Audit of the implementation of the Aboriginal corrections accountability framework, 2012

• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE
• 1.0 Introduction
• 2.0 Audit Objectives and Scope
  • 2.1 Audit Objectives
  • 2.2 Audit Scope
• 3.0 Audit Approach and Methodology
• 4.0 Audit Findings and Recommendations
  • 4.1 Management Framework for the Aboriginal Corrections Accountability Framework
  • 4.2 Financial Resource Allocation
  • 4.3 Implementation of Management Action Plans
• 5.0 Overall Conclusion
• Annex A
• Annex B
• Annex C
• Annex D
• Annex E
• Annex F

The Audit of the Implementation of the Aboriginal Corrections Accountability Framework (the Framework) was conducted as part of Correctional Service Canada's (CSC) 2011-2014 Risk-Based Audit Plan. The purpose of this audit, as outlined in the RBAP, was to provide reasonable assurance that the Framework has been effectively implemented. The audit is material in that it addresses one of CSC's Corporate Risks, one of CSC's priorities and is an integral part of the Transformation Agenda. The audit also took into consideration the anticipated increase in the Aboriginal offender population resulting from legislative changes such as the Truth in Sentencing Act and omnibus crime legislation.

More specifically, the audit's purpose was to provide reasonable assurance that CSC has a management framework in place to support the implementation of the Framework; to ensure that financial resources provided to the regions/institutions for specific Aboriginal initiatives have been used for these purposes; and to ensure that Management Action Plans (MAPs) relating to Aboriginal corrections in response to past audits are being implemented as intended. Particular attention was paid to any requirements of impending legislation and resulting activities.

The audit found that overall, CSC has a management framework in place to support the implementation of the Framework. CSC guidelines and other documentation are consistent with relevant legislation-roles and responsibilities are generally defined. The Results reports produced to provide information on outcome, are generally produced as required with some information missing. Further, financial resource allocations, are managed as expected, and Management Action Plans for internal audit recommendations concerning the Aboriginal offender population are generally progressing as planned.

However, there are areas where improvements can be made to better position the Framework and its resultant Reports to meet the needs of CSC and provide better value to the organization.

Specific areas of concern identified by the audit include:

• evidence of a disconnect between the roles and responsibilities of CSC staff at the site and institutional levels and those responsible for the Framework;
• the limited extent of usage and perceived usefulness of the Framework Template and Reports by frontline staff which further reflects the disconnect between this group of CSC staff and those involved directly with the Framework;
• the significant amount of data generated to fill out in the Template;
• data omitted from the Report or reported as not available;
• a lack of precision with a portion of the financial resource allocations for Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate (AID) since funds are coded in a manner that limits the ability to trace their use on certain projects; and
• Management Action Plans for Aboriginal-focused recommendations are being implemented, but at a slow rate particularly for those related to programming.

Recommendations have been made in the report to address identified areas for improvement. Management has reviewed and agrees with the findings contained in this report and a Management Action Plan has been developed to address the recommendations (see Annex F).

The Audit of the Implementation of the Aboriginal Corrections Accountability Framework (the Framework) was conducted as part of Correctional Service Canada's (CSC) 2011-2014 Risk-Based Audit Plan (RBAP). The purpose of this audit, as outlined in the RBAP, was to provide reasonable assurance that the Framework has been effectively implemented. The audit is material in that it addresses one of CSC's Corporate Risks, one of CSC's priorities and is an integral part of the Transformation Agenda. The audit also takes into consideration the anticipated increase in the Aboriginal offender population resulting from legislative changes such as the Truth in Sentencing Act and omnibus crime legislation.

Canada's Aboriginal population continues to experience higher rates of criminalization and incarceration than the general population. This population also has a disproportionate level of needs across a number of life areas that impact on their health and the overall well being of individuals and communities. Over-representation within the federal correctional system persists despite legislative and program efforts to find alternatives to incarceration for Aboriginal offenders. This growing population requires the CSC to develop the capacity to provide interventions that address offender needs in a culturally appropriate way, in consultation with Territorial partners. Growth in the Aboriginal offender population also puts pressure on the organization's human resources initiatives that are aimed at increasing the number of Aboriginal employees at all levels of the organization. One significant risk to CSC is that the organization may have difficulty hiring and retaining a workforce that is reflective of the Aboriginal offender population. This may also negatively impact the organization's capacity to deliver culturally-appropriate interventions.¹

A Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Gladue (1999)² provided guidelines on the application of Section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code of Canada. The purpose of this provision is to address the historical over-representation of Aboriginals in the criminal justice system. The decision is important for CSC because it is now obliged to integrate its principles in the CSC Framework to enhance the role of Aboriginal communities in corrections. As well, these principles have shaped development of CSC policy requiring consideration of Aboriginal social history in case management.

