Statement from the National Executive Committee: April 23, 2020
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of Citizen Advisory Committees (CAC) extends its condolences to the CSC-SCC family on the tragic loss of staff members. This tragedy has touched the CAC community in Nova Scotia. We commend Regional Deputy Commissioner (RDC) Jay Pyke and Commissioner Anne Kelly for reaching out to their staff with messages while respecting the RCMP's ongoing investigation.
On March 15th Commissioner Kelly wrote to CAC chairs to provide an update on the measures being taken for the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the Commissioner encouraged CACs to maintain open communication with the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) management committees and support staff in order to continue to fulfill the mandate of the CAC to liaise and advise during this public health emergency. Through regular communications to CAC members and CSC staff, CACs have been encouraged to maintain contact virtually through teleconferences, email and telephone.
Since that time, CSC has maintained regular, weekly updates to stakeholders. The NEC has also been receiving updates from its members across the country through the regional chairs. On the 9th of April the NEC convened a special meeting for the purpose of collecting this information from our committees and sharing it with each other and CSC.
On April 17th, the NEC met to share updates. Regional chairs expressed that while there is a lot of concern among members for staff and offenders alike in this evolving situation, they feel confident that CSC is doing all they can in the circumstances. Chairs recognized that CSC is doing a lot to address a variety of different issues.
The focus for this past month has been on connecting committees virtually with their sites and we are happy to report that in general weekly updates are occurring throughout the country. Staff at sites have made themselves available to provide updates to CAC members and Regional Deputy Commissioners are also providing updates to their regional chairs or regional committees. CSC continues to be transparent through its website and again should be commended for this.
The focus for the weeks to come for CACs will be to reach out to the offenders who are also our stakeholders. Two institutions that we know of, Grand Valley Institution for Women (GVI) and Dorchester Institution, have managed to connect CAC members to their inmate committee chairs to speak by telephone. The NEC has issued a memo to our committees on how these sites were able to facilitate this virtual connection, in the hope it will encourage more innovative practices for CACs to fulfill their mandate.
I would like to thank CAC members who have stepped up during this crisis to continue to maintain the important mandate of observe, liaise and advise. Citizen involvement in corrections is not just a principle of CSC's legislated mandate; it is also the hallmark of a world-class correctional system. CSC's staff and executive has gone above and beyond to stay connected to CACs and other stakeholders. We appreciate and recognize their efforts during these extenuating circumstances.
Peggy Joiner
NEC National Chair
p_joiner@hotmail.com