Interim Policy bulletin 675

Commissioner’s Directive (CD) 081 – Offender Complaints and Grievances

Guidelines (GL) 081-1 – Offender Complaint and Grievance Process

On November 30, 2019, Interim Policy Bulletin (IPB) 649 was promulgated in order to outline changes made to GL 081-1. These changes were the result of the passing of Bill C-83, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and another Act, which eliminated the use of administrative and disciplinary segregation, and introduced Structured Intervention Units (SIU) for inmates who cannot be safely managed in the mainstream inmate population.

Further refinements to the way grievances are recorded are necessary in order to distinguish between grievances related to living conditions for inmates in an SIU, from grievances related to decisions for or against a transfer to an SIU, as well as grievances related to subsequent reviews and recommendations related to inmates in an SIU. For this reason, grievance code 01E has been modified and grievance code 01F has been created.

This IPB supersedes any reference to the offender complaint and grievance process found in IPB 649. In order to avoid confusion, the changes to CD 081 and GL 081-1 that were originally identified in IPB 649 are being repeated in this IPB. This is in addition to the updated grievance codes for SIUs (GL 081-1) identified above.

The Institutional Head will ensure that complaints and grievances submitted by inmates in an SIU and those subject to restricted movement are collected and reviewed daily.

Upon transfer to an SIU, or when subject to restricted movement, inmates must be informed that they have the right to submit a grievance about the decision to transfer them to an SIU, or about being subject to restricted movement.

A grievance regarding the decision to transfer an inmate to an SIU will be registered as a final grievance.

Code 01E - Structured Intervention Units have been introduced in Annex B of GL 081-1. This code is used when a grievance is submitted about:

• Any decision for or against a transfer to an SIU; and,
• Any subsequent review decision.

Grievances with the 01E code will automatically be registered as “final grievance (national level)” with the default priority set to “high”.

Code 01F - Living Conditions in Structured Intervention Unit, has been introduced in Annex B of GL 081-1. This code is used when a grievance is submitted about, but not limited to:

• restricted movements;
• the living conditions in an SIU or restricted movements;
• access to interventions and programming;
• daily visits from health care professionals;
• being provided with time outside of the cell;
• the opportunity to exercise daily; and,
• access to showers and telephones.

Complaints and grievances registered with the 01F code will allow the user to select all levels [written complaint, initial grievance (institutional level), and final grievance (national level)]. The user can select the priority based on the issue grieved.

Regular monitoring of the use of codes 01E and 01F and assigned priorities will occur at National Headquarters.

Note: No code has been created for decisions made by Independent External Decision Makers (IEDM) as these decisions do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of CSC, and thus cannot be grieved.

These amendments impact all staff and offenders engaged in the offender complaint and grievance process.