Professional and technical careers at Correctional Service Canada

Correctional program officers (CPOs) deliver correctional programs to offenders to help them address the risk factors that led to their criminal behaviour. CPOs motivate and encourage offenders to change their thinking and behaviours so they can successfully reintegrate into the community.

They work with other CSC staff as part of the case management team. They share information about an offender's ability, commitment, and progress.

A CPO's schedule varies. Occasionally they may need to work outside their scheduled hours.

Duties:

As a correctional program officer, you will:

• help fulfill an offender's correctional plan
• identify risk factors and personal objectives to help reduce an offender's risk of re-offending
• consider the common but unique Indigenous social history factors of Indigenous participants and how they impacted risk factors
• support offenders in the use of culturally appropriate and/or restorative options to manage their program objectives
• motivate and encourage offenders in the use of culturally appropriate and/or restorative options as well as teaching the skills they need to reintegrate safely into the community
• prepare for correctional program sessions and review offenders' work
• formally assess each offender's:
  • ability
  • commitment
  • progress toward their personal objectives
• document relevant Indigenous social history and offender performance in correctional programs

Visit the Correctional programs webpage to learn more about correctional programs.

Parole officers supervise and manage a caseload of offenders in the institution and in the community. They help ensure the safety of the public, staff and offenders by assessing behaviour, accountability and potential risk to society. They encourage offenders to change in order to help them reintegrate successfully into the community as law-abiding citizens. 

Parole officers take the necessary steps and make the necessary contacts to obtain accurate information regarding the progress of each offender. They must establish and maintain effective, meaningful, and professional relationships with:

• the case management team
• criminal justice partners and other external partners and stakeholders
• the community at large
• other sources, such as the offender’s family and colleagues

Parole officers may be required to travel and accompany or supervise offenders in different locations.

Duties:

As a parole officer, you will:

• manage offender risk by conducting a risk assessment and exercising reasonable, safe, secure and humane control over offenders through appropriate correctional planning
• review and analyze each available source of relevant information when assessing an offender
• refer offenders to treatment and programs based on identified needs
• meet regularly with the offenders in your care and, depending on the case, you will:
  • interview
  • observe
  • listen
  • question
  • counsel
  • intervene
• make decisions, implement a variety of correctional interventions, and develop reports and recommendations for the Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board of Canada
• supervise and monitor offenders’ compliance with their parole and legal requirements

Watch this video to learn more about this position.

Meet Valentina, Community Parole Officer, Edmonton Area Parole

Social program officers (SPOs) work directly with offenders. SPOs plan, organize, and deliver social programs.

Social programs help offenders rehabilitate and reintegrate into the community. They:

• meet the social, cultural, and personal development needs of inmates
• include integration programs and the structured intervention unit social program

An SPO's schedule will vary. Occasionally they need to work evenings and weekends.

Duties:

As a social program officer, you will:

• develop and deliver social programs and activities according to national standards
• monitor and encourage positive behaviour and participation in the programs you deliver
• establish and maintain a positive environment
• interact frankly and openly with inmates
• report regularly on each inmate's accountability and progress

Teachers work directly with offenders to deliver education programs.

CSC Education programs provide offenders with knowledge and skills that contribute to their successful reintegration. Through these programs offenders develop and improve their literacy, academic knowledge, and personal development skills.

Teachers work with other CSC staff as part of the case management team and share information about an offender’s accountability and progress.

A teacher’s schedule may vary, typically within regular business hours.

Education Requirement: Bachelor of Education and provincial teaching certificate.

Duties:

As a teacher, you will:

• develop lesson plans, deliver and/or facilitate education programs based on the provincial curriculum and the inmate’s individual education assessments, needs and objectives
• consider the common but unique Indigenous social history factors of Indigenous participants
• prepare adapted learning materials, as required
• facilitate and support digital education and computer-based learning
• conduct educational assessments, document relevant Indigenous social history and offenders’ progress on an ongoing basis

Watch these videos to learn more about the position:

• Meet Kwame, Structured Intervention Unit Teacher
• Meet Chantille, Correctional Educator, Structured Intervention Unit
• Meet Jamie, Teacher, Collins Bay Institution

CORCAN is a special operating agency within the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). It offers employment and employability programs to federal offenders throughout their sentence. 

