Commissioner's update for correctional employees: June 30, 2023

Over 140 communities across Canada, including large cities like:

• Calgary
• Winnipeg
• Toronto
• Montreal, and 
• Ottawa

have had poor air quality alerts in the past weeks. Please look after your health and follow Environment Canada’s warnings about limiting your outdoor activities during smoggy days.

Your positive enrolment with Canada Life

Just a reminder to complete your positive enrolment with Canada Life now. Our Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP) moves to Canada Life tomorrow, July 1. Your health care coverage will continue and you will still be able to enroll after July 1, but Canada Life will not be able to reimburse your claims if you do not enroll with them. I encourage you to complete your positive enrolment online to make the deadline.

Your PSHCP plan number will also change July 1, though your certificate number remains the same.

You can find your new plan number at:

• Preparing for the Public Service Health Care Plan transition to Canada Life

If you need assistance with positive enrolment, please call the PSHCP Member Contact Centre at 1-855-415-4414.

You can also visit:

• PSHCP Member Services website

Public Service Employee Survey

The 2022–2023 Public Service Employee Survey results by organizational units, including by region and sector, are now available. Here you will find additional breakdowns of the survey results by region and sector.

• 2022 Public Service Employee Survey Results

Again, I want to thank everyone for sharing their opinion and assisting CSC continue to improve our organization and find ways to ensure a positive and healthy workplace for all our staff. The results we receive help us to identify and take action on:

• areas of concern
• make departmental improvements, and 
• celebrate our successes

Your opinion matters!

Program for ethnocultural offenders at Collins Bay Institution (CBI)

On June 21, Collins Bay Institution hosted a graduation ceremony for 11 inmates who participated in the Urban Rez Solutions program: An ounce of Prevention. It offers specific culturally-sensitive programming to ethnocultural offenders and gives them the tools they need to successfully reintegrate into society.

At the ceremony, the participants talked about the unique environment Urban Rez and its facilitators offered them; one without judgement that allowed them to speak freely. Thanks to all those who helped in making this program a success.  

Eddy Elmer volunteer extraordinaire

I am always impressed with the dedication of volunteers at CSC. The amount of time and effort people from the community devote to helping us achieve our mission is incredible. This week in Let’s Talk Express, the 2022 James A. Murphy Citizen Advisory Committee Award recipient, Eddy Elmer, is highlighted for his work to raise awareness on topics related to corrections through webinars. Thanks to Eddy, people tuned in to participate in webinars on:

• aging offenders
• victims, and 
• community reintegration

programs from countries as far away as New Zealand.

You can read about how Eddy Elmer’s webinar vision enabled global conversations:

• Eddy Elmer's webinar vision enabled global conversations about corrections

Social Media Day

June 30 is Social Media Day. The day started in 2010 to recognize and celebrate the impact of social media on global communication and its ability to connect people. It has had an enormous impact on our lives. An estimated 33 million Canadians use social media, with 26 million on Facebook alone. Although social media is a great way to keep connected with others, please be mindful of the risk it poses.

You can reduce your risk by using a unique passphrase or password for your accounts. Seek approval before posting work-related information. Turn off the location on your phone to prevent third parties knowing where you are or tracking your movement.

You can consult the guidelines for proper social media use:

• Social Media Day (Internal resource only)
• Social Media Poster (Internal resource only)

Also, it’s important to remember as public servants and employees of CSC, we abide by the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector, which extends to how we conduct ourselves on social media and online in general.

• Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector

Thank you for your protecting yourself and your work information.

Tomorrow is July 1, Canada’s 156 birthday. I hope you get a chance to enjoy the local and national celebrations with your friends and family. Canada Day is the perfect day to reflect on and embrace our:

• ethnic
• linguistic
• cultural, and 
• regional diversity

Diversity is our strength and helps make Canada an inclusive and democratic country. A special thank you to those working the long weekend.