COVID-19 vaccine update for employees: August 27, 2021

This content is a message to Correctional Service Canada (CSC) staff from CSC's Commissioner.

COVID-19/Vaccine update

You may have seen that cases of COVID-19 are climbing in many provinces. I would like to encourage you to get vaccinated if you haven’t already. Delta Variant is now the dominant strain in Canada, and is 40 to 60 percent more contagious than the original virus. Getting vaccinated helps to protect you and your loved ones.

I am pleased to note that 73% of inmates have received two doses of the vaccine. Thank you to all of you who have been involved in administering vaccines to the inmate population. Vaccines are an important way for us to limit the spread of COVID-19, particularly as we are now working to keep the Delta Variant from entering our institutions.

Whether you have been vaccinated or not, please remember that we need to keep up with our health and safety measures. Wear your mask, wash/sanitize your hands often, and continue to practice physical distancing. It is not time to let our guard down.

International Day for People of African Descent

This August 31 marks International Day for People of African Descent. The United Nations created this important day to promote the extraordinary contributions of the African diaspora around the world. CSC is proud to recognize this day and the work of our African-Canadian employees and communities. This day highlights the importance of eliminating discrimination against people of African descent in our workplaces and our communities.

Transformational Effects of CSC’s Restorative Opportunities Program

The work of CSC’s Restorative Opportunities Program was showcased in a recently published article in the Journal of the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), which highlights the voices and experiences of a victim, offender, and institutional parole officer who took part in our program.

CSC has applied restorative justice principles and provided mediation opportunities between victims and adult offenders since the early 1990s. We are very proud to have this article published alongside others exploring restorative justice approaches around the world. I invite you to read the APPA article to learn more about this moving, first-hand experience. As well, the Let’s Talk Express article shares more perspectives from staff on restorative justice.

• APPA article
• Let's Talk Express article

Parole officers, and all other referral agents, are very important to CSC’s work in restorative justice. Thank you to all CSC staff and contractors who help make this program a reality. Your contributions are changing lives in such a meaningful way, across the country.

CORCAN Personal Protective Equipment Update

I want to provide an update on the remarkable work CORCAN has been doing over the past 17 months. Since the onset of the pandemic, CORCAN, in collaboration with Health Services has produced personal protective equipment (PPE), including washable and disposable gowns and masks. To date, CORCAN has made more than 849,443 masks and 90,396 gowns for use by CSC and other departments.

CORCAN also produced desks for home office use, office chair covers and transmission barriers for use at CSC sites. They produced all of this while continuing to provide laundry services to external clients, including a variety of hospitals, Department of National Defence bases, and CSC sites.

I am impressed how CORCAN is not only demonstrating agility and adaptability in the midst of a global pandemic, but is continuing to provide offenders with useful skills and the opportunity to contribute to Canada’s response.

I have been proud of how, over the past year and a half, you have all gone above and beyond to support each other and the organization’s mandate. Thank you.

In closing, I want to remind everyone that there is helpful information available about the role of public servants during an election period from the Public Service Commission:

• Communiqué to employees: Elections and political activities of employees

Please take note of our responsibilities and obligations.
 

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