CORCAN instructors provide on-the-job and vocational training, apprenticeship hours and essential skills training to offenders. These services happen during offenders' incarceration and while they are under community supervision.

CORCAN has instructor positions in the following areas:

• carpenter
• plumber
• electrician
• tailor
• paint and pre-finishing
• upholstery
• sheet metal
• garage mechanic
• heavy equipment mechanic
• cabinet maker
• building service worker

Duties:

As a CORCAN instructor, you will:

• deliver and implement CORCAN’s employment training program
• supervise and train offenders while completing a variety of projects and tasks depending on your specialization
• evaluate and report on an offender’s work performance in areas of skill development and teamwork skills
• supervise shops; monitor and control inventory

Watch these videos to learn more about the positions.

Meet Tiffany, supervisor, CORCAN 

Meet Danny, a Construction Manager, CORCAN

Meet Joe, instructor, CORCAN

For additional information, visit the CORCAN webpage.

Administrative and executive assistant positions are an integral part of the day-to-day operations within the Correctional Service of Canada. Depending on the position, you may be supporting executives, managers, district directors or wardens in a wide variety of daily business functions in areas such as but not limited to health care activities, offender programming, records management, security intelligence, facilities maintenance and more. Positions are in various work environments, including federal correctional institutions, community parole offices, national and regional headquarter facilities and community correctional centres.

Duties:

As an administrative or executive assistant, your duties could include:

• planning and coordinating administrative workflow
• prioritizing activities and maintaining files
• collecting, verifying, maintaining, and updating data in a variety of information management systems
• managing and coordinating executive’s agenda and schedule
• preparing agendas and meeting materials, maintaining records of meetings, and distributing meeting minutes
• processing administrative requests from clients or colleagues and preparing documents

Finance officers provide a range of accounting and support services to managers, staff, and offenders located in institutions, penitentiaries, and CSC offices. They also communicate financial information to external partners.

Duties:

As a finance officer, you will:

• provide offenders with financial information and support in completing financial transactions
• control and safeguard cash, cheques, and other Crown assets
• process accounting transactions such as payables, receivables, and travel claims
• prepare financial analysis, summaries of financial documents, and other financial information for management decision-making
• input and maintain data in departmental financial systems
• prepare various financial reports

Positions within food services are an essential part of the day-to-day operations within the Correctional Service of Canada. The food services team contributes to a safer, healthier community by ensuring quality nutrition and dietary care in correctional institutions across the country. 

Positions in the food services group include:

• cook’s helper
• cook
• food service manager and supervisors
• dietitian

Duties

As an employee in food services, you are responsible for meal preparation and delivery. You will:

• prepare and serve meals from the 28-day cycle national menu
• maintain kitchen safety and hygiene standards
• contribute to a positive rehabilitative environment

As a dietitian within food services, you are responsible for the nutritional needs of the offender population. You will provide personalized nutrition assessments and interventions.

CSC’s Human Resource Management (HRM) sector is a diverse team responsible for providing support, consultation and policy interpretation to employees and managers. The HRM sector delivers programs and services in various Human Resource (HR) disciplines such as employment equity, classification and organizational design, staffing, recruitment, wellness, labour relations, training and employee development.

