Commissioner's update for correctional employees: October 21, 2024

I hope many of you were able to participate in the Clerk’s Symposium on Values and Ethics last week. I took the opportunity to host a session, focused on corrections, at Beaver Creek Institution in the Ontario Region. It was an opportunity to hear diverse perspectives and continue this important conversation.

Women’s history month - The new millennium

For Women’s History Month, we are looking back on the history of federal women’s corrections in Canada. Last week, we left off at the end of the 1990’s and we are picking up in the new millennium.

The start of the year 2000 brought the end of an era. The Prison for Women (P4W), which had been operational for more than six decades, was permanently closed. While one chapter was ending, another started as 2001 was the beginning of the Mother-Child Program.

In 2004, we opened our sixth women’s facility – Fraser Valley Institution. CSC now had six dedicated women’s facilities in our five geographic regions across Canada, plus an Indigenous women’s healing lodge in Saskatchewan. After being operational since 1990, the first women’s minimum-security institution, Isabel Macneil House, was closed in 2007.

But the change didn’t stop there. A new model for women’s correctional programming was implemented in 2010. In 2011, CSC signed the first Section 81 agreement for women with the opening of Buffalo Sage Wellness House in Edmonton, followed in 2019 by another Section 81 agreement with Eagle Women’s Lodge in Winnipeg.

As we look forward, we continue to change and adapt to ensure we are meeting the evolving needs of the incarcerated women in our care.

Emerson Doyon Multiculturalism award winner

I would like to personally congratulate the Ontario Region’s Black Social History (BSH) Group on being the recipient of the 2023-2024 Emerson Douyon Multiculturalism Award.

On behalf of all of CSC, thank you for the work you’re doing to foster respect, diversity and inclusion within the Service and the community. I encourage you to read This Week at CSC for more information about the BSH Group’s work! 

We greatly appreciate all that they are doing to promote multiculturalism and diversity. Continue the great work!

Cyber security

October marks Cyber Awareness Month. This year’s theme is “Generation Cyber Safe: Because online security knows no age.” It is an opportunity to not only raise awareness on cyber threats and security, but also recognize each generation’s unique cyber security strengths. I encourage you to learn more about this topic since it affects each and every one of us. 

• October Is Cyber Security Awareness Month in Canada

I would also like to remind you that a new network password policy came into effect earlier this year. This update to the policy requires a longer and more complex password to meet Government of Canada standards.

When changing your password, best practices include using a minimum or 15 characters, special characters and uppercase letters and using lengthy passphrases.

Thank you for going above and beyond in your work every day.

“Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.”