there.

I feel that when the offenders come to the farm they gain a greater appreciation for how much work goes into things. A lot of them don't realize how much work goes into the food and everything that you eat every day. And it kind of builds appreciation for everything else. It helps them take less stuff for granted. Here they all have to work together so it builds on their abilities to work as a team. Cattle are unpredictable, and that they need to pay attention to things because they're responsible for the lives of the cows.

I guess I'm most proud about the fact that when you're dealing with offenders and seeing the positive changes, and the empathy you see them display around the animals, it gives you some hope that they won't re-offend, and that the farm is being a positive influence on their lives.

Changing Lives.
Proteting Canadian.

A bit of a miracle

Michel
Offender

The person you are talking to now, you wouldn't have been able to talk to before. It's not possible.

The thing about prison is, you're not going to change until you change. That's it. You can stay here 100 years, until that moment in your time where you decide, "Hey, this is my day.”

My name is Michel. My native name is “Mahihkan”, which is Wolf.

My journey is a bit of a miracle because, I came from a very troubled past and a lot of violence in prison and stuff. If I could go back today and talk to that guy, he probably wouldn't listen to me.

The program that actually changed my life was the VPP (Violence Prevention Program). That program just came to my life at the right time. In the right moment, I was in the right spot.

I go out to the street every day and I work at the apple orchard. I'm on work release, I've been doing that for a year. In my free time, I carve, obviously.

The path that I'm on now, drug-free, positive things in my life, my family, really is a miracle.

Because guys like me aren't supposed to be sitting here talking to you about how CSC (Correctional Service Canada) lifted me up, because they did.

It took longer for me, and it cost me everything.

If you're Indigenous, and there's no Native liaison and no Elders or services, then  the chances of you doing well are not going to be that great. I lost my 8 year-old son to cancer. But in that moment, if I wouldn't have had that Elder for that blanket ceremony, they are there for me, and without them, I wouldn't be where I am right now. To stress that my son's death changed my life is ridiculously a stupid statement. But the truth is, it was almost like the Creator touched my shoulder and said ”take all these bad things away from my dad” because after that moment, it put me right on a path to where I am now.

I started carving when I was young. For me, this is probably the most important thing I do in here, because this keeps me drug-free, keeps me off the radar, keeps me motivated.

If I look at an antler, I keep looking at it, and I'll put it down and I'll pick it back up and I'll keep looking at it. But once I see what it is, and what it wants to be, then I just remove everything else and it's there. Without this, I think without this in my life, some people say it's a gift. I don't see it like that.

For me, this is my medicine. And it's probably the best medicine I ever had. It keeps me grounded, focused and straight and true. That's really what everybody wants, and me. So as long as I have this in my life, I can't go wrong.

Changing Lives.
Protecting Canadians.

Danny - CORCAN

I absolutely love what I do. I worked in the construction field for many years, I gained a love for construction. Then I got a job here and got to work directly with the offenders. You learn from them as much as they do from you. It's rewarding to see them pick up the skills when people have gave up on them, and they work hard to try and get back into society.

Pick up the Skills

Danny
Construction Manager (CORCAN)

Hi, my name is Danny and I'm the construction manager for CORCAN in Ontario.

Today we're at our training facility at Collins Bay Institution.

This building is used as a training facility for our offenders. We typically build modulars here for other government agencies. A modular is a construction building that can be in multiple pieces. We build it that way so that we can ship them on Ontario roads. They are built with conventional framing so that we can teach our offenders on-site typical framing procedures.

Currently we have 20 offenders. We could hold probably up to 30 offenders depending on how many projects we have on the go.

You get a lot of satisfaction seeing them grow. This shows them the soft skills of having a job, showing up to work on time, not being late, having to tell us about appointments. And then there's the hard skills of doing a job, working with others, learning skills. We offer apprenticeships here in carpentry, electrical, plumbing and welding. So they can also find a field that they enjoy and hopefully when they get out they can find a job in that area.

Some of the challenges are some of them have never used power tools before, they've never learned to use a tape measure. So we have to start right from bare minimum and teach them how to use a skill saw safely, there are a lot of aspects of that. There's the unknown. We don't know what the offenders are in for so sometimes that's at the back of your mind. But this is a well-designed program that looks after those issues and our staff feel comfortable.

What makes me proud about my job is the work we do directly with the offenders. They get to see something from start to finish and they're very proud of it and that makes us proud that we're doing a good job and we're contributing to their future. I absolutely believe that we are making a difference in helping individuals. They'll be able to gain these soft skills, these hard skills, and be able to use them in life, whether that be getting a job in construction, or being able to work on these homes themselves and show satisfaction and gain that knowledge and that trust that they can do things on their own.

Changing Lives.
Protecting Canadians.

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A poster with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.

The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears on the top right corner with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”

Correctional Service Canada’s federal identity is included on the bottom left.

The Canada wordmark is on the bottom right.

A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.

The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears in the center with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”

A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.

The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”
In the bottom right-hand corner is the Canada wordmark.

A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.

The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”
In the bottom right-hand corner is the Canada wordmark.

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A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.
The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”

A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.
The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”

A graphic with vibrant shades of blue and purple features two hands supporting each other and lifting one another up.
The campaign title “Lift Me Up” appears with CSC’s mission of “Changing Lives. Protecting Canadians.”