Statistics Canada population projections to 2017 suggest that the disproportionate representation of Aboriginal people among newly sentenced offenders will continue to grow in federal and provincial/territorial correctional systems, particularly in the West and in the North.³

Aboriginal Corrections at CSC

As a response to this situation, one of CSC's six priorities: Enhanced capacities to provide effective interventions for First Nations, Métis and Inuit offenders focuses on Aboriginal offenders.

The diagram below represents the ongoing instruments CSC developed to ascertain that it addresses issues relating to the Aboriginal offender population.

Therefore, under the management of the Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate (AID), CSC developed the Continuum of Care as a foundation, a Strategic Plan for Aboriginals Corrections (SPAC), and the resulting Aboriginal Corrections Accountability Framework. A Template for Results offers the structure to collect data to inform management on the progress made.

Aboriginal Corrections at CSC

The cornerstone of Aboriginal corrections at CSC is the Continuum of Care (the Continuum) which was created to integrate Aboriginal culture and spirituality with CSC operations. This is accomplished by:

• starting at intake to identify Aboriginal offenders;
• leading to paths of healing in institutions to better prepare Aboriginal offenders for transfer to lower security facilities and for conditional release;
• engaging Aboriginal communities to receive offenders back into their community and support their integration; and
• ending with establishment of community supports to sustain progress beyond the end of the sentence and prevent re-offending ⁴

Strategic Plan on Aboriginal Corrections (SPAC)⁵

A strategic plan was developed to: "articulate [CSC's] vision for Aboriginal corrections: ensuring that [Canada's] federal correctional system is responsive to the needs of Aboriginal offenders, while contributing to safe and healthy communities.

[CSC's] strategic plan will help achieve improved results in this area through greater integration of Aboriginal initiatives and considerations throughout CSC, with other levels of government and with Aboriginal communities."

From the Continuum of Care, a Framework was developed to identify accountability in operationalizing the SPAC, external commitments and recommendations from other sources.

"The Framework, based on a five year strategy starting in 2006 (the 2006-07 to 2010-11 Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Corrections), is a holistic perspective of Aboriginal corrections and directly related to CSC's five Transformation Agenda priorities that are in line with the 15 recommendations of the Review Panel's Report concerning Aboriginal offenders, and all corporate priorities outlined in the RPP (2011-2012 Report on Plans and Priorities).⁶

The Framework is designed to address the gaps in correctional results between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal offenders and increase the capacity within and outside of CSC to respond and prepare for the increasing disproportionate representation of Aboriginal offenders".⁷

The Framework objectives are to:

• see full implementation of the Continuum of Care for men and women Aboriginal offenders;
• address systemic barriers;
• enhance cultural competence;
• enhance collaboration and implement strategies to improve capacity of communities to participate in Section 84 process under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA).⁸

A template was created as the basis for the measurement of the results achieved by the SPAC. The purpose of the Template is to identify correctional results gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders. Sectors are expected to reduce the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders results to meet a pre-identified target for most performance measurements indicators.

It should be noted that the Framework, with its objectives, and the Template's reporting function, were developed by CSC to provide structure for the organization as a whole with regard to Aboriginal corrections.

Other Oversight Activities at CSC

As part of CSC's Five-Year Evaluation Plan, an evaluation of the SPAC was initiated in 2010. The evaluation's goal was to assess the achievement of outcomes and impacts of the 2006-07 to 2010-11 SPAC. The results of the evaluation, due to be completed in early 2012-13 will serve to guide future strategic policy and resource decisions in the area of Aboriginal corrections. It is being carried out in two stages; the first, an evaluation of Healing Lodges, which was complete at the time of this report. The second part of the evaluation, now in its final stages of preparation, is an examination of all other Aboriginal-specific activities identified under SPAC. Both evaluation reports examine relevance and performance as identified by the requirements set forth by Treasury Board. Relevance is assessed such that SPAC addresses a demonstrable need, is appropriate to the federal government, and is responsive to the needs of Canadians. Performance is the assessment of effectiveness, efficiency, and economy.

