Editorial

Creating Choices, 20 years later

» By Patrick Altimas, Executive Director, ASRSQ

The year 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of Creating Choices – The Report of the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women. Our editorial team thought it relevant to seize this opportunity to highlight the important impact of this report on correctional services for women. Let us first recall that this task force was established in 1989 as the result of a joint initiative of the Correctional Service of Canada and the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies. Why?

In 1989, the only penitentiary for women, then known as the Prison for Women, was located in Kingston. It had been built in 1934 and, as early as 1938, the report of the Archambault Commission and, subsequently other commission or study group reports, in turn questioned the manner in which correctional services for federally sentenced women were being managed. The main problems identified included the following:

• The Kingston Prison for Women did not provide an appropriate environment to meet the needs of women. Notably, the Prison's security level was too high for the majority of inmates.
• The existence of a single central institution meant that the majority of women were isolated from their families, with all the problems that ensued.
• Very few or no programs were offered that were adapted to the needs of women.
• There was no requirement to provide programmes for women serving their sentence in a provincial institution under a provincial/ federal agreement, which was the case for the majority of inmates from the province of Quebec.
• Women were unfairly forced to choose between having access to programmes, as poor as they might have been, and where they would serve their sentence.
• Women were forced to serve their sentence in a location far removed from their home community (women from provinces other than Quebec and British Columbia having to serve their sentence in Kingston).
• There existed few community alternatives.
• The programmes and facilities for women were outdated and had been designed for men.
• The specific needs of Aboriginal women were not acknowledged nor met.
• Community involvement was inadequate.

In addition to the above problems, a series of tragic events had occurred at the Prison for Women since its opening and something had to be done urgently. The mandate of the task force was to examine the correctional management of federally sentenced women and to develop a policy and a plan which would guide and direct this process in a manner that would be responsive to the unique and special needs of this group. In 1990, a report stemming from the work and research conducted by the task force articulated five principles that should drive any action being considered: 1 Empowerment, 2 Meaningful and responsible choices, 3 Respect and dignity, 4 Supportive environment, 5 Shared responsibility

Finally, to further this ideal, the task force proposed the guiding statement of principle that follows: "The Correctional Service of Canada with the support of communities has the responsibility to create the environment that empowers federally sentenced women to make meaningful and responsible choices in order that they may live with dignity and respect."

Space does not allow us to discuss the details of these principles; thus, we invite our readers to review Creating Choices on the CSC Website, where they will also find the three main recommendations of this report: (1) to develop five regional women's facilities across Canada that would be developed in accordance with very precise criteria in order to meet the specific needs of women; (2) to develop a healing lodge to meet the needs of Aboriginal women, and, (3) to develop a community release strategy geared to the specificity and needs of a female population.

Over the 20 years that have elapsed since the report was published, the Kingston Prison for Women was finally closed; five regional facilities and a healing lodge were built; and, a community strategy was developed for women offenders, which was updated in 2010. We have come a long way, but much remains to be done, as I was able to observe at a forum under the theme A Solid Foundation…A Vision for the Future, which took place in Ottawa, September 28-30, to mark the 20th anniversary of Creating Choices. ‹

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