Positions in the HRM sector could include:

Human resource administrative support: coordinates workflows, materials and data for HR team members

Human resource advisor: provides advice, guidance and support to management in one of the HR disciplines

Team leader/supervisor: provides expert advice, guidance and support to management and HR staff on complex HR issues

Managers: leads and guides HR teams to deliver HR services or programs

Information technology (IT) is an integral part of the daily operations at CSC. Our IT staff support Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC’s) IT infrastructure, IT security, digital solutions, cloud technologies, offender computing and information management systems all while ensuring that our critical systems are operational in over 150 locations across the country. CSC’s information technology branch consists of some of the following positions:

IT technician

As an IT technician, you will:

• provide services to our clients and partners
• complete IT client service tasks, respond to IT requests and support incidents using information management services (IMS) tools according to IMS guidelines and priorities, ensuring IT requests and incidents are resolved within established service levels
• support and promote the use of digital services and solutions such as Microsoft 365, and the effective use of devices and peripherals
• provide technical support for our many services
• support local IT asset management activities, ensuring assets are accurately updated when returned or deployed

IT analyst

As an IT analyst, you will:

• provide services to our clients and partners
• complete IT client service tasks, respond to IT requests and support incidents using information management services (IMS) tools according to IMS guidelines and priorities, ensuring IT requests and incidents are resolved within established service levels
• provide IT guidance and training to colleagues, clients, and partners
• produce and/or review basic system documentation, reports, and correspondence
• participate on IT initiatives and projects

IT technical advisor/team lead

As an IT technical advisor/team lead, you will:

• supervise work teams and/or lead project teams
• develop and support work processes and standards used for IT operations
• consult with suppliers to investigate new technology, lead research and development, and study best practices and current IT trends
• consult with colleagues, business clients, stakeholders, and vendors to resolve complex technical issues and/or obtain agreement on requirements for services
• advise business clients and stakeholders on IT policies, procedures and standards, and promote compliance by interpreting and disseminating Government of Canada policies, standards, and guidelines

CSC is responsible for managing and maintaining numerous correctional institutions of various levels of security. There are many positions that are imperative to keeping these institutions operating efficiently. These include cleaning living and working areas, maintaining equipment, commercial laundry operations, ordering and distributing supplies to offenders and employees, and transporting mail, freight, equipment and supplies to and from suppliers and institutions. Some positions may require the employment, supervision and management of offenders.

Positions in institutional services include:

• supplies and services officer
• cleaning services officer
• driver and stores officer

The facilities management and technical services team includes employees who occupy positions in various trades. Nationally, Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is responsible for approximately 1,850 buildings and more than 6,200 hectares of land. This includes:

• 43 institutions
• 92 parole offices and
• 14 community correctional centres

Positions are in various locations across the country, including federal correctional institutions, community parole offices, community correctional centres, and national and regional headquarter facilities.

Facilities management and technical services are responsible for providing services in the maintenance, repair and replacement of physical assets, systems, and related equipment such as:

• buildings
• fences and barriers
• heating, ventillation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems
• plumbing fixtures and piping
• electrical systems
• indoor and outdoor lighting
• backup power generators
• roads
• land
• water production
• wastewater treatment
• petroleum storage tanks
• vehicles
• grounds keeping
• snow removal
• waste management and recycling, and
• maintenance of electronic security systems

They include full-time permanent positions in the following trades and areas:

• electrician
• plumber
• carpenter
• mechanic
• millwright
• groundskeeper
• maintenance tradesperson
• building services technician
• specialists in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
• engineer
• project management
• construction

Duties:

As part of the facilities management and technical services team, you will:

• provide general labour, construction, and maintenance services
• perform regular inspections and maintenance of buildings and structures
• operate a variety of hand and power tools including specialized equipment and motorized vehicles associated with your duties
• maintain, test, install, adjust, and align equipment associated with your specialization
• maintain and control shop inventory and tools in accordance with the maintenance department's budget requirements and institutional security policy
• prepare estimates and recommend suppliers for materials, tools, and contract maintenance services
• maintain provincial or inter-provincial certificate of qualification in your trade; you must have the appropriate License (certification) to perform the duties of the position
• occasionally provide oversight of inmates to maintain a safe and secure institutional and work environment