The Internal Audit Branch was cognizant of the existing work being carried out by the evaluators as the audit plan and program was developed. In order to avoid duplication of effort, the audit covers those areas that are not addressed by the Evaluation Branch and that were identified as areas of risk by the audit team during planning.

A risk analysis was completed by the audit team based on an examination of the management framework and organizational governance structure, a review of past audits and interviews with staff from different sectors involved in the implementation of the Framework. Some concerns raised with the audit team during the risk analysis process included the following:

• the roles and responsibilities of the different positions with respect to the Framework may not be clear;
• the regional and the operation level accountability structures may not be sufficiently clear to monitor and report on Aboriginal correctional affairs;
• there are insufficient human resources available to implement the Framework;
• reporting information pertaining to the Framework may be inconsistent throughout CSC with regards to its content; and
• the financial resources may not always be used as intended.

These risks were considered in establishing audit objectives and developing supporting audit tools for testing and gathering of evidence.

The audit objectives were:

• To provide reasonable assurance that CSC has a management framework in place to support its Aboriginal Corrections Accountability Framework;
• To ensure that financial resources provided to the regions/institutions for specific Aboriginal initiatives have been used for these purposes; and
• To ensure that Management Action Plans (MAP) in response to past audits covering Aboriginal corrections related issues are being implemented and that progress is being made on their implementation as intended.

Specific criteria related to each of the objectives are included in Annex A.

The audit was national in scope and included processes, practices and information in support of the initiatives established by the Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate including: controls, governance processes, information, and risk management. The audit focused on governance, and included an examination of the financial management processes in place. The timeframe of the audit was from April 2010 to March 2011. Particular attention was paid to any requirements of impending and new legislation such as the Truth and Sentencing Act⁹ and resulting activities.

Some potential areas of audit examination were excluded because they were addressed in earlier CSC IAB audits or are being examined under the evaluation process. In particular, we did not examine the actual output or outcomes of the Framework. Rather, we examined the compliance to the reporting structure within the requirements set out in the Framework itself.

We did not examine any initiatives that are provided to the general offender population that may have included Aboriginal offenders because it was impossible to delineate those services exclusive to Aboriginal offenders. Accordingly, our audit focused on Aboriginal Initiatives that were identified as unique to Aboriginal offenders.

The audit scope was increased to include an examination of progress made on past recommendations and ensuing management action plans from IAB's internal audits that touch upon Aboriginal issues.

This audit included both men and women Aboriginal offenders.

The audit approach included a combination of interviews with staff at the Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate (AID) as well as key staff from the different sectors involved in the implementation of the SPAC at the national, regional and institutional levels across all sectors of CSC and also those staff involved with financial management of AID. We examined relevant legislation, case law, policies, Commissioner's Directives (CD), procedures manuals and guidelines. For the financial management examination, we used a sample size of 460 tests to examine expenses related to the Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate for the period April 1st, 2010 to March 31, 2011. Finally, we examined recommendations and Management Action Plans for select CSC Internal Audit Branch projects that involved Aboriginal corrections.

Annex B lists and describes in more detail the techniques used to gather evidence to complete this Review.

The audit found, with a reasonable assurance, that CSC has a management framework in place to support its Aboriginal Corrections Accountability Framework; that financial resources provided to the regions/institutions for specific Aboriginal initiatives have been used for these purposes and Management Action Plans (MAP) in response to past audits covering Aboriginal corrections related issues are being implemented and progress is being made on their implementation as intended.

Specific areas of concern identified by the audit include:

• evidence of a disconnect between the roles and responsibilities of CSC staff at the site and institutional levels and those responsible for the Framework;
• the limited extent of usage and perceived usefulness of the Framework Template and Reports by frontline staff which further reflects the disconnect between this group of CSC staff and those involved directly with the Framework;
• the significant amount of data generated to fill out in the Template;
• data omitted from the Report or reported as not available;
• a lack of precision with a portion of the financial resource allocations for Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate (AID); funds are coded in a manner that limits the ability to trace their use on certain projects; and
• Management Action Plans for Aboriginal-focused recommendations are being implemented, but at a slow rate particularly for those related to programming.

Accordingly, recommendations were made in this report to address identified areas for improvement. Management has reviewed and agrees with the findings contained in this report and a Management Action Plan has been developed to address the recommendations.

Audit objectives and criteria were developed based on the OCG Core Management Controls including governance, accountability, people, stewardship and policy and programs.

