Faces of CSC: Troy Talbot

July 4, 2025

After completing the training in 2019, Troy began working as a full-time Correctional Staff Training Officer at the Correctional Service of Canada National Satellite Training Academy (CSC-NSTA) in Summerside, PEI, where he’s been ever since.

Upon starting his new role, Troy quickly became familiar with parts of CSC he did not directly deal with in his day-to-day work in the institutions.

“You become a lot more knowledgeable into things that, as a Correctional Officer, you do every day, but you don't think too much about,” he says. “Commissioner’s Directive numbers and policies and how it relates under the Charter Rights and Freedoms, as a trainer you kind of put everything together.”

Troy’s experience and knowledge allows him to teach recruits how these policies would apply in their roles as a Correctional Officer, ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Before starting as a trainer, Troy’s only frame of reference to correctional training was what he received in 1995. Since then, Troy says he has seen many positive changes.

“The program's always evolving, and I think it always will and always should.”

Troy says having dedicated training facilities allows new recruits to learn as much as they can during the program.

“They've added more to patrol training, armed tower training, internal and external armed post,” Troy says. “We learned that stuff on the job, so here we introduce them to that and before they get there they have an idea of what it’s kind of going to be like.”

While each institution has some unique aspects that can’t be taught or replicated at the academies, by giving recruits a firm understanding of the basics, Troy says they are better able to adapt to the differences they may face.

“I can't train a recruit here how to run the tower in say Millhaven because I don't work there,” he explains. “But we can give the generalization of how that armed post actually works.”

Troy says that while recruits come to CSC-NTSA with the same goal of becoming a Correctional Officer, their backgrounds and experiences are often very different. Some recruits excel in the social and emotional parts of the training (soft skills) and struggle with the more physically demanding parts (hard skills), while some are the opposite.

As a trainer, Troy says his role is to support them in developing these skills so they can be confident and effective when they complete the CTP.

As correctional work continues to evolve, Correctional Staff Training Officers like Troy play a crucial role in helping others adapt. Whenever a CSC policy changes, the CTP needs to change to reflect it. Troy remembers when administrative segregation was abolished in 2019 and replaced with Structured Intervention Units, he needed to quickly learn all about the new practice to be able to deliver the proper training.

“I'm going to teach you all about that so you can perform your duties when you're there,” he says

Now that he’s been a Correctional Staff Training Officer for nearly seven years, Troy is thankful his colleague approached him and he decided to try something new.

“I was very happy we had that day of training and that conversation because he's the one that kind of lit that little spark and like, you know what? Yeah. I think I'm going to do this.”