Backgrounder - Correctional Services Canada
Office of the Commissioner's Audit of Direct Health Care Services
The Office of the Commissioner’s audit was conducted at the head office of Correctional Service Canada (CSC) in the National Capital Region, and telephone interviews were conducted at 14 designated bilingual institutions in Quebec and New Brunswick, and at the Quebec and Atlantic regional offices. The relevant policies and operational directives were reviewed, as well as the organizational structure, the professional service contracts and a third party operating agreement in Quebec.
CSC complies with the operational definition of the concept of restricted clientele. At this time, only those institutions located in Quebec and New Brunswick have been designated bilingual:
| PROVINCE | BILINGUAL INSTITUTIONS |
| Quebec | Archambault Institution |
|
| Cowansville Institution |
|
| Donnaconna Institution |
|
| Drummond Institution |
|
| Joliette Institution |
|
| La Macaza Institution |
|
| Leclerc Institution |
|
| Montée Saint-François Institution |
|
| Port-Cartier Institution |
|
| Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines Institution |
| New Brunswick | Atlantic Institution |
|
| Dorchester Penitentiary |
|
| Shepody Institution |
|
| Westmorland Institution |
FINDINGS
Strengths:
- Managers are well aware of their linguistic obligations.
- The Department has policies and an administrative directive concerning official languages.
- It is possible to identify offenders' preferred language using the Offender Management System database.
Opportunities for improvement:
- There are shortcomings in the process of identifying the clientele’s preferred language.
- There are no effective monitoring mechanisms for ensuring compliance with the Official Languages Act in relation to health care.
- There is no active offer of service in both official languages at a number of institutions.
- There is a need to raise the linguistic profile of positions to ensure equal health care in both official languages.
- There is a lack of positions designated bilingual to provide services in both official languages at all times in the institutions’ health sector.
- Many contractual agreements signed with health professionals do not contain a language clause.
- Most of the institutions do not have mechanisms to assess the language skills of contract health professionals and the quality of services provided by them in both official languages.
In order to ensure that health care is provided to CSC’s official language minority clientele in their official language of choice, the Commissioner has made 11 recommendations:
- Recommendation: That CSC review its procedures for admitting offenders in the Regional Reception Centres and other institutions performing this function, in order to provide this service in both official languages, in accordance with the Official Languages Act and the Regulations.
- Recommendation: That CSC ensure its bilingual institutions fully comply with the requirements of section 28 of the Official Languages Act concerning active offer in person, on the telephone and on voice mail.
- Recommendation: That CSC indicate offenders’ preferred official language in their medical records in order to ensure better health care services in their language of choice.
- Recommendation: That CSC develop and implement a strategy for recruiting more bilingual health care professionals for institutions in Quebec and New Brunswick.
- Recommendation: That CSC raise the linguistic designation of bilingual health professional positions, especially for oral interaction, for institutions in Quebec and New Brunswick.
- Recommendation: That CSC verify whether the incumbents of bilingual health professional positions in institutions in Quebec and New Brunswick, whose language requirements have been raised, meet these new requirements. In cases where the incumbents do not meet these new requirements, the Department must take measures to ensure equal health care in both official languages at all times.
- Recommendation: That CSC include a reference to complaints concerning official languages in its directive on offender complaints and grievances.
- Recommendation: That CSC implement a monitoring mechanism to ensure compliance with its linguistic obligations in relation to health care services.
- Recommendation: That CSC review its contractual agreements with health professionals to include an appropriate language clause in order to ensure health services in both official languages to the offenders in bilingual institutions.
- Recommendation: That CSC ensure health professionals hired on contract at its bilingual institutions have the required language skills.
- Recommendation: That CSC implement a monitoring mechanism to ensure the quality of services delivered in both official languages by contract health professionals at its bilingual institutions.