Audit evidence was gathered through a number of techniques:

• Interviews: video or telephone-conference interviews were conducted with staff at the Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate, as well as with key staff from the different sectors involved in the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Aboriginals Corrections (SPAC) at the National, Regional and Institutional level across all sectors of CSC including those staff involved with financial management. A judgmental site selection at all levels was chosen; women and men units were included and we limited our interviews to institutional staff. The site selection in the Prairies & Pacific Regions was larger because of the larger representativeness of Aboriginal offenders in those regions. Annex C sets out the list of interviewees.
  
• Review of documentation: Relevant documentation was examined including legislation, the Gladue decision, policies, Commissioner's Directives such as CD700 Correctional Interventions; CD705-8 Assessing Serious Harm; CD712 Case Preparation and Release Framework; and CD712-2 Detention.
  
  In addition to the above, the following documentation was examined in regards to roles and responsibilities of the Framework: CD702 Aboriginal Offenders; CD767 Ethnocultural Offender Programs; CD726 Correctional Programs; CD259 Exposure to Second-Hand Smoke; Guidelines such as Guidelines 541-2 - Negotiation, Implementation and Management of CCRA Section 81 Agreements; Guidelines 710-2-1 - CCRA Section 81: Admission and Transfer of Offenders; Guidelines 712-1-1 – CCRA Section 84: Application Process and Detention and procedures manuals as they related to the Aboriginal Corrections Accountability Framework.
  
• Testing: To test expenses related to the Aboriginal initiatives Directorate, we chose a collaborative approach that was justified by the high level of assurance mandated to provide to the Deputy Commissioner and the Audit Committee. We used a materiality of 0.5% of total AID expenses, being $100,000 with a confidence interval of 95%. However, we judged that it would be appropriate to use a performance materiality of $30,000.

Our audit approach was divided into two steps:

• a. An analysis of the variations between the original budgets, revised budgets and actual expenditures, any significant variation is explained and corroborated with supporting documents. Note that a significant variation is a variation greater than 10% and $ 30,000.
• b. Tests of details, to determine the size of our sample we chose a certainty factor of 2.3 (for high risk), to obtain a confidence level of 95%. The sample size was 460 tests and we conducted a random selection of strata samples using data processing software IDEA. Note that using such a sampling allowed us to cover all regions and all initiatives.

TEMPLATE FOR RESulTS REPORTING AN MONITORING
"STRATEGY FOR ABORIGINAL CORRECTIONS ACCOUNTABIliTY FRAMEWORK"
liST OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS

Audit of the Implementation of the Aboriginal Accountability Framework
Management Action Plan (MAP)

1 Report on Plans and Priorities, 2011-2012, Correctional Service Canada, 1.6 Risk Analysis.

2 R v. Gladue [1999] 1 S.C.R. 688.

3 Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Corrections, Innovation, Learning & Adjustment 2006-07 to 2010-2011.

4 Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Corrections – Innovation, Learning & Adjustment – 2006-07 to 2010-11, p.9-10.

5 Ibid 3.

6 Report on Plans and Priorities, 2011-2012, Correctional Service Canada, 1.1 Raison d'être and Responsibilities.

7 Aboriginal Corrections Accountability Framework, September 2010, p.13.

8 Corrections and Conditional Release Act (S.C. 1992, c. 20).

9 Truth in Sentencing Act , S.C., 2009, c. 29, came into force on February 22, 2010.

10 Recommendation requires management's attention, oversight and monitoring.

11 Recommendation requires management's attention, oversight and monitoring.

12 The sample was determined using a performance materiality of $30,000, a risk factor of 2.3 (high risk) and confidence level of 95%. The sample was selected randomly using IDEA.

13 Recommendation requires management's attention, oversight and monitoring.

14 The Institute of Internal auditors, Internal Professional Practices Framework 2011, Standard 2500.

15 The Institute of Internal auditors, Internal Professional Practices Framework 2011, 2500.A1.

16 Satisfactory – progress is satisfactory given the significance and complexity of the issue, and the time that has elapsed since the recommendation was made.

Unsatisfactory - progress is unsatisfactory given the significance and complexity of the issue, and the time that has elapsed since the recommendation was made.

17 Recommendation requires management's attention, oversight and monitoring.

18 Recommendation requires management's attention, oversight and monitoring.

19 Recommendation requires management's attention, oversight and monitoring.

20 Recommendation requires management's attention, oversight and monitoring.

21 Recommendation requires management's attention, oversight and monitoring.